Born and raised in Worcester’s Johnson Park, Wayne Amsterdam’s passion for rugby has taken him to the far shores of New Zealand.
The 40-year-old wants to encourage others with a love of the sport to not give up and keep chasing their dreams – whether it is as a player or a coach.
Amsterdam attended Victoria Park Primary School, Hoërskool Montana and matriculated at Worcester Gymnasium in 2002. He played for his school’s first team, as well as representing the Boland team.
Following a career as local rugby coach at several clubs, Amsterdam has been appointed as assistant coach at the Bombay RFC Men’s Premier Team in the Counties Manukau Rugby Union East of Auckland in New Zealand. He is also the head coach of the Counties Manukau girls u-16 team that will take part in the provincial tournament in September.
He joins a few provincial coaches that will be part of that country’s Chief Under-18 Development Camp.
His career kicked off after he made his club rugby debut for Worcester Villagers’ first team in 2003 after completing his matric year. He had a stint of playing in England for Bury Std Edmund RFC and later joined the Western Province Super League for NTK Parow, Kuilsriver RFC and Robertson Rugby Clubs.
Amsterdam started coaching in 2017 and says it was a ride filled with challenges, triumphs, and invaluable lessons. “My coaching career took off in 2017 when I had the privilege of coaching Kuilsriver RFC u-20s in the Western Province Super League. This experience was foundational, allowing me to develop not only my coaching skills but also my understanding of the game and the young athletes I was mentoring,” he said.
In 2018 he joined Tygerberg RFC as the coach of their u-20s team and the team made history by achieving third place in the under-20 league for the first time in the club’s history. “Henry Adams played a pivotal role as my mentor during my time at Tygerberg RFC.”
In the following seasons he coached Tygerberg’s second team and contributed to the first team’s coaching staff. However, the onset of the Covid19 pandemic in 2020 sport came to a standstill.
In 2022 he was appointed as the assistant coach of the first team at Kuilsriver Rugby Football Club and later filled the position of acting head coach.
In 2023, Amsterdam continued his coaching endeavours as an assistant coach, working alongside one of his mentors, Chris October. “I had incredible mentors who have shaped my coaching career,” he said. During this time Amsterdam was appointed as a consultant to assist Robertson Town in their Boland Top 12 campaign.
He was appointed as the head coach of Robertson Town in 2024 and the team had an impressive start to the season, remaining undefeated for ten games in the first round of the Boland Bree-Langeberg. “This success reflected our collective effort, unity, and commitment to excellence,” he said.
“I am committed to staying in touch with the team. While in New Zealand, I’ve continued supporting Robertson Town from afar, working closely with the coaches and players in a consulting capacity. It’s been a privilege to still be part of their journey in some way, especially as they went on to win the Boland Cup 2024,”he said.
