Andy Roche

Waikato wrestler Andy Roche, born in 1954, competed in the featherweight (62kg) freestyle division at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games.

As with all the wrestling in Christchurch, the field was small – just five competitors.

Roche was unable to bring the spectators at Christchurch Town Hall much joy – he lost his first bout, to eventual silver medallist Shivaje Chingle of India, on points. In his next bout, he suffered another points loss, to Raymond Brown of Australia.

The New Zealander was competitive in both bouts.

Roche won New Zealand titles in the featherweight division in 1973 and in the lightweight grade (68kg) in 1974, 1975 and 1977. He also won the prestigious H M Allan Cup, for the most scientific fighter at the national championships, in 1974.

When he was eight, he’d started wrestling at the Herald Island club in the Upper Waitemata Harbour, and was instantly hooked. He continued to wrestle until he was 27.

Roche coached at Raglan and at Church College in Hamilton while he continued to wrestle himself.

In the late 1970s, wrestlers and Commonwealth Games team-mates Roche and Paul Dalley, plus Wayne Le Haavre of Corrections, set up a wrestling club at Waikeria Prison after Roche had shifted there. Roche moved to Katikati in 1983 and set up a club there. He subsequently coached there for many years.

Roche became an administrator for the Halberg Disability Sport Foundation.

In 2018, Andy Roche was made a life member of the New Zealand Olympic Wrestling Union.