Kevin Proctor: who is New Zealand Rugby League international and why was he sacked?

The New Zealand international Kevin Proctor has recently been sacked by the National Rugby League side Gold Coast Titans.

The 33-year-old posted a video of himself vaping in a toilet cubicle and was soon sacked after the video emerged.

The video, since deleted, was taken during the Gold Coast Titans defeat to 36-26 by Canterbury on Sunday 29 July 2022 and while Proctor was not playing, he was part of the game-day squad.

Gold Coast Titans made the following statement: “The Gold Coast Titans have sanctioned Kevin Proctor after being made aware of an incident during yesterday’s round 19 fixture against the Bulldogs.

“Proctor has also been released from his commitments with the Club for the remainder of the year and will not return to train or play with the squad.

“His actions were in breach of both NRL and Stadium regulations.”

Indeed, vaping is banned in Australian stadiums and NRL players are also not allowed to have their phones with them during a match.

Who is Kevin Proctor?

Proctor was born in 1989 in Te Kuiti, Waikato, New Zealand but moved with his parents to Australia soon after he was born.

He is of the Maori iwi Nga Puhi tribe and is also of Scottish descent. Proctor first took up Australian Rules football before playing juniot rugby league for the Currumbin Eagles, representing the 2006 Australian Schoolboys and 2007 Junior Kiwis.

Proctor is a second-row rugby league player and was first given a professional contract in 2008 with the Melbourne Storm.

He played a total of 179 matches with the Melbourne Storm during his eight years with them. He was named as the club’s Rookie of the Year after playing seven matches for the Storm in 2009.

The 33-year-old featured in the Storm’s World Club Challenge where his side beat Leeds Rhinos 18-14 and finished the season with 22 appearances.

2012 saw Proctor play in the Storm’s NRL Grand Final victory over Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

In 2016, Proctor was released from his contract with the Melbourne Storm and signed a four year deal with the Gold Coast Titans which was to start in 2017.

His debut season with the Gold Coast Titans also saw him named as co-captain of the side. Proctor has played 103 matches for the Titans and scored 74 points for them, including 18 tries.

Proctor’s International career

Kevin Proctor is part of the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand and Maori All Stars international squads and has 22 caps for New Zealand.

He first donned an international shirt in 2008 when he featured in the New Zealand Maori rugby league team’s World Cup opener against the Indigenous Dreamtime Team.

The second-row’s international debut with New Zealand came in 2012 when he featured in the October Test during a 20-12 loss against Australia.

Proctor’s controversies

The vaping incident is far from Kevin Proctor’s only run-in with the rule book and has previously been suspended. In 2017, he was caught on a police CCTV camera with Kiwis teammate Jesse Bromwich consuming cocaine.

After the incident, he was suspended and stripped of his Titans captaincy.

Three years later Proctor was sent off during his 250th first grad match against Cronulla-Sutherland for alledgeldy biting Cronulla player Shaun Johnson.

An investigation found Proctor guilty and he was suspended for four matches.

His most recent altercation has now seen him sacked from the Titans as well as receiving a $15,000 (AUD) fine by the club for his actions.

Proctor’s contract was set to run out at the end of 2022 with Titans so it remains to be seen whether he will be able to continue playing at another side next year.