Connect with us

Sports

Thousands attend funeral of All Blacks great Colin

Published

on

WELLINGTON, New Zealand— A crowd estimated at several thousand, including the New Zealand Prime Minister and high-profile rugby players, attended the funeral Monday of All Blacks legend Colin Meads.

Mourners packed the community hall in Meads’ tiny hometown of Te Kuiti and spilled over into an adjacent marquee in which the service was shown on large screens. Te Kuiti, with a population of less than 5,000, saw its population increase by almost half as crowds paid tribute to Meads, who played 55 tests among 133 matches for the All Blacks between 1957 and 1971.

He was voted New Zealand’s Rugby Player of the Twentieth Century.

Speakers included brother Stan Meads, with whom he played 15 tests, former All Blacks captain Brian Lochore, his daughter and grandchildren.

Meads, known by the nickname Pinetree, died Aug. 20, aged 81.

Lochore, who shared the honour with Meads of being knighted for services to rugby, said “we trusted each other and respected each other.

“No-one ever beat Pinetree over 80 minutes. Pinetree always won the battle,” Lochore said. “There was no prize for second as far as he was concerned.”

Lochore said Meads had skills which were ahead of his time and would likely have made him a star in the modern game. But he was a man of his time.

“The one massive difference was that modern players hydrate before the game and we hydrated after,” he said.

Stan Meads said his brother, Colin, was a humble man who would have been embarrassed by the fuss of Monday’s funeral. Meads will be buried in a black casket bearing his All Blacks number, 583, which was conveyed to and from the service in a black 1937 Plymouth hearse.

While Meads was famously rugged and uncompromising, speakers said he had a softer side, shown to his family and friends.

The notes for the service included a quote from Meads, who described himself as “a country hick in the big time.”

“It’s like everything in life,” Meads was quoted as saying, “if you try to be yourself and don’t try to be someone else, it all comes right.”

 

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest

Fumio Kishida Fumio Kishida
News6 hours ago

Japanese premier calls for ‘int’l governance’ to achieve secure AI

ISTANBUL – Acknowledging that evolving high technology has the potential to be a “vital tool to further enrich” the world, Japanese...

News6 hours ago

PH, Japan, US, Aussie defense chiefs call out Chinese actions in SCS

HONOLULU, Hawaii – The respective defense chiefs of the Philippines, Japan, the United States, and Australia have collectively called out China’s...

PBBM PBBM
News19 hours ago

PBBM expects ratification of PH-South Korea FTA deal this year

MANILA — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is expecting the ratification of the free trade agreement (FTA) between the Philippines...

tattooed man wearing orange shirt inside a jail tattooed man wearing orange shirt inside a jail
News19 hours ago

BuCor: 805 PDLs released in April

MANILA – Prison officials on Friday said 805 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) were released from various operating prisons and...

News19 hours ago

Consumers using excessive water to get warning from MWSS

MANILA – Consumers with excessive water consumption in Metro Manila and nearby provinces may receive warning notices from the Metropolitan...

Headline19 hours ago

100 caregivers wanted in South Korea

MANILA – The Republic of South Korea is looking for 100 Filipino caregivers, according to the Department of Migrant Workers...

Entertainment2 days ago

Kim heats up the summer as Metro’s latest cover star

Sizzles as Metro Body 2024 headliner Multimedia idol Kim Chiu shares her journey to healthy living and her reaction to...

Health2 days ago

Can this thumb test tell if you are at increased risk of a hidden aortic aneurysm?

All the parts of our bodies share an inherent connectivity. This goes much further than “the foot bone’s connected to...

Dua Lipa Dua Lipa
Entertainment2 days ago

Radical Optimism is Dua Lipa’s philosophy for dealing with life’s chaos – but radical openness is a better approach

  In a teaser video for her third album, Radical Optimism, Dua Lipa explained that every track has that “through-the-struggle-you-are-going-to-make-it”...

Mother Holding Her Baby Mother Holding Her Baby
Health2 days ago

Do we really need to burp babies? Here’s what the research says

Parents are often advised to burp their babies after feeding them. Some people think burping after feeding is important to...

WordPress Ads