Gallagher Meads Brothers Exhibition
The Gallagher Meads Brothers Exhibition Sir Colin & Stan Meads - legends of the game - June 19, 2017 – May, 31, 2018
Featuring memorabilia from Sir Colin and his All Black brother and locking partner Stan – they are Te Kuiti’s most famous sporting legends. This personal collection is on loan from the Meads family and is a rare glimpse into the brothers’ rugby careers and lives.
Kevin Norquay: Te Kuiti stops to farewell Sir Colin Meads
Kevin Norquay: Te Kuiti stops to farewell Sir Colin Meads
Funeral for Sir Colin Meads in Te Kuiti
It took until his Te Kuiti funeral for rough-tough rugby legend Colin Meads to be exposed as a bloke who once knitted a scarf and a balaclava, a man who read The Cat in the Hat to his kids.
At his last farewell a fuller picture came into focus of the man touted as the greatest All Black, perhaps the best rugby player ever, a man noted for never backing down, for playing the game to its very limits, known for his hatred of losing.
Stories that never would have got past the rampaging No 5, the second All Black sent off in a test, a player who thought New Zealanders didn't like him for his hard-nosed, hard-shouldered, hard-footed style.
Meads' grandchildren talk about their soft as butter grandfather.
He was, All Black brother and locking mate Stan said, as soft as butter. He was humble, shy almost. He was an obstinate, stubborn, bugger and a bloody good guy.
A guy who played 55 tests from 1957 until 1971, and raised more than a million for charities and clubs, often asking for no more than petrol money and free beer. Mind you, some of those clubs probably found out, in hindsight, it would have been cheaper to pay him, officiant Jamie Mackay said.
Greats of New Zealand rugby were in Te Kuiti to farewell Sir Colin Meads.
He was dad, granddad, great-grandad, a husband, a brother, a son. He was Pinetree, The Tree, Colin, Sir Colin and to Stan, simply Old Pinetree.
For this was a family funeral. Yes, it was part rugby, but that was the small part. After sharing Meads for decades, the family got to share their fondest memories.
And those memories were not of a massive man galloping around the field in a jersey he treasured, ball held firmly in one hand, or soaring high to snare a lineout ball.
A marquee was erected to contain extra mourners at the funeral of Colin Meads in Te Kuiti.
New Zealand was welcomed into the funeral at Les Munro Centre, then shown another side of a man they thought they knew. Shelley Mitchell, the youngest child of Colin and his wife Verna, never saw her father play rugby live. He did read her the Cat in the Hat though.
When his grandchildren were asked by their friends at school your grandad is a pretty good fella, eh? they thought he was, he gave them treats and cuddles. No, their friends said, he was a great rugby player.
We learned he could grow tulips, but not eggplant. Thank God the Aussies never bugged his chair and learned of his weaknesses, such as his struggle to give - or accept - praise. Just don't call me sir, he said when knighted.
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