All in the Fagan family
Sean Fagan has never spent a full day on the clippers but is already a national shearing champion.
The 16-year-old great-nephew of legendary shearer Sir David Fagan won the novice shearing final at the New Zealand Shears in his home town of Te Kuiti last week.
The win makes him the latest in a growing line of champion Fagans, joining his grandfather, John Fagan, who won the shears’ first open final in 1985, and Sir David, a 17-time open champion.
Both were on hand to witness Sean’s achievement, with his father Neil, brother James, and cousin Jack, winner of last week’s speed shearing event.
Just out of school and now in the wool sheds fulltime, Sean Fagan is yet to do a full day shearing, instead spending his time wool pressing and shepherding.
With six competitions under his belt since making his debut nine weeks ago, he admitted to a few nerves, with big moccasins to fill in front of the clan’s shearing elite.
Although not the fastest to shear his two sheep in the final, when all points were counted, Fagan took the title by just 0.769 points, ahead of Northland shearer Tessa Berger.
Fagan said he was now ‘‘desperate’’ to get out of wool pressing and get a stand on the shearing board.
John Fagan said he couldn’t have been prouder to see his grandson progress from the field of 24 to the final six.
Aged 26 when he first shore in competition and 34 when he won at the Golden Shears, John Fagan was the first in the family of multi-generation farmers to take up shearing, and one of the first to start following the competitions all over the country.