Grandstand honour for All Whites legend
"I'm fighting. They tell me I'm not well.'' Steve Sumner
Steve Sumner fondly recalls drawing against Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers at Christchurch’s English Park ground as an 18-year-old.
Forty years on, the former All Whites great and Canterbury football legend has been acknowledged for his contribution to the sport.
Sumner, 61, who is battling prostate cancer, was recognised by Mainland Football with the grandstand at English Park named in his honour at a ceremony on Saturday.
Many of Sumner’s 1982 World Cup All Whites’ team-mates were in attendance, along with his 86-year-old mother, Norma, who travelled from Preston in northern England, and a host of family and the football community.
England-born Sumner, who captained the All Whites at the 1982 World Cup and played 105 times for New Zealand between 1976 and 1988, was deeply touched.
‘‘I’ve got fantastic memories. A couple of the best ones here are we played Glasgow Rangers. I was 18 at the time.
‘‘They were a powerhouse in Scotland and probably in Europe at that stage, and a Canterbury team drew 2-2 with them.’’
In 1976, he was part of the Christchurch United side, who stunned Scottish club Heart of Midlothian 1-0 at the Christchurch ground too.
Sumner said it was a massive result considering they were parttime footballers against a professional outfit.
‘‘It was well worth the win and a great result for local football.’’
English Park has experienced vast change since Sumner’s playing days and he was heavily impressed.
‘‘The stand is new in the last couple of years. When I came out, it was an old rickety wooden stand that made a lot of noise when people were banging their feet. ‘‘That pitch is brand new. ‘‘In my day, it used to cut up and you’d finish it with mud around your ankles.’’
Sumner was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer last September and given a 30 per cent chance of survival.
Last month, the cancer spread to his spine, ribs, sternum and lymph nodes and he had more than 20 tumours in his liver.
He has completely changed his diet and is taking supplements and herbal-based products.
Sumner has vowed to tackle the cancer with the same ferocity he showed on the football pitch.
‘‘I’m fighting. They tell me I’m not well. If I listen to that, the alternative isn’t too flash is it?
‘‘They tell me it’s months, not years, but we’ll see.’’
Sumner’s wife, Jude, children and extended family had been a ‘‘tower of strength’’ and were his inspiration.
New Zealand Football encouraged clubs around the country this weekend to dedicate their matches to Sumner and the wider fight against prostate cancer through their after-match speeches and public address announcements.
It is a timely reminder with next month the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s Blue September awareness campaign.
Seeing the English Park grandstand named in his honour was humbling, he said.
‘‘I’m privileged. I’m a little embarrassed because there’s an awful lot of football people, who have contributed a lot of things to the game in Canterbury.
‘‘It does look nice. My family are very chuffed.’’
Mainland Football chief executive Julian Bowden said the board initially looked at naming English Park’s clubrooms after Sumner, but decided ‘‘why not think bigger’’. ’’Everything he’s given to the game, it seemed like the right thing to do.
‘‘He was slightly overwhelmed, but extremely grateful.’’
Former All Whites coach John Adshead, who mentored New Zealand at their first World Cup finals appearance in 1982, said it was difficult to put Sumner’s achievements into words.
He described Sumner as an extension of the coach when he was playing.
‘‘When you look at him on the broad scale, he’s a leader. I was the manager off the field and he was the manager on the field. I’ve always given him the credit.’’
Sumner was an affable character and had the ability to light up a room, Adshead said.
He is one of the few footballers to receive two Fifa order of merit awards, the world football governing body’s highest honour, and in June was named an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
The grandstand naming was deserved recognition for his lifelong contribution to football, Adshead said.
‘‘It’s a magnificent reward to Steve Sumner that his name will live in Christchurch forever and I think that is a fantastic thing.’’
Sumner’s All Whites’ teammate, defender Bobby Almond, labelled Sumner the ‘‘most complete’’ footballer to play for New Zealand.
He was not only a brilliant player, but a superb leader.
‘‘He was captain of the ship. When we went through calm waters it was all fine and in rough seas, he was the front leader.
‘‘It was the group that got us there [to the World Cup], but he was very important to that.’’
Almond said Sumner had the ‘‘game of his life going on at the moment’’, but was confronting it with his trademark resilience and determination.
‘‘Steve’s got an amazing strength of character. He’s got such toughness.’’