When Christchurch ruled the world
If you listen carefully this winter on one of those cold, clear, Canterbury evenings, you’ll hear the thumpitythump of Ivan Mauger teaching the gods to ride a motorcycle on cinders.
Ivan Mauger is gone. Departed. Deceased. He’s run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible.
And New Zealand is poorer for the loss of a guy who must have been our greatest sportsman ever.
I’d like to say: ‘‘the king is dead, long live the king.’’ But I can’t for the life of me think who might be capable of stepping in to Mauger’s massive shoes.
Stephen Adams has big feet and a promising career ahead. But nobody else springs to mind.
What Mauger did for New Zealand’s reputation can’t be overstated. He also promoted Christchurch as a place that breeds champions.
Mauger was a Christchurch boy who took on the world and won. But he didn’t just win. He completely dominated the sport like none before or since. He introduced professionalism to a sport that still felt amateur and set a template for how a sportspeople’s behaviour.
I’m sure when Michael Jordan departs this mortal coil they’ll say: ‘‘He was the Ivan Mauger of Basketball.’’
Was Mauger our greatest sportsperson ever? Can you think of anyone that achieved a similar level of success? Who else might be in the mix? Denny Hulme? Pinetree Meads? Valerie Adams? Phar Lap? None of them come close to a guy who at his peak was absolutely un-bloody-touchable.
It was great to see Mauger getting the praise he deserved in the Kiwi media this week. Sure, if he’d been a rugby player or a cricketer of the same calibre they’d have led every bulletin with news of his death but sadly motorsport was and will continue to be the ugly cousin of New Zealand sport.
Let’s not tell the story of Ivan Mauger without mentioning the other Christchurch lads Ronnie Moore and Barry Briggs. These guys managed to collect 12 world championships between them way back when Christchurch ruled the world.
And let’s not forget Les Moore, Mick Holland, Tommy McLeary and all the other characters of Christchurch speedway who fostered the world champions.
It’s easy to forget how massive speedway was. Of an evening, Aranui Speedway would roar with the sound of 14,000 spectators.
14,000 people. It’s hard to fathom that many people showing up – with regularity – to a motorsport event.
Aranui Speedway was a Christchurch cultural institution. A place where working class people came together after the war to remember they were alive, to socialise and watch world champions being made.
So popular was speedway that by some accounts more than half of the children born on the east side of Christchurch during the 1950s were conceived in the sand dunes around the speedway track.
Mauger never forgot he was a Christchurch boy and neither did his family. He was a Crusaders nut ‘til the end and when he decided to sell his collection of bikes and memorabilia, it was Canterbury Museum that ended up acquiring it. Not because it offered the most money but because it was where his generous family felt it should reside.
Canterbury Museum and Christchurch city are richer due to the generosity of Ivan’s family; richer because a portion of Ivan Mauger’s time on planet earth was spent here in Christchurch.
If you’re looking for something to do over the holidays I recommend taking the kids to Canterbury Museum to see what the career of a legend looks like. His gold plated bike is out of this world.
Thanks for the memories Ivan.