Rugby fan’s dedicated crusade
Crusaders fan Nigel Gray has been at seven of the team’s eight Super Rugby title winning matches – and he’ll be there on Saturday night to cheer them on.
Gray’s only missed one successful final: last year’s match against the Lions was in Johannesburg, and the cost and logistics of getting to South Africa proved too much.
This week, he was more-than pleased this year’s final is on home turf, at AMI Stadium in Christchurch – even if his attendance might not guarantee his side the win.
Sure, he’s been in the stands at nearly all the Crusaders’ title wins – but he was also pitch-side in 2003 when the Blues avenged their 1998 loss.
His finals crusade began 20 years ago at Eden Park, when the Crusaders beat the Blues to win its first Super Rugby title.
Then, he was a courier driver and Crusaders player Scott Robertson – now the coach – went to his work to talk about sporting and business success.
After meeting Robertson, Gray and a group of courier drivers decided to attend Crusaders games together, forming the Scott ‘Razor’ Robertson Fan Club in the process.
About a dozen club members got up at the crack of dawn one Saturday to catch an early flight to Auckland and the final.
The group was hopeful rather than confident of winning, but he could still remember the roar of the crowd and the elation when James Kerr ran onto an Andrew Mehrtens kick to score the game’s decisive try, he said.
Those were the days of afternoon kick-offs and being allowed on the ground after the final whistle, and Gray remembers fan club members and Crusaders players hanging around together on the field for several hours afterwards, soaking it all in.
It was also when a few club members decided that they would be there for the Crusaders for future finals.
A trip to Dunedin to play the Highlanders, then to Canberra to play the Brumbies, followed as the Crusaders secured successive titles.
All the other finals Gray attended were in Christchurch – but the away games stood out in his memory, he said.
‘‘You’ve got to pay a bit of money to get there so it’s only the hard core fans who go.
‘‘They’re the ones who are as passionate as you are.’’
These days, Gray takes his 6-yearold son Lincoln to the games. The fan club wound up about the time Robertson moved to continue his playing career in Europe in 2003.
The ‘‘born-and-bred Cantab who bleeds red and black’’ said he was lucky his son was as passionate and loyal about the Crusaders as he was.
They both have season tickets and have been to every home game this year, and Gray said they cannot wait for Saturday night.
‘‘It’s been a long time coming since the last home final.’’
The Crusaders play the Lions on Saturday night at AMI Stadium.
‘‘It’s been a long time coming since the last home final.’’ Crusaders fan Nigel Gray