Mathewson waiting in limbo with King Country
Left high and dry by failed contract negotiations in Britain, Alby Mathewson is playing the waiting game as he looks for an opportunity to return to the professional ranks.
The former All Blacks halfback is plying his trade for King Country in this season’s Heartland Championship, left in limbo after a stint in Europe was suddenly all over.
After joining Bristol last year, Mathewson was all set for a second season with the club, but with bigname signings joining, his services went unwanted. Then when he thought he was about to link with another club, they also pulled the pin.
It left he and partner Cara - at the time heavily pregnant with their third child - deciding to move back to New Zealand, where they are appreciating the family support, having for now settled in Taupo and living with her parents.
How long they stay will depend on what offers come calling for Mathewson - the 31-year-old who has played provincially for Wellington, Auckland, Hawke’s Bay and last year Canterbury, and who has had Super Rugby stints with the Hurricanes, Blues and Western Force.
He admitted it has been a difficult time, as he looks to make the most of a career while he can.
The Bristol situation was a tough pill to swallow, as billionaire owner Stephen Lansdown got ruthless. Also owning the Bristol Flyers basketball team and Bristol City football team, with the latter in relegation territory like the rugby side, Lansdown’s recruitment went cold.
‘‘He signed [Irish international Ian] Madigan, [Steven] Luatua, [coach] Pat [Lam], on big money, and then he said ‘right, stop’, because if both teams get relegated he loses 15 million pounds,’’ said Mathewson, who had a secondyear option on his contract.
Turns out the football side weren’t relegated anyway, but Mathewson was forced to go shopping, getting into advanced talks with another club and seemingly finding some security.
‘‘The director of rugby said ‘yep, we’ll sign you’, and then the contract didn’t come through, and then a few days later he said ‘it’s coming through, it’s coming through’ then it didn’t,’’ said Mathewson, who was hoping to be one of two foreign players allowed at the club he didn’t want to name.
‘‘Then he ended up signing a South African and an Australian. He just brushed me for two months. I was just left in Bristol, all of the other clubs had filled up, because I’d sort of stopped looking once that club said it’s coming through.’’
So it was a matter of where to next for he and the family, which also consists of two boys - aged two and seven. They own a house in Perth, from Mathewson’s time at the Force, but it’s being rented out, and back with family was enticing.
Having arrived back and Mitre 10 Cup contracts basically all filled, Mathewson was intent on keeping match fitness, should an opportunity come again in the northern hemisphere, where he could be recruited as a ‘medical joker’.
He knew King Country coach Daniel Alofa from their time together at IRANZ, and asked his manager what it would take to join up with the Rams, who then told him he could wander straight in.
‘‘It’s been tough,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m in a big transition at the moment. I’m waiting for an injury, basically.
‘‘They’ve [King Country] been really good, they said if something comes up overseas or something like that, they’ll let me go.’’
But the man who featured in the black jersey in 2010 is nonetheless enjoying his newfound environment which features a ‘‘good bunch of guys’’ and opens the eyes a bit compared with the professional environment.
‘‘It’s a lot different, obviously, from what I’m used to - training starts at seven o’clock at night, we travel over here [to Te Kuiti] an hour and a half once a week to train, hour and a half back, get home at 11.30 at night,’’ he said, while also painting a vivid picture of the intense travel schedule to play South Canterbury the other weekend.
‘‘We had to drive from Taupo up to Hamilton, get on the plane, flight was delayed an hour, fly to Christchurch, on a bus to Timaru, then straight after the game we went from Timaru to Christchurch to stay the night to catch a 6am flight to get to Wellington, hour and a half wait in Wellington, then fly from Wellington to Hamilton, back in the van to Taupo.’’
‘‘I guess it’s what makes it a tough competition, guys work nine to five every day of the week, then have got to train and travel.’’
Mathewson will keep chugging through and see where life takes him next, with even Super Rugby again a possibility.
‘‘I asked my manager about Super Rugby, but I think most of the spots are filled, and I guess it would be quite hard to make Super playing Heartland,’’ he said. ‘‘But you never know, I’ve played here before and I know most of the coaches. But at the moment I’m just open to anything.’’