Top class referee and devoted dad will be missed by all
From repping the Wellington region in swimming, to controlling over 200 Horowhenua-Ka¯piti senior rugby games, Mike McNamara’s life had been focused on keeping fit and healthy.
This is why his sudden passing earlier in March, aged 60 years young, came as such a shock to his family and the rugby community.
Mike was working out at a Ka¯piti gym when he suddenly collapsed and, despite the attempts of gym staff and local emergency services, was unable to be revived.
“Going to the gym was something he did almost daily,” said Mike’s wife Kay, “and there’d been no signs that there was anything wrong with him before this happened.”
Mike grew up on the Ka¯piti Coast and, surprisingly, rugby didn’t really play a big part in those early years.
In fact, swimming was his passion, and he competed nationally in his youth with such Commonwealth athletes as Rebecca Perrott and Gary
Hurring, specialising in backstroke.
Kay met Mike through her after school job at the Porirua Licensing Trust, and they were married in 1982 at the ages of 19 and 20 respectively.
“He was my first and only love . . . it would’ve been our 40th anniversary this year,” said Kay.
The McNamaras moved to the Ka¯piti Coast when they started their family, so their
children could build the same memories Mike had of his childhood.
When their oldest, Brittany, was 11, the family moved to Whanganui with Mike’s work where, according to Kay, they had some of the best years of their lives.
Kay and Mike were all about creating memories for their children — Brittany, Bailey and Dale — when they were younger so, when time
allowed, family trips away were a regular occurrence.
Having close relationships with extended family on both sides was important as well, with Mike enjoying going hunting with his in-laws.
Mike’s foray into sports leadership had begun as a swim coach at the Tawa Swimming Club, then on to the Whanganui Swimming Club when his children began there.
While living in Whanganui,
Mike also made his first ventures into rugby refereeing and often told Kay the rugby union there gave him the best training for his role — very strict and thorough.
The McNamaras had very active lives in Whanganui, with rugby, swimming, netball and dancing taking up a lot of the children’s spare time.
According to Kay, it was a bit of a whirlwind — Mike and she didn’t always see a lot of