Jonah Lomu’s reach extended beyond rugby
As expected, whenever anyone who has lived a life of note dies in New Zealand, there is an outpouring of grief from the ranks of celebrity, right down to the person next door.
The untimely death of rugby legend and all-round Kiwi hero Jonah Lomu has certainly revealed to us a level of national and international reach that most probably has not been seen since Sir Edmund Hillary went to the tall peak in the sky.
It is a big call but – without diminishing Hillary’s conquest in the slightest because that it pretty untenable – Lomu’s influence has perhaps even surpassed that of Hillary if for no other reason than his legend occurred in the internet generation.
Lomu, aged 40, collapsed and died at his Auckland home early on Wednesday morning after returning from Dubai on Tuesday,
There would be very few New Zealanders who would be able to say they were not shocked at his death, and fewer still who would not be aware of his impact both on the rugby field and off.
Even non-rugby fans would not have been able to avoid Lomu’s shining light.
But perhaps one of his biggest legacies will be the one that gets the least amount of media coverage, and is the least tangible of all – the influence Lomu had on the Pacific Island community of New Zealand.
While nowadays young children can look to their national rugby team and see a range of backgrounds all succeeding in their own right, there is no doubt that the success Lomu earned during his career lit up the lives of many from the wrong side of the tracks, where Lomu himself began life.
The rise of the success of Pacific Island players within the All Blacks could easily be linked with Lomu but who knows how many non-sport related achievements he has inspired in the wider Tongan community.
Lomu re-wrote the rule book for almost everything in his life, and the lives of an unknown number of people will be forever changed by following in the shadow of his 6ft 5in frame.