Midfield man from famous shield era dies
One of the players from Manawatu’s golden era of rugby, Paul Broederlow, has died, aged 60.
Broederlow, who died on Tuesday night after a battle with cancer, was a midfield back for Manawatu during the famous Ranfurly Shield era in the late 1970s.
He played 27 games for Manawatu from 1975 to 1978, which coincided with Manawatu’s shield tenure from 1976 to 1978.
In those days the team was filled with All Blacks, and Broederlow’s team-mate Terry Clare was a good friend.
‘‘He was a really good guy,’’ Clare said. ‘‘He was always interested in Manawatu rugby.
‘‘He helped in the early stages of getting the [Manawatu Turbos] gym going.’’
Broederlow was the second fiveeighth for the first couple of years in the Manawatu side, then once Lachie Cameron arrived on the scene, the two were vying for positions in midfield, Clare said.
‘‘[Broederlow ] was a real talent and he had a great attitude to the game. With guys like Doug Rollerson and Mark Thomson and that, they were really good attacking backs.’’
Broederlow coached the Hato Paora College sevens team briefly with Clare, but with three daughters, rugby coaching wasn’t on his radar as much.
Broederlow’s daughter Hannah was a New Zealand under-21 rep, played for the Otago Rebels in the old national league competition, then had stints for the Central Pulse, Northern Mystics and Mainland Tactix as a defender.
Broederlow was general manager of Wallace Development in Palmerston North, then about four years ago moved to Mt Maunganui, when Wallace Development opened a branch in Tauranga. Originally from Taranaki, Broederlow shifted to Manawatu, where he played for then club Teachers’ College, who had a team in senior A from 1975-77.
In 1976 he played three games for the New Zealand Colts and he played one game for Manawatuhorowhenua in 1977.
When Teachers’ College went back to the B grade he played a season for Freyberg.
He was also in the Manawatu sevens team that won the national title for the first time in 1977, as well as in 1978, and in 1978 they went to the Hong Kong international championship, where they lost the final to Fiji.
Broederlow spent a season in Taranaki in 1979, and played three games for Taranaki.
One of Broederlow’s teammates, former All Black Doug Rollerson, died two weeks ago, aged 63.