Rest easy my dear friend
when he made the Kangaroo’s Wally Lewis look second-best.
‘The King’ would happily trot out the story for Kiwi audiences every time he could, calling Olsen ‘10-feet tall and bulletproof’. Olsen, not so much, he was a quiet and humble guy who would pretty-much only acknowledge he had a good game.
Those who played with ‘The Big O’ would talk of him being a fine club player but a great when he pulled on the Kiwi jumper, someone who would do anything for the cause, something that made him extremely popular with his teammates.
And all the time, whenever he was home spending time where he most wanted to be, surrounded by family, he would still find time for his old butcher friend.
I will remember him as a big man – he would have to have been just to hold his big heart, a man with a gentle touch, with a sporting ability many yearn for and few ever achieve, and a sense of humour that ensured a smile was never far from his lips.
I saw him interviewed on Aussie TV and he talked about how a man who was always known in Australia as ‘the
Galloping Garbo’ for his daytime work as a bin-man, was still on the trucks, though these days driving. ‘‘It’s my wheelchair,’’ he said with his characteristic grin, adding that he was still recognised, although only by those ‘‘getting a lot older’’.
Olsen played 50 times for the Kiwis, with 29 tests in that, and racked up 100 first grade games for the Tigers, Roosters and Bears.
Born in Awarua, near Kaikohe, Sissie was his guiding light and despite the welldocumented racism he faced in Australia, Olsen promised her he would never fight because it would give Pasifika/Māori a bad name.
It’s a promise he kept, and that tells you all you need to know about who he was at his core.
There is a fabulous book by Partrick Skene, still available through Paper Plus and Whitcoulls called The Big O: The Life and Times of Olsen Filipaina – Pacific Revolution Pioneer, if you want to read Olsen’s story.
Rest easy old friend.
❚ Olsen’s brother, Auckland Councillor Alf Filipaina, will put funeral details on his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/alf. filipaina) when he is able.