Jiving Chats bowls them over
Dr Ashley Bloomfield, two former All Blacks, a World Cup-winning Silver Fern and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern all played second fiddle to a twinkle-toed 70-year-old cricketer on Thursday night.
Cricketing great Ewen Chatfield has been honoured as a Legend at the Hutt Valley Sports Awards.
Chatfield, who is affectionately known as the Naenae Express and Chatty, is also a keen rock and roll dancer.
After recounting his near-death experience, when he was hit in the head by English fast bowler Peter Lever on debut in 1975, Chatfield thrilled the crowd by dancing to the tune of Crocodile Rock.
The Supreme Award went to Silver Fern World Cup-winning defender Karin Burger.
South African-born Burger started her New Zealand career with Naenae Collegians United and retains close links to the Hutt Valley club, where she coaches and mentors.
She told the audience she had started playing netball at six and although she did not have any netball heroes, she greatly admired fellow South Africans Irene van Dyke and Leana de Bruin.
The support she has received from Naenae netball stalwart Jo Paroa, who had taken her in and treated her like a daughter, had been crucial to her development as a player.
Burger said Paroa and the Naenae netball community had continued to support her career with the Central Pulse and Silver Ferns.
It was Chatfield, however, who stole the show. Having first played for Naenae in 1968, he retired only last year.
He recalled his first first-class scalp, Cantabrian Cran Bull, and spoke about his debut and being hit by Lever.
His airway was blocked and it was only the prompt action of English physiotherapist Bernard Thomas that saved his life.
The first thing he could recall after being resuscitated was waking up in the ambulance and being asked if he could remember the score (which he could).
Sports broadcaster Jason Pine recalled many of his great performances, noting that Sir Richard Hadlee would not have been as successful without Chatfield at the other end.
The evening started with a video link to Ardern, who congratulated all the finalists and acknowledged the importance of community sport. She was followed by Hutt resident Dr Bloomfield, who paid tribute to organiser Ken Laban after he rescheduled the awards three times due to Covid19.
Like New Zealanders, who had come together collectively to defeat Covid-19, Laban had shown real leadership by overcoming the problems caused by the pandemic, he said.
With more than 1200 attendees, the awards were the biggest in New Zealand, Bloomfield said.
It was also a big night for the Randwick League Club, which earlier in the month lost its greatest player, John Whittaker. The crowd was asked to stand and remember Kiwi No 485, who played in four world cups and was known as Pineapple.
Laban was delighted with the reception Chatfield received, saying it showed how much community sport is still valued. Chatfield had continued playing for Naenae whenever he could, despite being a fixture in the New Zealand team for more than a decade.
‘‘Chatty is just one of those sportspeople that everybody loves. To think that he was still playing for Naenae when he was nearly 70 is just amazing.’’
The audience included former All Blacks captain Andy Leslie and 2011 World Cup hero Piri Weepu.
The current awards were started by Laban in 2011, with help from what is now Stuff.