Teen's team to play despite death

Colts teammates vote to carry on as messages pour in from clubs

The teammates of the late Daniel Baldwin have voted to play this weekend’s scheduled fixture despite the passing of the Wellington teenager.

And teams across the region will pay their own tributes to Baldwin, with the Hurricanes expected to observe a minute’s silence, before their Super Rugby home clash with the Cheetahs at Westpac Stadium on Saturday.

Wellington senior club teams will also be asked to wear black armbands out of respect for Baldwin and his family.

Baldwin displayed concussion symptoms and left the field near the end of a colts agegroup game between his Wellington Rugby Football Club and Paremata Plimmerton at Ngati Toa Domain on Saturday, and his condition deteriorated rapidly.

He was rushed to Wellington Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery on Saturday night and spent the days since in an induced coma.

Baldwin, 19, died on Wednesday night, with his parents Len and Eva, brothers Stefan and Markus, and his girlfriend in attendance.

Speaking to Radio Sport’s D’Arcy Waldegrave yesterday, club president and long serving sports broadcaster Keith Quinn said Baldwin’s team had decided to go on with their match this weekend.

“The boys involved in the team where Daniel played, they voted to play again this Saturday,” Quinn said.

“So that’s remarkable, the spirit of that team. I hope they’ll see it as a mark of the spirit of our long-standing club.”

Quinn noted that the messages of support he had received from rival clubs since news broke of Baldwin’s death was “uplifting”.

“It is very sad. I’m just at my place and fielding calls from all over the place,” he said.

“Most significantly, I should mention, is calls from other clubs. I’ve had five or six guys from other clubs call me.

“I had a call and a long chat with the referee from the game. Reverend Father Barry Scannell from the local church here [is] on the board of Marist St Pat’s, he called me to say they’d been saying prayers at their board meeting last night.

“So while it is a tremendous time of sadness, there’s a pulling together around this, which has been quite uplifting to know there’s all of those people from other clubs — and of course my own club, the Wellington club — have been calling in.

“It shows that although there might be rivalries on the field every Saturday when the whistle blows, off the field we’re a sports community and we pull together and feel the loss of one of our own.”

Baldwin’s under-21 colts side will play the Avalon Wolves at Fraser Park at 1pm.