Netball star competitive but kind
‘‘It was always a tense time, because she would scream and jump out of her seat when a call was made or when someone shot a goal. She was very into it.’’
Margaret Forsyth
netballer/councillor b December 28, 1961 d May 4, 2021
On the netball court, Margaret Forsyth was competitive, uncompromising but also kind, and knew how to get the best out of everyone, not just her team-mates but her opponents as well.
Off the court, as a coach, city councillor and mum, she lived by the same set of values to help people reach their potential.
Forsyth, who was 59, had been on sick leave from council duties since last month after a cancer diagnosis.
Last Saturday, friends, family, former team-mates and political colleagues gathered at St Paul’s Collegiate’s Chapel of Christ the King, in Hamilton, for a service to commend Forsyth’s contribution to her community and country.
She leaves behind three sons, Thomas, Jonathan and Lucien, and a granddaughter, Rosie-Rae.
It has not been an easy 18 months for the family. In early 2020, the boys’ father and Forsyth’s husband, Brian Nabbs, died. Forsyth took time off to look after him during an illness.
Youngest son Lucien said his mum was always on the go when the family was young, encouraging her sons to be active, to get their bodies and minds moving. ‘‘Mum got us involved in a whole range of sport. Rugby was first, but we also had soccer, swimming and athletics.
‘‘She was my first coach and, as we got older, she remained our best supporter. She was quite vocal on the sideline, you could hear her voice above everyone else.’’
The family grew up near Cambridge, and moved to Hamilton when the boys were teenagers. After they left high school, Forsyth began looking for options to coach representative netball.
Lucien said apart from sport, his mum enjoyed a good social life with friends and was an ‘‘adventure gal’’, taking the family on many ‘‘random road trips’’ which usually involved some type of physical activity. ‘‘As she got older I started to see another side of Mum. She started to take more time out for herself, became appreciative of some quiet time.’’
Watching the Silver Ferns live on TV, however, was not a quiet affair. ‘‘It was always a tense time because she would scream and jump out of her seat when a call was made or when someone shot a goal. She was very into it.’’
Lucien said his parents taught their sons to find their passion in life and follow it. ‘‘They always supported us. Mum gave me two bits of advice around careers. The first was to just make a decision, don’t muck around and go for it.
‘‘The second was around showing gratitude for life, for every day, and I think that’s something she discovered during the second half of her life.’’
The past few weeks had been made bearable by the support of her friends and former team-mates. Some had moved in to the family home for a while, and others made daily visits to help out.
Margaret Hine Forsyth, of Nga¯ ti Kahungunu ki Wairoa descent, was born in Hamilton to parents Gary and Vera. She had two brothers, Mark and Gary.
Forsyth was clever, curious, ‘‘super intelligent’’ but also an active and mischievous girl growing up at the tailend of the Baby Boomer generation, according to lifelong friend Lesley Patterson.
‘‘We grew up in Brocas Ave together, went to school together from Knighton Primary, to Peachgrove Intermediate and then to Hillcrest High. But teachers soon learnt that we should not sit together and probably should not even be in the same class.
‘‘We would try anything once and were part of a bigger group of kids on Brocas Ave, all born around about the same time. Wherever Marg went, I was not far behind her and vice versa.’’
Patterson remembers Forsyth’s parents, and especially her mother, having ‘‘quite complex’’ discussions about tactics for their primary school netball team.
‘‘Vera really nurtured Margaret’s talent. She gave her that ability to think strategically and that really helped her
Son Lucien on watching netball on TV with his mother
develop. We were only about 9 but we would take those strategies and use them to annihilate the opposition. Margaret was our secret weapon.’’
Many talked about Forsyth’s netball achievements, but Patterson remembered her as an all-rounder. At secondary school she studied French and German and excelled at both.
The two friends left high school and attended teachers’ training college a year apart. ‘‘Later on she became very busy with her family and sport but we maintained contact. Last year we did some campervanning around the South Island and she was really just a fantastic lifelong friend.’’
Many at the service were former teammates, managers and coaches.
Forsyth is Silver Fern netballer No 66. She played 64 tests over eight years and performed at the highest standard as a goal attack, goal shoot and wing attack.
Her debut match was against Jamaica on August 2, 1979, as a 17-year-old Hillcrest High School student. She was already an all-round sportswoman, with a strong background in athletics and was a national titleholder in the pentathlon.
Netball was where she found her niche, though. She was known for her athletic ability, mental strength, high skill level and unrelenting determination.
She played in three World Cups with the Silver Ferns, winning two, the first in 1979 in Trinidad and Tobago, and the second in 1987, in Glasgow. She was also in the national team that came runner-up in the 1983 World Cup in Singapore.
Her career came to a sudden end in 1987 when injury forced her retirement at just 27.
Leigh Gibbs started her international netball career in the late 1970s too, playing in the Silver Ferns with Forsyth.
‘‘My first memories of Marg were probably defending against her. I was playing for Canterbury and she was playing for Waikato. She was young, but with gifted ability, that was my assessment of her.’’
Gibbs said Forsyth worked hard but also had a great sense of humour. Her presence in the Silver Ferns lifted the team’s performance.
Forsyth enjoyed a bit of conflict too, her team manager of 12 years, Sandra Carter, said. ‘‘She used to say conflict is part of how a team grows.’’
Carter and Forsyth formed a formidable manager and coach netball combination in Hamilton from 2011 to 2018. They guided players in club, agegroup teams, through to the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic in the ANZ Premiership for the 2017-18 seasons.
‘‘Marg was a very strong woman and she believed that women needed strong role models so they could achieve their best.
‘‘She was also a very spiritual person. She was kind, but she challenged her players to get the best out of them.
‘‘She taught me about diversity. That was such a huge thing to me because I thought you just treated everyone the same.
‘‘But Marg taught me that everyone brings their own story, their own set of values, and she showed me how to use that to get something special out of each person.’’
In 2019, when Forsyth was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to netball and the community, she said: ‘‘I love the game, I love thinking about the game, about the future of the game. I just think it’s an amazing vehicle for girls and women, that they can learn so much about being a leader, a contributor.’’
One of those who wrote a letter of support was former Hamilton mayor Julie Hardaker, who served on the Hamilton City Council with her for two terms from 2010.
‘‘Margaret was an excellent councillor. She was a person of integrity and humour, she always wanted to do the best for her community, and I think that showed in the projects she advanced.’’
Forsyth took a lead on initiatives to improve cycling opportunities, and to establish destination playgrounds.
‘‘She was very focused on the wellbeing of people, on the outdoors and giving people a chance to be active.’’
The supporting documents for Forsyth’s royal honour application showed she was a police officer for five years, coach of the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic for two seasons, and a councillor into her third term.
But, more importantly, it showed the extent of her volunteer work for the sport she loved. She had 12 roles to which she gave her time to advance other people’s opportunities in netball, from coaching Oceania Netball in 1991, to secondary school, regional and national coaching roles. – By Lawrence Gullery
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