Long service to sport recognised by honour

QSM recipient Blair Furlong said wife Kathie and family were always supportive of his sporting commitments. Photo / Warren Buckland

When Blair Furlong's regal letter from the Governor-General's office arrived in the mailbox of his Napier home, his heart skipped a beat or two.

The former All Black and Central Districts cricketer, who had the potential to be a Black Cap had he invested more time in the summer code, thought it was an invite to a function at the Government House.

"In my previous life as a cricket and gaming administrator, I used to get lots of invites from the Governor-General, none of which I could accept because the rules didn't allow me to."

The 71-year-old retired as CD Cricket Association chief executive in June 2010 after more than two decades of service in cricket's major association office.

"So now that I'm retired I got this thing and I thought I had been invited to a garden party because he is retiring," a grinning Mr Furlong said of Sir Jerry Mateparae, who is stepping down as the 20th Governor-General on August 31.

As it turned out, the letter was informing and congratulating him on making the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours list, among five other recipients from Hawke's Bay, and pleasantly an even bigger surprise to receive the Queen's Service Medal (QSM).

"I was very happy to read the letter that I was going to receive the QSM in recognition of my involvement with rugby and cricket. It's very humbling."

Mr Furlong's rugby-playing tenure ended not long after the end of the All Blacks' tour of South Africa in 1970.

Service to sport, he hastens to add, requires support from administrators and players' families.

"Without the support of wives and families we can't do what we do so that's what we did.

I would have thought that my wife, who has spent 18 years as a [Napier] city councillor, must have been in line for an award before me."

Wife Kathie Furlong is the former deputy mayor. They have three children - John, Campbell and Hannah.

"When I was a cricket administrator my children hated me because they had to put the covers on and take them off at Nelson Park and McLean Park every weekend as it was a part-time job."