Dad says rugby-mad son would have loved Lions tour

MARTY SHARPE Tino Amato, who died while playing rugby three years ago this month, would have loved following the Lions tour with his son, says Tino's father, Manu.
Manu, 62, from Wairoa, is an avid rugby follower and has been following the visiting Briton's and Irish progress closely.
His son, a 33-year-old Takapau freezing worker, was playing on the wing for Central Hawke's Bay at Waipukurau's Central Park when he died after being tackled.
Dannevirke coroner Stuart Smith ruled that the tackle, by Otane fullback and Hawke's Bay representative Afa Sauia, was neither high nor illegal, and that Tino's death was an accident caused by the way he landed on the ground.
Initially thought to have been winded, Mr Amato collapsed at the sideline, underwent mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and was flown to Hawke's Bay Hospital in Hastings where he was pronounced dead soon after arrival.
The post mortem established that the father-of-one died of asphyxiation after crushing his larynx.
Manu was "put off" rugby for a year following Tino's death, but has been a strong supporter of his 16-year-old grandson Jonathan, who played number 8 for Hastings Boys High School. "He's not playing this year. I don't want to force him into the game. It's his decision," Manu says.
Manu used to travel from Wairoa to watch Jonathan play in the morning and Tino in the afternoon. He says he can't watch rugby without thinking of Tino, but he doesn't blame the sport for his death.
"You can get hurt in any sport. It's just the way they play the game. I'm not really into these high tackles," Manu says.
Tino's widow, Vanessa, has not watched much rugby since Tino's death.
"I was never that into it anyway. I used to joke with Tino that rugby was his first love and his wife was his second," she said.
She and Jonathan watched the Lions first match, against Bay of Plenty, earlier this month.
"We talked about how it was the first whole game we'd watched in a long time. I don't deliberately not watch it, but my attitude has changed toward it," Vanessa said.
She said she thought rugby was no more dangerous than some other sports, and did not mind Jonathan taking to the field. "I'm always concerned when he plays but I would never stop him," she said.
"Tino would have loved watching the Lions tour".
"I miss him. Having rugby around all the time doesn't make me miss him any more than I normally do.
"You miss someone you have lost. It's more the small things, like having him home to do the dishes or the lawns. "That's what I miss," she said.