Ex-All Black Hewitt relives fateful Queenstown night

Former All Black hooker Norm Hewitt has copped plenty of jibes since drunkenly breaking into the wrong Queenstown hotel room in 1999.

His actions at the time made national news, and at a press conference organised by the New Zealand Rugby Union to apologise for his actions, Hewitt broke down in tears.

It proved to be a life-changing moment, for it was then that Hewitt finally realised how serious his drinking problem had become.

Speaking during Massey University's Sport and Alcohol three-day conference yesterday, Hewitt could poke fun at his public embarrassment.

"Many people come up with jokes, like 'Don't do a Norm', or 'Watch out for the window', or 'Norm, you can't have many windows in your house'.

"But I don't know how many people have said: 'Bud, I've been there. But I'd hate to have gone what through what you went through'."

Although Hewitt was resentful toward the media for putting him under the public spotlight at the time, he now realises he had only himself to blame.

If his drinking episodes hadn't come to such a dramatic head, Hewitt doubts he'd still be alive to talk about them.

Hewitt felt he had become an actor on the stage -- presenting a public image of being a staunch All Black while behind the scenes struggling to cope with social and drinking problems.

"I never really grew up in an environment that gave me some real social balance," he said.

"Because rugby as a culture was party hard -- train hard, play hard.

"And partying was at the forefront of everything."

Hewitt admits he wasn't aware of how his personality changed when he began drinking.

His former teammates used to call him Boris when he got drunk, knowing to stand well clear of him so as to avoid any possible trouble.

When Hewitt announced to his All Black teammates he'd decided to give up drinking after his Queenstown episode, the announcement was met with sceptisicm.

"I remember standing in front of the team the night after I got back from hospital.

"And my words were: 'I apologise for this -- this will never happen again'.

"It was really interesting. Everything shifted -- because out of 25 players in that room, two of them came up and said we're with you.

"Twenty-three of them basically said we've heard this before -- the boy's crying wolf."

Hewitt said that, before "coming clean", he never used to take any personal responsibility for his actions.

"I used to blame coaches.

"Not (because of) the fact that my actions were part of the reason why I didn't get the chance."

Hewitt said he would also blame girlfriends, trainers and virtually anybody except himself.

Nowadays, Hewitt spends much of his time working for a private company that sells the alcohol and drug-free message to at-risk communities and prisons.

Hewitt doesn't want to be labelled a role-model, preferring to simply be an example of someone who has overcome an alcohol problem.

The most important person Hewitt is an example to now is his one-year-old daughter Elizabeth.

But Hewitt said he now finds himself occasionally confronted by another health dilemma, as his daughter eats carrot while she watches him devour coke and chips.

- NZPA