Top 10 longest-serving sports stars

Tana Umaga in action during Chiefs training. Photo / Christine Cornege

Richie McCaw and Daniel Carter have been offered groundbreaking new contracts that could take them through to the 2015 Rugby World Cup - which would allow them to break all sorts of appearance and scoring records.

Veterans such as Tony Brown, Reuben Thorne and Tana Umaga are back in Super Rugby. So the Herald on Sunday sports team got thinking: Who are the top 10 longest-serving sports stars?

1 Tana Umaga
We all thought it was over in 2007, when Tana Umaga left New Zealand to become director of rugby at French club Toulon. Umaga probably thought so, too.

Even then a record of 74 tests (24 as captain), 122 Super Rugby games for the Hurricanes and a century of appearances for Wellington was impressive. He 'retired' something of a folk hero; widely acknowledged as one of the best All Black three quarters of any era. But Umaga wasn't done.

The dreadlocked one played for Toulon for two seasons and returned to New Zealand in 2010 to play for Counties Manukau in the ITM Cup. It was little surprise he was then offered a Chiefs contract and he's so far played seven games for his new franchise.

Umaga will be 38 later this month - the oldest person to have played Super Rugby and the only one still running around who knows what the competition looked like when it kicked off in 1996.
- Michael Brown

2 Colin Meads
Colin Meads played 55 tests - a figure 31 players have either matched or surpassed - but it was a mammoth achievement over 15 consecutive years.The fact he played a record 133 games for the All Blacks and 361 first-class matches is a better indicator of Meads' contribution (Sean Fitzpatrick is ranked next with 128 in 12 years).

Meads made his All Blacks debut against NSW in 1957 as a 20-year-old and pulled on the black jersey for the last time in 1971 at 35 years, 72 days. By then, age and injuries (he injured his back in a car accident in 1972) were taking their toll but for more than a decade, he was the world's leading player.

He was tough, uncompromising, immensely talented and athletic - and in 1999 named New Zealand's Player of the Century.
- Michael Brown

3 Jimmy Connors
The ultimate tennis streetfighter was also the ultimate warrior. He battled Rosewall, Laver, and Borg in the 1970s, took on Lendl, McEnroe and Edberg in the 1980s and was still competing when Agassi and Sampras came to prominence in the 1990s.

He chalked up a record 109 tournament wins (Federer has 66) from163 finals including eight grand slams. 'Jimbo' won Wimbledon and the Australian Open but his legend was cemented in New York.

After first playing the US Open in 1970, he had the crowd rocking when he reached the semifinals as a 39-year-old in 1991.Afive-timeUSOpenchampion (from seven finals), he made the last four on another seven occasions and has the distinction of being the only man to win the tournament on three different surfaces - grass (1974), clay (1976) and hardcourts (1978, 1982 and 1983).
- Michael Burgess

4 Ed Moses
Edwin Moses deserves inclusion not so much for his long service (although 13 years at the top of a track event like the 400m hurdles is truly gobsmacking) but for the way he dominated it.

From 1977 to 1987, Moses won an astonishing 122 races in a row over nine years, nine months and nine days - surely the most commanding extended track performance ever. And he wasn't racing tortoises.

During that 9-9-9 period, he broke his own world record twice (he broke it four times in all), won three World Cup titles, two world championships, and earned his second Olympic gold medal in LosAngeles in 1984 (the first having come in Montreal in 1976).

He would have won three golds had the US not boycotted the Moscow Olympics of 1980. The man truly was his own era.
- Paul Lewis

5 Gordie Howe
When Gordie Howe made his National Hockey League debut, Harry Truman was the president of the US, World War II had just finished and rock 'n' roll music was yet to be invented.

By the time Howe finally retired, Ronald Reagan was in the White House, the Korean andVietnam wars had been and gone and Elvis Presley was just a memory.

Howe first played for his beloved Detroit Red Wings as an 18-year-old in 1946 and represented them for 25 years, winning four Stanley Cups.

After a few years in the now defunct World Hockey League, the 52-year-old returned to the NHL with the Hartford Whalers in 1981, scoring 15 goals and playing every match of the 80 game season.

Wayne Gretzky has since surpassed his 1071 goals and 1518 assists but no one will ever match Howe's tally of 2421 professional matches.

In Canada, he is known by the trademarked term of "Mr Hockey", while his late wife Colleen was referred to as "Mrs Hockey" (also trademarked).

At the age of 69, he returned for one more match with the Detroit Vipers of the IHL.
- Michael Burgess

6 Peter Shilton
Goalkeepers can last longer in the game than outfield players but, still, the feats of Peter Shilton are extraordinary.

The former England keeper played more games for England than anyone else (125); appeared at three World Cups even though his first didn't come until he was 32; played for 11 different clubs (and made more than 100 appearances for five of them); and is the only person to have played more than 1000 club games in England (the 1000th match was televised live even though he was playing for third division Leyton Orient).

By the time he retired in 1997, he was 47 and his career had spanned four decades (1966-1997). He was still in the Premier League at 46 - although he wasn't used by West Ham - and played his last game for England at 41 in the 1990World Cup.

He could have played significantly more games for England but he was overlooked for Ray Clemence (61 games) between 1975 and 1981.
- Michael Brown

7 Merlene Ottey
Even Moses might have to tip his lid to the great Ottey. Last year, at 50 years of age, the queen of female sprinters anchored the Slovenian relay team in the European Championships in Barcelona - and then told the doubters she'd be running in the 2011 championships this year. Whether she does remains to be seen but there has never been a sprinter of Ottey's longevity.

While she didn't have Moses' enduring dominance in her event, she holds the record for most Olympic appearances (seven; winning three silver and six bronze medals; the most by any female athlete) and the most women's world championship medals (14 - three gold, four silver, seven bronze).

Her international career began in 1979 and thus covered 32 years if Barcelona proves her last outing. If you're wondering why a Jamaican runs for Slovenia, it was because she got the hump with Jamaica when they seemed unlikely to select her as a mere 40-year-old.
- Paul Lewis

8 Richard Hadlee
A renowned perfectionist who would practise bowling at a single stump for hours each day, Hadlee maintained impeccably high standards in an international career that touched three decades.

While numerous cricketers have played to a ripe age, few have been fast bowlers and Hadlee was still playing test cricket at the age of 39. He played 86 tests between 1973and 1990, becoming the first manto take 400 test wickets (retiring with a world record 431 wickets at 22.69).

Surrounded by a core of solid professionals, 'Paddles' took the team to a new level as New Zealand began to win test matches on a regular basis for the first time ever.

He reached his peak in the mid- 1980s, highlighted by an incrediblehaul of 15 for 123 against Australia at the Gabba.

In his final test match he took five for 53 in the second innings against England, including a wicket with his last ball in test cricket. He had given up ODI cricket a few years earlier but was probably still good enough to play tests into his 40s if he had desired.
-Michael Burgess

9 Ryan Giggs
Hailed as the next George Best when he made his Manchester United debut as a 17- year-old back in 1991, Giggs is now simply the best.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has never been the sentimental type but the Welshman's consistent brilliance has seen him retain a spot at OldTrafford for 21 successive campaigns. He has transformed from a fast winger to a deep-lying playmaker but continues to make important contributions in big matches.

Giggs has made more than 800 appearances for United but the 37- year-old retains the ability to create and score goals at the highest level, as in the 2-0 win over Schalke in the Champions League semi final last week.

Playing in the most physically demanding football league in the world, Giggs has been unaffected by serious injury and still seems to glide across the turf.

He is currently hunting his 12th league title (a record), a third Champions League medal and is the only player who has scored in every season since the Premier League began in 1992.
- Michael Burgess

10 Darren Lockyer
Doesn't hold the NRL record for appearances yet but, assuming he gets through this league season (his 17th) without serious mishap, the Brisbane Broncos star will surely set all manner of marks this year.

Terry Lamb and Steve Menzies hold the NRL appearances high-watermark (with 349 each) but Lockyer already has 339 with a lot of the season to come. He is already the record-holder for most games at one club.

In international terms, he has the most caps (54) and most tries (34) for the Kangaroos and the most tests as captain. He is one test away from equalling Ruben Wiki's world record of 55 tests. If he plays State of Origin this year, he will likely break Allan Langer's record (34 Origin games; Lockyer has 33).
- Paul Lewis