South Taranaki Mayor Phil Nixon (left), Lions president Othmar Hebler, former All Black Kieran Crowley and Sue Crowley at the South Taranaki District Council's Sporting Hall of Fame induction.
South Taranaki Mayor Phil Nixon (left), Lions president Othmar Hebler, former All Black Kieran Crowley and Sue Crowley at the South Taranaki District Council's Sporting Hall of Fame induction.
Rugby player Kieran Crowley and Olympic rowing coxswain, the late Simon Dickie, have been inducted into the South Taranaki Sporting Hall of Fame.
Crowley and his wife, Sue Crowley, along with Dickie’s daughters Chloe and Clementine and his long-term partner Adi Walker, attended the ceremony hosted by South TaranakiMayor Phil Nixon on July 22.
The South Taranaki Sporting Hall of Fame started in 2017 and nine former athletes have now been inducted.
They include Adine Wilson (netball), James Hunter (rugby), Stan Lay (javelin) and Michael Campbell (golf).
Inductees must meet elite sporting criteria, as well as have a strong association with South Taranaki and have spent a significant period of their life living in the district.
The Sporting Hall of Fame had been a partnership between the Hāwera Rotary Club and the South Taranaki District Council since 2017. This year, the Normanby & Districts Lions Club took over the partnership with the council.
Crowley played 200 games for Taranaki, scoring 1723 points, and 36 games for the All Blacks.
Crowley was honoured to be inducted into the Sporting Hall of Fame.
“It’s a proud moment. There’s a lot of people that go into you being able to receive it – there’s a lot of other people to thank but it was pretty cool.”
Crowley was born and raised in Kaponga, playing his junior rugby for Kaponga Rugby Club before moving to Sacred Heart College in Auckland to board.
He is the oldest of five siblings; his brothers Neil, Alan and Sean also played for Taranaki.
“They were probably the formative years, when you are in a small place like that, you play everything,” he said.
“I remember Mum and Dad taking us to athletics, tennis club, rugby club, football club, cricket club. Being brought up in a small township like Kaponga, a lot of people make things tick and that grounds you for the future.”
Kieran Crowley coached in Italy for Benetton before taking on the Italian national coach role. Photo / Photosport
Crowley said he would never forget the late Francis Garty, a respected parish priest who was a big supporter of Kaponga Rugby Club.
Once his playing days were over, Crowley transitioned to coaching, leading teams such as Taranaki, Canada, Benetton and Italy, further cementing his influence in the global rugby scene.
He now coaches rugby in Japan with the MIE Honda Heat, coaching the likes of Argentinian player Pablo Matera, South African lock Franco Mostert and former Wallabies fullback Tom Banks.
Dickie, born in Waverley, was a part of Whanganui Collegiate School’s Maadi Cup-winning crews between 1966 and 1968.
His rowing career took off when, aged 17, he was selected as the coxswain for the New Zealand rowing team at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, where he led the coxed four to a historic victory, New Zealand’s first Olympic gold in rowing.
Dickie’s success continued, with several more Olympic medals, including gold in the Munich 1972 Olympic eight event. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, he was again cox for the eight, which this time won bronze.
He was a well-respected figure in the sporting community and his leadership, skill and contributions to rowing earned him a place among the country’s most celebrated Olympians.
Dickie’s daughter, Chloe Dickie, attended the Hall of Fame ceremony and said it was a bittersweet moment for the family.
“It would have been fantastic to see him receive the honour himself but, as a family, we are extremely grateful and proud of Dad’s contribution to the sport of rowing,” Dickie said.
“His pride of being from the Taranaki region is being celebrated in a beautiful tribute that hopefully will ensure that his story, being a kid from Waverley, will inspire generations of children.”
Waverley-born Whanganui Collegiate old boy Simon Dickie receives the traditional coxswain's dunking after winning Olympic gold in Munich 1972.
Chloe was born in 1982, a few years after her father retired from professional rowing, but said his career was incredible, considering how young he was.
“I often think about what it must have been like for him at 17 going to Mexico at a time when people weren’t travelling as much as nowadays – he was in a team of men while still a wee teenager.”
Nixon said the two men were fully deserving of being in the Sporting Hall of Fame after fantastic careers and it was a privilege to induct them.
“With Kieran, the whole thing he has done for rugby, his games for Taranaki, games for the All Blacks and his international coaching is just fantastic so he is fully deserving of that accolade,” Nixon said.
“It’s the same for Simon. To think at 17 years old, a schoolkid goes away to the Olympics and wins a gold medal – again, thoroughly deserving.”
Nixon said the Hall of Fame was a way to inspire young people who saw sporting stars like Crowley and Dickie and knew that they grew up in a similar area, enjoying sport.
