Rugby-playing minister has hung up his boots

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32628, 9 June 1971, Page 14

Rugby-playing minister has hung up his boots

Emerging from a ruck with one’s shorts around one’s knees is a situation more than a few participants in New Zealand’s national game have found themselves in at some stage of their careers. The humour of the situation —from the point of view of the onlookers—is accentuated when the unfortunate player also happens to be a minister of the church.

Such an incident is but one which the Rev. John Currie, who has successfully combined his vocation as a minister with a career as a Rugby lock forward during the last 10 years, can recall with some amusement.

Now 32 and the superintendent for the Springston Methodist Circuit, Currie the footballer has had to bow to the needs of his calling. Pressure of work has forced him to make himself unavailable for the Linwood senior team, the leader of the D.C.L. Shield competition at present, this season. Currie, who is a husky 6ft 2in tall and weighs 14st 71b, has locked the Linwood scrum for the last six seasons during a period when the team won two championships and was never far from the competition leader in the other seasons.

Before transferring to Christchurch, he played for the Taita club in the Wellington senior competition for three years, after having

had a few games for Auckland University while receiving his religious training. Being “defrocked” in the undignified manner described in the opening paragraph was one of the more embarrassing moments of his career. But Currie can smile now when he remembers how the Wellington

commentator, Mr Brian Russ, explained the amusement of the Athletic Park crowd to his listening audience.

If the combination of Currie, a football-playing minister, with characters like W. F. McCormick, B. F. Elder, A. G. Mansfield, A. Holland and R. W. Norton might have appeared a little unlikely to Christchurch crowds and opposing teams at first, the lock forward soon dispelled ■ any suggestions that he might be too “soft” or “gentle” for senior football. One particular incident which Currie can recall is a good example of his belief in unquestionably fair but firm conduct on the paddock. “We were playing Christchurch last season, and Roger Mahon, who is an officer in the army unit of which I am the padre, was in the opposition,” Currie said. “He came up the front of the line-out because he was unhappy about the amount of ball Linwood was winning. “It was obvious that he was going to have a go at Dick Dench (Currie’s lock partner last season' and a former South Island representative, who was killed in a motor-cycle accident late last year). I grabbed him and gave him a sharp tap where it hurt—you should have seen the look on his face when he saw it was me.”

Currie, whose only representative experience was a number of games for Canterbury B in 1967, always had the respect of his teammates for his consistently good displays. “They were hard men, but a great bunch of fellows to play with,” Currie said of them. “They treated me no

differently than any other player, which was just what I wanted.” Another amusing incident in a game some seasons ago against Suburbs involved Currie with the leading referee, Mr A. R. Taylor, and the Suburbs full-back, K. Nicholas. “I remember calling out at Ken- Nicholas, who used to play for Poneke when I was in Wellington, as I charged after an up-and-under. Allan Taylor censured me for trying to intimidate Ken, adding that it was not very reverend-like behaviour. “About a quarter-of-an-hour later, he had to use some strong words when blowing up a ruck from which the ball was obviously not going to come out. I was able to remind him that he had just been guilty of using some un-referee-like language too.”

Pressure of work is the reason for Currie being undecided about his future in football at present. “I don’t know whether I’ll play again, but this year is definitely out of the question. I’m definitely going to put something back into the game. I would prefer to coach, but it wii] depend on how much time I’ll have to spare. Refereeing could be an alternative.” While Currie is unsure about his own future, he is adamant about his old team’s championship winning chances. “With several of the hard ones already behind them, they will be hard to bowl,” he predicted.