Concussion forces Ants out
When halfback Anthony Bradshaw was helped from the field in the premier's clash with HOB Marist on a gloomy Saturday in July, it brought the curtain down on a decade of playing top rugby for Marist St Pats.
Ants had suffered another concussion, this time from a teammate in a double tackle on a HOB Marist opponent. He's been knocked out more than half a dozen times playing rugby and this time the doctor said, "Enough, not even social rugby."
Ants left St Pat's Town in 2000, and remembers his next two years in the colts as some of his most enjoyable times at MSP. In 2002, they won the grade with 21 wins from 21 games.
"It was just a great season. We had two colts teams each with 20 or more players, and we all trained together."
The next year he was in the premiers and he's since chalked up more than 80 premier appearances. He would have easily hit the 100-game landmark had he not spent two seasons in Hawkes Bay and a stint in Spain.
Winning the Jubilee Cup outright in 2009 after a drawn final the year before was a career highlight, he says. Always competitive and with great all-round skills, Ants picked up a Wellington Lions cap two seasons ago and was a Development team regular.
A chippie who works for builder and former MSP loosie Peter Nota, Ants has bought a motorbike and expects to head for the mountains for some hunting. Otherwise, he'll be on the sidelines or at the clubrooms. "Now I can be one of the grumpy old spectators who are always telling the boys how to play."
Although he's given up contact rugby, he'll still be a touch regular on Thursday evenings over the summer as part of a team that has been going more than 30 years. "The Left and Right footers, they've taught me everything I know."
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