Selwyn Times: June 12, 2019

22 Wednesday June 12 2019
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
SELWYN TIMES
New beat for front row enforcer
• By Gordon Findlater
CON BARRELL was the first
Super Rugby player to find
himself on the wrong side of the
‘law’ – now he’s enforcing it on
the Gold Coast.
Barrell, 52, played 45 games
as a prop for the Crusaders
between 1996 and 2001. But
in the Crusaders second Super
Rugby match against the Blues at
Lancaster Park in March 1996,
he became the first player in the
competition to be cited for foul
play and was handed a two-week
suspension.
“I took the law into my own
hands,” said Barrell.
“I saw Charles
Riechelmann, the Auckland
lock, hit Mark Weedon . . . I
chased him and we ended up in a
scrap in front of the crowd by the
old embankment.”
Barrell went on to also become
the first player cited in the 1997
season. However, he has now
found himself on the right side
of the law as a sergeant and
fire arms instructor with the
Queensland Police Service.
“It’s a hard job, there’s a lot
on you. There’s things you see
and do that a normal person
shouldn’t. You deal with a lot of
rubbish and drug-related stuff,
but it’s a good job,” said Barrell.
Growing up in Northland,
he started playing rugby at
age four in Hikurangi and
Maungakaramea.
“I was a typical farm boy. I was
into motorbikes, shearing, bushcutting
and everything on the
farm,” Barrell said.
He left school at 15 and
became a full-time bush-cutter.
He then held a number of jobs,
which included fencing and
the meat works, while playing
for Northland in the first and
second divisions of the NPC
between 1990 and 1995.
“It was in them days when
you’d work in the morning
before you played a game in the
afternoon,” he said.
Barrell moved to Christchurch
for the inaugural Super 12
season in 1996 for a starting
opportunity as Craig Dowd and
Olo Brown were the first choice
options in Auckland.
In 1996, the Crusaders finished
dead last and won just one game.
However, Barrell believes it laid
the blueprint for the Crusaders
success going forward.
“I remember after that first
season they were talking about
sacking us and Otago to try and
make one South Island team that
could compete,” he said.
“I think that’s when the
Crusaders were actually born
. . . that’s when we dug in and
we knew we had to do extra
training. That’s what created that
Crusader culture.”
Barrell was part of four Super
Rugby title-winning Crusaders
sides. But the successful 1998
campaign has the fondest
memories after the side went
from last in the standings after
five rounds to champions.
“That builds a real team
culture and character when you
can come from last, knowing
you have to win every game
and get bonus points to even
think about making the semis
and final. They’re pretty special
memories,” he said.
Barrell said a major difference
between his time in red and
black and today’s game is the
importance put on scrums and
specialist scrum coaches.
“Most of them seem to be a lot
more skilled and drilled up now
. . . I remember in the early days
•Great players have come and gone from the Crusaders
over the years. Selwyn Times continues to catch up with
some of them.
IN BLUE: Con
Barrell and his
wife Kate are
now police
officers on the
Gold Coast.
HARDMAN:
Barrell was a
key member of
the Crusaders
after he moved
to Christchurch
from Northland
in 1996 to get
more game time.
for Northland we would put the
scrum machine against a power
pole and do 100 scrums against
the power pole,” he said.
Later in his career, Barrell had
issues with his ACL. He signed a
deal to play in France before reinjuring
his knee, which meant
he stayed in New Zealand. He
went on to play for Northland
in 2002. However, a third ACL
injury during that season ended
his career.
“At 35, it was time to hang
the boots up. I ended up back
in Christchurch working for
Stonewood Homes working in
the sales and design team for
eight years,” he said.
In 2010, Barrell and his wife
Kate moved to the Gold Coast
and soon found themselves
recruited into the police. “We
were having some drinks with
friends at a bar and ended up
having a barbeque back at our
place and one of them was a
Queensland police officer. The
wife ended up joining first . . . I
thought I was too old and broken
down, but I went up to the
academy one day to have a look
around and figured I was more
athletic than most going through
so I decided bugger it, I’ll give it
a go.”
“You can’t beat the lifestyle
here [Gold Coast] – I absolutely
love it. It gets a bit too hot over
summer, which I knew it would
because we always came over for
a pre-season game in January
and it was blimming hard work,”
said Barrell.
ALL STARS: Taylah Gardner, Taylor Wafer and Alexis Hay are
part of the Canterbury under-15 team which will travel to
Indonesia later this week.
Softballers to hit Indonesia
• Jacob Page
FOUR SELWYN softballers will
head to Indonesia next week
with the Canterbury under-15
team.
Taylah Gardner,
Taylor Wafer, Alexis
Hay and Melissa
Chapman, all 14, will
be part of the team
nicknamed ‘The Baby
Hawks’.
The team won the
South Island title and
followed that up with
victory at the national
little league champs.
Their success over
the summer has
given them the right
to represent New Zealand at
the Asia Pacific Little League
tournament.
The tournament gives them
an opportunity to qualify for the
Little League Junior Division
World Series in Washington in
August.
The Baby Hawks will be the
first New Zealand
Little League
representatives to
play internationally.
Taylah, a pitcher
who attends
Rolleston College,
said the team are
keen to adjust
to the humid
conditions, with the
temperature set to
hit 42 deg C.
“We’ll be playing
10 games so we’ll
soon get used to the heat,” she
said. “I want to put in all the
stuff I’ve learnt so far.”
Melissa Chapman
Taylor, who plays right field
and also attends Rolleston
College, said she wants to field
the ball cleanly and do the basics
right.
Alexis, a left outfielder who
lives in Rolleston and attends
Lincoln High School, said the
team is hyped up for it.
“We are all really excited. It’s
something new, but we’re all
pumped,” she said. “We’ve been
training inside in multiple layers
trying to simulate the weather.”
Melissa, who plays in
the outfield and lives in
Leeston while attending
Villa Maria College, said she
hopes the team will be able
to show they deserve to at the
tournament.
The team raised $55,000 in
four months to make the trip
possible.