The Star: July 18, 2019

SPORT 27
Rams title run evokes
memories of 1999 finals
The Canterbury Rams will
take the court at home
this weekend 20 years
after they last hosted
the National Basketball
League final four. Ahead
of their semi-final against
Hawkes Bay on Saturday
and possibly their first
grand-final appearance
in two decades, sports
reporter Gordon Findlater
looks back at the 99 team
local sport
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IN 1999 it was a great time to
be a Rams fan. The franchise
hadn’t won a NBL title since
1992 but were given a boost
before the season even began
when it was announced they
would host the final four
tournament at their newly-built
world class stadium now known
as Horncastle
Arena.
Bert Knops
was involved
with the Rams
as either a
player or coach
from 1984 to
1999. He has
Bert Knops
fond memories
of the final four
weekend in 1999, although he
admits their ride to the finals
got off to a slow start and wasn’t
so enjoyable at times.
“It was probably the most
stressful year of my life to be
fair,” said Knops. “Yes, let’s have
the final four in Christchurch
with this nice new stadium, but
of course the pressure was on
to make it, otherwise the whole
thing would have been a flop.”
The Rams played the first
ever sports match in the indoor
stadium, which was the largest
in the country at the time.
They suffered a close loss to
the Wellington Saints 81-86,
which Knops remembers best
for the 30min delay at the start
due to issues getting the new
scoreboard up-and-running.
The 99 Rams featured the
likes of captain Jason Kyle, who
was playing his last season with
the franchise, Dave Langrell,
Rob Hickey, Carlo Varricchio,
CENTRE
STAGE: The
Canterbury
Rams will
hope to
go one
better than
the 1999
side which
hosted the
final four in
1999. ​
IMPORT: Clifton Bush made a name for himself with the
Rams as one of the NBL’s best guards in the late 90s.
Craig Farrant, Rewi Manahi,
Andrew Johnstone, and United
States imports Clifton Bush and
Robert Wilson.
With three games remaining
in the season, the Rams needed
to win them all and hope other
results went their way. An away
win against the Saints, which
saw Wilson score 40 points
and grab 20 rebounds, and
bench-warmer Shane Lawrence
play an impressive 15min, was
instrumental in their finals bid
not turning into a disaster.
The Rams advanced to the
final by defeating a North
Harbour team which featured
a young Kirk Penney. However,
they were no match for the
Auckland Rebels in the final.
The Tab Baldwin coached
Rebels were led by Pero
Cameron, who was in his prime,
Dillon Boucher, Paul Henare
and Kenny Stone.
“We were a very workmanlike
team, as most Rams teams
have been over the years. We
weren’t laden with stars, but
we knew how to get the job
done,” said Kyle, who now has
a landscaping business and
lives in Mandurah, Western
Australia.
“It was a good effort by the
team we had on paper to get to
the finals and put in a pretty
good performance though.”
The loss in the final also
marked the end of an era
with many players, including
Kyle and Knops, moving on
and the Rams coming under
the new ownership of John
Watson.
A strong contingent of the
99 team are expected to attend
this weekend’s finals due
to a fundraising dinner on
Friday for former Ram, Lionel
Hopkins, who is battling cancer.
MULTI-TALENTED: Commonwealth Games gold medalist
Kim Mickle is coaching javelin and AFL in Christchurch.
PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER
Aussie gold medal
winner wants to
grow AFL in Chch
• By Gordon Findlater
AUSTRALIAN Commonwealth
Games gold medal javelin
thrower Kim Mickle has two
dream goals in Christchurch. To
get someone to the Olympics and
to set up a women’s AFL league in
the city.
Mickle, 34, is best known for
winning gold in the javelin at the
2014 Glasgow Commonwealth
Games. She moved to
Christchurch in 2017 and has
been working as a contracted
throw coach at Athletics New
Zealand. However, she is now
also passing on skills in her other
favourite sport Australian rules
football.
Mickle grew up in Perth
wanting to play AFL but, at the
time, there was no pathway for
girls looking to pursue it seriously
so she instead turned to athletics.
However, following the 2016
Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Mickle
signed a professional contract
with the Fremantle Dockers to
play in the inaugural season of
the AFL Women’s league in 2017.
Her spell in the sport only lasted
two games after sustaining a
ruptured ACL.
Mickle is now hoping to
unearth a future AFLW star
in Christchurch after recently
coming on board as a coach at the
Christchurch Bulldogs club.
“Women’s footy in Australia
is getting huge. I thought it
would be kind of cool to try and
boost AFL here in New Zealand
because I think it’s a great sport,”
said Mickle.
Last year a crowd of 53,000
attended the AFLW final between
the Adelaide Crows and Carlton
at Adelaide Oval.
She first found out about AFL
clubs in Christchurch through
fellow Australian Dale Stevenson,
who coaches Tom Walsh.
Stevenson played a number of
seasons for the Bulldogs.
“He rang up and said the
Bulldogs are here, they’re a great
club and would you like to be
involved?” said Mickle.
The Bulldogs are made up of
players who have moved across
the ditch and former rugby union
players looking to learn a new
code.
“We’ve got a few rugby players
that want to throw the ball like
a rugby pass, so the challenge of
making people AFL-smart and
not just footy-smart is quite a
challenge,” said Mickle.
A big adjustment for people
who have played rugby is
becoming accustomed to the 360
degree awareness of what is going
on around them, she said.
“In AFL you can be tackled
from any direction, whereas in
rugby the impact is usually from
in front of you.”
Much like the challenge of
selling her beloved AFL to a
rugby happy crowd, Mickle also
says boosting the popularity of
javelin with young athletes in
Christchurch has been a challenge
too. “In Australia, it’s booming,
but here obviously everyone
wants to be a shot-putter like Tom
Walsh or Valerie Adams.”