A team-first attitude and a big heart for King Country are all hallmarks of Simon Bradley's love of local rugby.
His involvement to community rugby was recognised when he was awarded the Tom Nealon Outstanding Contribution to Rugby Award at the King Country Rugby Union (KCRU) AGM in Taupo last night.
KCRU board member Glynn Meads highlighted Bradley as "a great team man" as a King Country team-mate through the 1980s and 1990s, qualities that served him well as a coach later on.
"He was always there in the middle of the team activities and part of building the team culture, often seen in the back of the bus having a few beers and singing along. I spent a lot of time with him myself and he was a great asset to the team," Meads said.
Bradley said he had been "a bit blind-sided" by receiving the award, but he reflected on his time as both a player and as a coach later in life.
"Those years playing was life, it was so much fun; you lived for your weekends," Bradley said.
"I just love King Country; I always have since I was a kid, it's my club. I've always been very proud to be part of King Country. I don't care if we come last or first, it's just that's where I'm from and I have loved living in this area; it's my home.
"We're all one big family and whether you're playing or in the background or cooking, you just give it everything you've got, enjoy each other's company and have a beer afterwards - thanks for this," he said.
Bradley burst on the local club rugby scene in the 1980s with stints at Piopio, Otorohanga and the old Taumarunui Athletic club, before settling at the Taumarunui Eels in 1989.
Affectionately known as 'Wingnut', Bradley went on to play for the King Country Rams between 1985 and 1994, eventually becoming King Country's 13th centurion in 1994.
After taking time away from rugby to have a family, Bradley returned to rugby as a coach with the Taumarunui Eels between 2017 and 2020 and Taumarunui High School in 2021, leading to his call-up as head coach of King Country B, colloquially known as the Big Horns, in 2019 and 2021-2022.
"To be reengaged in coaching in 2017 and to get roped into the Big Horns (King Country B), again it was a team thing and I thoroughly enjoyed it," Bradley said.
"When you do the Big Horns, you're selling second prize aren't you? So how do we get guys to turn up? All we could promise them was that we'd have some fun.
"When you're playing on the field you give it everything, but afterwards you have a beer and have some fun. I've got to say, being reengaged with a little bit of coaching was thoroughly enjoyable," he said.
KCRU rugby manager Josh Standen had plenty of dealings with Bradley as a local coach, and always found him to be someone who put people and rugby first.
"Wingy was always at the forefront and wanted rugby union to happen. I remember during Covid, it was a challenging time, but Wingy was a good ear for me personally and I remember him ringing me one day and he said, 'Josh, there's a competition there, we make it happen'," Standen said.
"He's a level-headed, common-sense man, and he was always rugby-first. He's a true rugby man, he's rugby union through-and-through. It's all about the participant, it doesn't matter about all the politics and all the drama that goes on.
"He's a great leader amongst men and knows how to get players up which got him the head coach role with the Big Horns. His quality was he was always able to get players to front, to put on the mighty maroon, to play their hearts out and have fun while doing it," he said
Bradley also paid tribute to Taumarunui Eels life-member and former club administrator Alan Hitchcock, who is currently very unwell.
