Where have all the trophies gone?

MEDIA RELEASE

From Doug Laing, on behalf of Shearing Sports New Zealand

October 6, 2014

Where have all the trophies gone?

The absence of an important trophy from the presentations at the New Zealand Merino Championships in Alexandra on Saturday highlights a long-standing issue which over the years has taken some of the shine off winning titles throughout the country.

The trophy in question is the Murphy Trophy, which should have been presented to young Te Kuiti shearer Jack Fagan for best quality points in the Open shearing event.

But the trophy, like so many other pieces of silverware presented by dozens of sports organisations, has disappeared, and no presentation was made.

To avoid losing them, many sports no longer allow their trophies to be taken away afterwards, not even for the night.

Congratulating Fagan and apologising, NZ Merino Championships chairman Graeme Bell said his organisation had had to also stop letting winners take the trophies from their venue, but 2-3 years ago the Murphy Trophy had still vanished.

All attempts to trace the prize, including seeing if it was gathering dust on an engraver’s shelves, had failed, and Mr Bell doubts “whether we’ll see it again.”

But he concedes such prizes just don’t simply get melted-down, and like others that organisations have lost over the years there is a chance it still exists somewhere.

Other trophy presentationsd went ahead, including the Lou Campbell trophy for best senior quality points to Taumarunui shearer Cody Beck, who, nevertheless, had to hand it back straight afterwards.

Mr Bell hopes the incident will encourage people around the country to return trophies that should have been returned to sports organisations years ago.

ENDS

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