Fagan’s curtain-call – in France
Fagan’s curtain-call – in France
The
competition career of New Zealand shearing great David Fagan
is going one more round after he bowed to pressure to
compete in the French championships this weekend.
But this time the pressure came not from the public, but from son Jack who convinced him to stay just a few more days and be his travelling companion to the event at Saissac dans l’Aude, a french commune near Toulouse and on the slopes of Black Mountain.
“I've managed to convince him to stay for another week so this will be his last competiton ever,” said the 23-year-old Jack Fagan as he and his 53-year-old multiple World champion father crossed the English Channel this week.
David Fagan has already retired twice this year, at the New Zealand Championships in home-town Te Kuiti in April, and last weekend at Corwen in Northeast Wales, completing a 10-day comeback to fill-in a place in the two-man Shearing Sports New Zealand team for a test series against Wales.
While this weekend seems certain to be the final swansong, he is likely to still compete in the short version of the shearing game, the speedshears held mainly in hotels and sports clubs.
The championships this weekend comprise a Friday-night speedshear, and two days of competitions from Junior to Open class, as well as a test match between France and Spain and an international relay.
David Fagan’s 640 Open-class wins worldwide in the last 33 years include the 1990 French Open Championship in Nantes in 1990.
ENDS