January 2, 2016

The World congratulates Sir David

A wave of global congratulation has followed the announcement that Te Kuiti shearing legend David Fagan became a Knight in the New Year Honours.

Shearing Sports New Zealand’s first facebook post soon after the Thursday 5am announcement, confirming its chairman is now Sir David Fagan, reached 2000 people in less than an hour before most of New Zealand had awoken to the news, and more than 40,000 in less than 48 hours.

The regard for the five times World individual champion and winner of 642 finals in an international Open-class competition career spanning 33 years, was highlighted by Wales team manager Martyn David, soon to bring a team to New Zealand.

Almost 150 of the wins were in the UK, where Sir David, 54, bowed-out in a 2-all drawn series against Wales last July.

In a message of congratulations on the facebook page, Mr David said: “One of the main reasons the standard of shearing has improved in our shearers in Wales is because you have raised the bar so high over the years.”

The response overwhelmed Sir David, who became chairman of the national organisation in August and appreciates he has a year of hard work ahead as he and a trust set up to run the next World Championships in Invercargill next year on February strive to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the event.

Sir David spent much of the day at his family holiday home at Whangamata, where he was visited and congratulated late-morning by SSNZ executive officer Hugh McCarroll, who lives at Whangamata and who had himself been recognised with an MNZM in the 2013 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

“I went and had a coffee with him…He was painting the deck,” said Mr McCarroll.

For Sir David, life had to go on and it was soon back to the farm near Te Kuiti looking after cows, the water and the troughs.

“That’s what you do, you have to watch them this time of the year,” he said. And of the extent of response on the relatively foreign World of social media, he offered a relatively rustic expression and embellishment: “Sh…! It’s quite overwhelming, humbling.”

ENDS

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