Ex-New Zealand Rugby chairman and all-round rugby legend and advocate for the sport Eddie Tonks has died. Tonks was 85.
A man who will forever be remembered as one of the staunchest fighters and advocates for the sport in its amateur era, Tonks was chairman of New Zealand Rugby between 1990 and 1995. This tenure with the organisation led to his being named lifelong member in 2004. During his term spent serving NZR, the rugby great also chaired the International Rugby Board – now World Rugby.
Tonks’ contribution to world rugby as well as Kiwi rugby cannot be measured, said current New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey following the former rugby boss’s passing. After voted in as a member of the NZRFU Council in 1986, Tonks would go on to play a leading and key role in the putting together of the following year’s Rugby World Cup – the 1987 Rugby World Cup, said Impey, which was of course a rip-roaring success of an event successfully staged.
All of the above would ultimately lead to his involvement in the laying of the very groundwork that would nearly a decade later – in 1996 – see the game go professional.
An immensely respected sports giant in world rugby in every possible circle around the sports world, Tonks leaves behind in life his wife Claire and children Murray and Carolyn. He is also survived by three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
His absence will without a doubt be felt by many – including his family, his friends, and his many colleagues-turned-friends over the course of his illustrious career.
TOP online betting SITESMarch 2021
|
# | Site | | NZ | Rating | Bonus | Bet |
---|
1 |  | Ladbrokes |  | 5/5 | 100% Match up to $250 NZD | Bet now Review |
2 |  | Palmerbet |  | 4.9/5 | 100% Match | Bet now
|

Trent Wilson is OnlineBetting.nz’s resident sports news expert. He draws on his extensive sporting knowledge, his qualification in sports management and his passion for betting to provide the latest, most up to date information on sporting events in New Zealand and across the globe. Trent is a veritable treasure trove of sports information and has been betting online for several years. He prides himself in keeping his readers informed, and in always offering an unbiased standpoint that reflects exactly what’s going on in the sports world.
View Posts - Visit Website You May Also Like:
Former All Black James Parsons has announced his retirement from professional rugby due to ongoing concussion symptoms. The former Blues hooker was last year named in the squad for this year’s Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign, but in a recent statement explained that he has made the call to pull the ….
Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has expressed a willingness to see the Springboks’ upcoming series against the British and Irish Lions being played away. Erasmus said on Monday that playing away was preferred over cancellation of the series, and that the Springboks would go all the way to “option ….
Ahead of the Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign, the Crusaders have signed up Josh McKay and Rene Ranger, formerly of the Highlanders and the Blues, respectively. Both have been brought in due to Crusaders’ players’ injuries. McKay specifically was confirmed as Braydon Ennor’s replacement. The All Black will not be playing ….
Clark Laidlaw, who spent time playing for Livorno, Borders and Scotland before taking up his All Blacks Sevens Coach position, is a hopeful man. He’s holding on to the possibility of recruiting the services of a number of Super Rugby players for the 2020 Summer Olympics, set to unfold from ….
All Blacks captain Sam Cane says that although he believes New Zealand Rugby are looking after their players, he cannot help but feel worried about his future health after suffering several knocks and blows to the head. The lawsuit previously brought against World, Wales, and England Rugby – by former ….