Sumner Club Legend Robbie Timo cracks 500!
This Saturday Robbie Timo will achieve something some could only dream of, as he takes the field for his 500th game playing for Sumner Rugby Club.
This Saturday Robbie Timo will achieve something some could only dream of, as he takes the field for his 500th game playing for Sumner Rugby Club.
30 odd years ago Robbie moved to Sumner and thus began his lustrous career. With only a social team available at the time, Robbie has played across all grades as the club developed over the years. Seeing the club grow from strength to strength is what Robbie says he’s most proud of “I’ve seen the club develop” he said, “that’s the best part, being part of that”.
He fondly remembers the years playing with Scott “Razor” Robertson, recalling a time the All Blacks coach told him “ ‘you’ll be playing till your 50’ and I did!”
Robbie is 53 now and says he’s been able to play for so long thanks to a “very understanding wife and daughter”, along with a routine of taking himself for a recovery swim every Sunday morning – when he’s not booting up for the clubs Golden Oldies team.
In the words of Bella Digby, who has played and coached at the club since a child, “he’s a bloody legend. Everyone knows him”.
With no days of the week left untouched with rugby, Robbie also helps out with resource coaching the junior grades, runs a rugby program at Te Aratai College and dabbled in refereeing when completing his sports coaching degree, “I would ref in the morning, then play in the afternoons” Robbie said.
A finger in every Sumner Rugby Club pie you could imagine, Robbie doesn’t stop there. When he’s not at Sumner or teaching at Te Aratai College, Robbie is fulfilling his resource coaching role for CRFU. “It’s a lot of fun seeing a lot of the kids growing up” comments Robbie, “some are Crusaders now and being a part of their coaching group and helping them develop as players when they were young is a really good feeling” comments Robbie.
A celebration of Robbie’s achievement will take place following the 1:00pm match against Canterbury University at home, with a call from Sumner Rugby Clubs Facebook page for supporters to don their floral shirts and board shorts for what they’re calling “a day that is all things Pasifika”.
Words by Hannah Yates