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RIP Fred Allen

April 28th, 2012 at 1:01 pm by David Farrar

Stuff reports:

All Black great Sir Fred Allen has passed away.

Sir Fred, who at age 92 was the oldest living All Black, had been battling ill health for some time and was in full-time care on the Whangaparoa Peninsula.

He passed away at 3.30am on Saturday morning.

Despite illness, Sir Fred tried to remain as active as ever in recent times.

Earlier this week he unveiled a bridge on Sir Fred All Walk of Honour  at Auckland Memorial Park, Silverdale.

Now that is service until the very end.

He is among the rare group of players to have both played and coached the All Blacks.

The star first-five played 21 matches for the All Blacks, including six tests, between 1946-49. …

After ending his playing days, Sir Fred took up coaching.

He was an All Black selector between 1964-65 and then coached the men in black between 1966-68.

His coaching tenure, which saw him known as ‘The Needle’, included the All Blacks winning all 14 tests under his control.

We have truly lost one of the greats.

Related posts:

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  3. Fred Thompson
  4. 2010 QB Honours
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10 Responses to “RIP Fred Allen”

  1. jaba (1,940) Says:
    April 28th, 2012 at 1:17 pm

    I thought he would go on forever, a true great New Zealander

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  2. Keeping Stock (8,895) Says:
    April 28th, 2012 at 2:10 pm

    Quite so DPF. We are unlikely to see his like again. “Great” is an adjective we throw around with much abandon, but in Sir Fred Allen’s case, it is absolutely justified.

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  3. MT_Tinman (2,284) Says:
    April 28th, 2012 at 3:08 pm

    A great coach, the “needle” will live forever.

    I was sure Allen coached NZ against Wales in 1969 and Vodanavic took over after that. Anyone got any details?

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  4. alex Masterley (1,165) Says:
    April 28th, 2012 at 4:31 pm

    Sir Fred was also a 60 year member of the RNZYS, joining in 1952.
    The Ensign was at 1/2 mast today as a consequence.
    A loss to us all.

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  5. Ed Snack (979) Says:
    April 28th, 2012 at 5:51 pm

    Yes, a great coach and motivator. He’s the only All Black coach with a 100% winning record too. Of course he couldn’t stay as coach, he had one enormous flaw as far as the NZRFU was concerned, anyone like to guess what it was ?

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  6. Keeping Stock (8,895) Says:
    April 28th, 2012 at 5:51 pm

    He wasn’t Catholic enough?

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  7. Scott Chris (4,931) Says:
    April 28th, 2012 at 9:40 pm

    Was one of the greats. Condolences to his friends and family.

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  8. SHG (240) Says:
    April 28th, 2012 at 11:07 pm

    End of an era. RIP.

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  9. RRM (7,432) Says:
    April 30th, 2012 at 9:23 am

    92, that’s a pretty good run.

    Rugby’s the game with the pointy ball isn’t it?

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  10. mikenmild (6,863) Says:
    April 30th, 2012 at 9:28 am

    Don’t like rugby RRM? You picked the wrong thread then.

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