THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW
THERE was far more to Andy Haden than his theatrics at Cardiff Arms Park on Armistice Day 1978, an act so embarrassingly amateurish that it would probably have cost him his Equity card. Yet he still managed to end up the following season on a stage of sorts in the West End.
Haden played eleven matches for Harlequins, the first against Richmond at the Stoop on the Saturday before Christmas, the last a losing John Player Cup semi-final against Leicester a few months later. It must have cost Quins a small fortune in air fares alone.
The New Zealander, who died last week at the age of 69, earned a worthy reputation as the first international to make a living from playing what was supposed to be a strictly amateur game.
Only Haden could juggle the simultaneous demands made upon his services by two clubs and keep all the balls in the air, so to speak.
Not for nothing did All Blacks Michael Jones, Alan Whetton and Wayne ‘Buck' Shelford, maybe the holiest back row trinity of them all, describe Haden at his funeral as ‘a man far ahead of his time'. How far ahead can be gauged from the following anecdote about how he managed to play for Roma and Quins at the same time.
“Andy would train for two days with Rugby Roma,'' Shelford told Breakdown on Sky New Zealand. “He'd fly to London on the Friday, play for the Quins on the Saturday and be back in Italy in time to play for Roma on the Sunday.
“He was a real entrepreneur, jumping all over the world rugby, playing rugby and probably getting paid cheque-loads for it.''
