Zac ends year on a better note

It hasn't been the easiest year to be Zac Guildford.

The young Hawke's Bay All Black, Crusader and Magpies star has had a lot of press - mostly for reasons he would rather forget.

He's copped a four-game ban at the start of the 2012 Super Rugby season for his drunken behaviour in the Cook Islands in November and has promised to stay off the drink while he gets some balance back in his life.

We should wish him well because when all is said and done, Zac Guildford is still a very young man who has learnt (we hope) a hard lesson about alcohol-fuelled behaviour in the full glare of the public eye.

It has not been pretty to watch but in many ways, Zac is emblematic of New Zealand's booze culture. It is not a problem confined to sportsmen by any stretch. There are no doubt people who can say they have never drunk to excess and behaved with regrettable stupidity but I am not one of them.

Zac, however, has used up all his lives. His Crusaders coach, Todd Blackadder, has made it clear that should he slip again, there will be no more misconduct charges or offers of support from the ruby union.

He will become "former rugby star" Zac Guildford. Nobody wants to see that happen to a talented and, frankly, personable young man from the Bay.

Setting aside for a minute the headlines about his drunken behaviour, a better measure of the man's promise is our page 3 story today. Zac has awarded grants to the first six benefactors of a trust named after his late father Rob.

Each of the young sports people received $400 to spend at Napier's Rebel Sport store.

The Rob Guildford Memorial Trust is aimed at supporting a Hawke's Bay young person from any code who under normal circumstances wouldn't be able to afford to travel away to a national tournament.

And, as Zac himself told Hawke's Bay Today, a helping hand can mean the world to a young person eager to play sport.

"I remember when I was the same age as these kids and one of Mum's bosses, Colin Campbell, bought me my first pair of flash boots to play in," he said. "It's great to see the smiles on these kids faces and be in a position to help them out as much as possible."

Well done Zac. That's a positive note to end the year on.