Shearers mourn old rival

The sheep shearing scene across New Zealand and throughout the world is mourning the loss of Ray Alabaster, who died on Wednesday.
From Taihape, Mr Alabaster competed as a teenager at the first Golden Shears in 1961 and became one of the best shearers to compete at Masterton's iconic event without ever winning the coveted open title.
He qualified for the six-man 20-sheep sheep open final on nine occasions from 1971 to 1981 and was runner-up to two-times winners Norm Blackwell and Martin Ngataki in 1974 and 1979 respectively. He was also third in 1978 when the title was won by inaugural world champion Roger Cox with less than six-tenths of a point covering the first four placegetters.
In the year of his last Golden Shears open final in 1981 there were strong hopes for an Alabaster win when he qualified top from the semifinals but he had to settle for sixth in the showdown won by Ivan Rosandich.
Ray Alabaster did, however, finally achieve success on Masterton's famous War Memorial Stadium board in 1983 when he and Rei Rangiawha won the Golden Shears Maori v Pakeha event and he also had the honour of representing New Zealand in two transtasman shearing tests, the first of them in Masterton in 1979 and the second in the Victorian town of Euroa.
It was in Euroa in 1983 that Australian shearing identity Bernie Walker penned Just A Yard of Purple Ribbon, an ode to the nine men who had shared the Golden Shears open titles to that time with Ray Alabaster the only non-winner to rate a mention.
Having left school aged 14 to work on the family farm, Ray Alabaster was to become a long-time shearing contractor in the Taihape area and since his competitive days he had maintained a strong association with the sport, becoming a judge along with wife Libby, who officiates at woolhandling events.
The pair's daughter, Sheree Alabaster, is one of the country's top woolhandlers, winning the world individual and team titles in Norway in 2008. Last year they were in Wales to see Sheree come second in her individual title defence.
Ray Alabaster's funeral was held in Taihape yesterday.