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When Alby Mathewson was a teenager in Hawke's Bay his passion was skateboarding.
But his Uncle Alex, who had played for the New Zealand Colts and, in the words of some Bay rugby observers, was unlucky not to go on to be an All Black, wasn't going to have a bar of it.
"He [Uncle Alex] told me to put my skateboard away or 'I'll break the damn thing'," Mathewson told SportToday hours before he packed his bags and jetted off to Ireland early this morning. He is to join the All Blacks tour of Britain after No 3 halfback Andy Ellis hurt himself and headed home last night after a rib cartilage was displaced during the All Blacks 32-6 defeat of Scotland on Sunday morning.
"He was the one who said to change schools and to go to Hastings Boys' High School [from Havelock North High School] to improve my game," the 22-year-old Hurricanes and Wellington Lions halfback said when asked if he believed he was ever going to be an All Black.
Bay age-group selectors often questioned the dedication of a player caught up in the tumultuous years of his teenage life and Mathewson did not make any age-group teams while fellow HBHS teammates such as new All Black hooker Hika Elliot and fellow Kelt Capital Magpie and 2009 Hurricanes flanker Karl Lowe regularly made the cut.
"I made the Hawke's Bay Secondary School team but not the Bay age-group or Magpies team," he explained, watching selectors pick "borderline" players instead.
On the heels of a dream secondary school record, a frustrated Mathewson showed the gritty determination that saw him move to Wellington in 2006 to play and further his academic career as a commerce degree student.
"Well, I'm only managing a couple of papers," he said with laugh, revealing how difficult it had been focusing on studies with his fulltime commitment to professional rugby.
In his first season there he made the Lions squad and also the New Zealand Under-21 side. The following year he was in the Canes squad.
Asked if he believed he was going to be an All Black, Mathewson said his late father, Michael, and late grandfather Bill, certainly instilled that in him but the call- up yesterday was a surprise despite his sound Air New Zealand Cup season.
Michael Mathewson, aged 49, died in April this year while Mathewson was touring South Africa with the Hurricanes during the Super 14 season. His Hurricanes teammates wore black arm-bands during their clash with the Stormers in Cape Town that week.
"Yes, my father would have been really proud of me because he was a big fan of mine," said the Upper Hutt Rugby Club member, revealing that it was an "up and down" season for him and "things got quite tough".
His father had had an accident when he was young and was badly hurt after a fall while pruning a tree as an aborist almost two decades ago. Mathewson's Uncle Tony McAra, of Havelock North, helped raise him over the years.
Mathewson's grandfather Bill, who died in 1997, was a Bay sport stalwart and political personality. He was a life member of the Primary Schools Rugby organisation and of Tamatea Rugby.
"My grandfather was a life member of the Ross Shield too," a proud Mathewson said.
Yesterday, Mathewson, who has six brothers, was still trying to get in touch with Palmerston North-based Bolan, 21, who has returned from service in Afghanistan and is holidaying with relatives in Brisbane. Michael, 19, lives in Perth, while Shane, 28, is a professional skateboarder in Melbourne. Their mother, Christine, lives in Central Hawke's Bay with Khan, 14, and 7-year-old twins Israel and Luca.
His school teachers and coaches were also instrumental in keeping him in on track. He recalled the time when he and a few of his HBHS first XV teammates got into trouble while touring South Africa.
"We broke away from the main group at a fun park and Craig McCracken, Quentin Crawford and Jason Bird sat me down and told me I had the most potential - even more than Hika Elliot - to go on in my career," Mathewson said.
He thoroughly enjoyed renewing ties with his former HBHS school mates at Super 14 level.
"The boys are always asking me to come back. I keep thinking of that. It's good weather, a nice place to live and it's not far from Wellington," he said, but emphasised he had to fulfil his contractual obligations to the Lions until the end of next year.
While he felt Chris Eaton would improve with more game time and being part of the Canes' wider squad, ex- HBHS coach McCracken felt it would be a wise move for Mathewson with Piri Weepu the first-choice Lions halfback.
- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY
