An Honorary Life Membership for Christian Douglas

On Tuesday 18 May 2021, the committee unanimously endorsed a motion to present Christian Douglas with an Honorary Life Membership in gratitude of his outstanding service to our club.

After migrating from Canada, Christian arrived at Pulteney in 2015 through a chance meeting with a previous player. The story goes that at his first pre-season training session, Adrian Ofner laid an absolute monster tackle on Christian, and that’s how he knew this was the club for him.

2015 was a tumultuous season. The A grade coach resigned after 7 games citing irreconcilable differences with the Bs coach, who subsequently took over both sides—it was a tough time for the club. Despite the issues of season 2015, Christian stuck it out and returned in the following season. In 2016 and 2017 Christian played games in both the As and Bs. 2017 saw the club consolidate under As coaches Bainbridge and Wood.

It was then president Mathew Doolan, with the backing of the committee, who approached Christian to coach the Bs in 2018. They recognised Christian had the temperament for coaching and would be worth backing—calm, simple messages and game plan, giving everyone positive encouragement to play to the best of your ability. If you made a mistake, there was no castigation—just advice to move on.

Andrew (Chappo) Chapman remembers a round 16 game away against Vipers:

"...we had 11 fit guys and one injured sub, but we put up the big green wall (away strips), and scored 2 on the counter for a great win. Christian at left back coaching the team as well as he played. Us guys backing up and the usual Bs loved that set up."

Sean (current president) ensured Christian was signed up again at seasons end.

Christian was quick to make the club his second home. He turned up hours before training to set up and make sure the balls had good pressure. He ran training sessions over the summer off-season which soon became crucial in the recruitment of new players. He played in almost every team at the club, often playing in two CSL games on a Saturday and backing it up by playing masters on a Sunday morning. When new guys arrive at the club, he was most often the first person to greet them. 

During the Pandemic lockdown in March 2020, Christian went down to help Lee and Jodi renovate The Franklin Hotel while it was shut. What a guy.

On Friday 21 May 2021 at a club sanctioned function, we said an official goodbye to this great player and leader. Players from multiple teams organised and contributed towards a parting gift.

Christian is the type of person strong clubs are founded on, and weak clubs unfortunately fold because they don’t have anyone like him. Imagine if we had 2 or 3 of him at this club, or 5 or even 10 of him. Wow.

We hope our Kiwi cousins realise how lucky they are to have you. Bon voyage!