We could be heroes

Vale:

Michael "Jock" Hobbs was born in Christchurch on 15 February 1960 and was educated at Christ's College and at Canterbury University where he studied law, graduating LLB in 1982. After practising law for a time, becoming a partner in a law firm, he gave it up for business. In 1999, he became a director of the Strategic Property Group, taking a Master of Business Administration at Henley College in London in the same year. He stepped down as chief executive in 2005.

Nek minnit:

So far, secured debenture holders have received 7c in the dollar, equating to $26 million. Many investors were elderly people, whose life savings were lost in the collapse of the Princes Wharf-based businesses headed by rugby legend Jock Hobbs, alongside Marc Lindale and Kerry Finnigan. Strategic ceased trading in March 2010.

NatRad's rather coy obituary, which fails to mention the collapse of Strategic Property Group and that Hobbs was still a director when it fell, is as nothing to Emerson's memorial in the Herald: "the final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men, the conviction and will to carry on..." Well, there were no convictions but what Hobbs left behind was a collapsed busines and thousands of elderly people who had lost everything by investing their savings with him. And while we are on the subject of leadership, listen to what NatRad says:

Following his All Black career, Mr Hobbs captained the rebel team on the 1986 unauthorised tour of South Africa, which he later regretted. National teams at the time were effectively banned from playing South Africa because of the republic's apartheid policy but when the planned All Blacks tour was cancelled, all but two of the 30 selected players defied the government of the time and toured as the Cavaliers.

So, let us get this right: he captained a team that defied our government and the United Nations to play rugby in South Africa, thus supporting the Apartheid regime for no better principle than making money. What a bloody legend.