#MoreThanSports: A Very Touching Father & Son Moment From New Zealand's All Blacks Rugby Match Yesterday
Barstool Chicago never sleeps.
Harry is our newly promoted full-time camera, video, audio, production guy. Great kid with a great attitude who busts his ass and is great at what he does.
On top of all that he's into all the fringe sports big time and has his pulse on everything going on outside the states.
He posted this tweet which caught my attention and after watching the video it's definitely blog-worthy.
Here’s Harry’s account-
We were at the all blacks game in Washington DC, they were playing the USA eagles. An elderly dad and his 3 sons were sitting next to our group. A kick went out of bounds in to the stands and one of the sons caught it, turned and handed it to his father. The whole crowd was cheering for this action. We saw a stadium chaperone start approaching to make sure the ball made it back to the sideline. The son proceeded to cover the father sitting down with a New Zealand flag, and the whole crowd tried leading the chaperone to a different part of the bleachers (so the father could keep the ball). Another chaperone came along and insisted that the ball be given back. He did so, the crowd began to boo. After this, one of the sons went down to the all blacks sideline and was trying to get the attention of the players / coaches. In this time, the crowd started chanting “BALL, BALL, BALL”. The son remained there for a couple minutes until he got the attention of the all blacks captain. The captain grabbed and tossed a ball up to him. That is the video I got - the son bringing the father another ball. After the game, the son went back to bench and got players to sign it. He tossed it over, players signed it, then they got a picture at the end of the game together with the signed ball- that’s the photo I took later.
Nothing brings us together like sports.
From total strangers, to blood.
What made this moment even more poignant was that the All Blacks suffered a massive loss earlier this week. One of their stars, a father of two, passed away in a fatal car accident.
Sky - Maori All Blacks back Sean Wainui died in a car accident on Monday. He was 25 and the father of two children.
Police said they were notified at 7.50am that a vehicle had crashed into a tree at McLaren Falls Park near Tauranga on New Zealand's North Island.
Wainui was the only occupant.
"We know Sean's passing will be felt deeply by everyone involved in rugby, particularly his Bay of Plenty and Chiefs team-mates and we share their sorrow and their shock," New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson said.
He asked the media to give the Wainui family "space to grieve as we all reflect on a young life that has ended far too early".
"Some things" - RB