Blood runs thick across the water for Marshall and his team of family all-stars
GLENN JACKSON
January 9, 2010
THERE are some things nothing can prepare you for. You think you've done everything, you've left home at 15 to win a premiership and a World Cup, and then that very world you were on top of not so long ago starts crumbling. Benji Marshall can live with being part Scottish (yes, really), but when it comes to being half-Australian …
''I knew about my Scottish side, but it was tossed up to me before that I might have been half-Australian - luckily I wasn't. Holy hell,'' the Kiwis skipper said.
Benji's forefathers emigrated from Scotland to Tasmania, giving Marshall some green-and-gold blood but not enough to question his Kiwiness. All this, he learnt during a family reunion he attended over the new year in Porirua, near Wellington. It was held in honour of Benji's grandfather, Toby, a remarkable man who sired 19 children and, speaking with the Herald, which was invited to the celebration, marvelled that he had great-grandchildren who were taller than he was.
''I didn't want to come,'' Toby said. ''But I'm pleased I did. I've got grandchildren here I never know I had.''
Koro (grandfather) Toby, now 83, realised he was actually named Henry only when he glanced at his birth certificate (he is still called Toby by all). ''You can call me what you like,'' he says now, ''as long as you don't call me late for breakfast.''
He was the star of the three-day reunion, wearing a Wests Tigers hat and jacket, but it was clear who he in turn was honouring. A former rugby league forward for Ruatoki, he is a self-confessed Tigers tragic, who was coerced on to a plane for the first time, deep into his 70s, to watch his grandson win a grand final.
''That was the first time I got on a plane, the first time I left New Zealand, I haven't even been down to the South Island yet,'' Toby said.
The reunion was held to coincide with the anniversary of the death of his first wife in 1988, but its other purpose was to celebrate those still living, the youngest rather than the oldest, and to ''sustain'' that generation by branding everything from their tribal haka to their ancestry into them, while teaching this motley Marshall crew the tricks of many sporting trades along the way.
The family is a remarkably talented one. Benji's cousin, Tu Umaga-Marshall, is a New Zealand Sevens rugby union representative and plays for Canterbury in the national competition. He also played basketball for the Waikato Titans and Nelson Giants. The extended family includes six New Zealand touch football representatives, seven black belts in martial arts and representatives in everything from volleyball to wheelchair basketball.
''I remember growing up, there wasn't a day when I wasn't doing some sort of sport,'' Benji said. ''There's a lot of talent here, it's just a matter of nurturing it.''
The reunion was about doing just that. ''We're proud of all our kids,'' said Phil, one of Benji's many uncles and Toby's many sons. ''As a family, we're very competitive, whether it's a game of cards or marbles.''
Paul Marshall, a cousin of Benji and a former New Zealand taekwondo representative, added: ''It's a naturally gifted family, but a lot of it comes down to desire, who wants to do it.''
The reunion was the first of its kind for the family, but they hope it will not be the last. ''It started from a conversation last New Year's - a couple of us were standing around saying it's been so long since we've all met up,'' Paul said. ''Usually it's only when someone dies.''
For Benji, it's a poignant observation, as his last trip to New Zealand was in December, following the death of the man he called Dad, Mick Doherty, with whom he lived for several years. Mick was lost to pancreatic cancer, but Benji and his clan still had much to celebrate rather than commemorate.
''I've been looking forward to this for a long time,'' Benji said. ''Every time we come back together, we always have a good time, a good laugh. That's why it's important we come together. Usually, the only times we get to see everyone together is at funerals or something bad. Because my family's so big, you lose track; all my cousins have kids, and because I haven't been home for a while, I don't know a lot of their kids. To get back and see my family grow … it's been amazing.''
