Vale Shawn Mackay

Rugby Union is a remarkable game!! Camraderie, social activity, club loyalty and it's genuinely a game for people of all sizes! Once hooked in it's a sport to follow, to watch and to be very passionate about...

I didn't know Shawn Mackay but because I know rugby I understand the ripple effect of his death a week after being hit by a security van in the early hours of the morning outside a Durban nightclub in South Africa.

By all reports Shawn MacKay was a vital member of Randwick Rugby Club, the Australian Mens Sevens squad, the Brumbies Super 14 side this year and this stretched right back to the now elite players from his High School First XV team. He had coached the Aussie Women's Sevens Team and was finally getting his own chance to shine in the 15 a side version of the game.

My thoughts are with his family in their loss and his death got me thinking about how this tight knit community comes together in such times and is a sign of how all communities should function at their best!

At my own club [albeit I have stepped back from an active involvement for the time being] a few significant clubmen have died in recent times and it's been heartening to see the way people have gathered around those who've lost a loved one and banded together to fundraise and add substantial practical help to their already welcomed personal care.