infonews.co.nz
INDEX
BOWLS

'Ice Man' Brassey retires from international play

Saturday 3 February 2007, 5:22PM

By Infonews Editor

811 views

At the age of 51 the player dubbed Ice Man, who won seven national and two world titles plus several other international events, has decided to step down after 25 years as an international because of an ongoing ankle injury.

Brassey had the ankle broken in eight places when he was 18 and in striving to match the High Performance fitness standards required in the build-up to 2008 world championships he aggravated the injury.

“I’ve had the worst winter of my life” said Brassey, “with the ankle becoming inflamed when I started running on it. I’ve had a fantastic run at international level and it was tempting to try for one more world championship, but I’ve decided to listen to my body and pull the plug.

“With fitness now being a key requirement of the High Performance programme, it made my situation almost impossible.”

Brassey will continue to play at club and representative level and hasn’t given up on achieving the one national title to elude him – the singles.

Brassey’s record as an international is surely unmatched in New Zealand sport, for he represented his country continuously for 25 years, from 1982 to 2006, his final outing being at Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

A player with silky smooth skills, who took up bowling after the ankle injury wrecked his rugby aspirations, Brassey probably never played better than at the 1988 world championships at Henderson.

David Bryant, the legendary Englishman who Brassey and Peter Belliss defeated in an epic pairs final that lasted well over four hours, years later spoke glowingly of his opponent that day.

“I have never forgotten the accuracy of his draw play,” said Bryant. “I was opposing him and to compete I had to lift my game as far as I could go. On one end, I remember drawing a bowl no more than eight inches from the jack. Incredibly, Rowan drew four bowls inside it.”

Bryant remembered Brassey as being “totally unflappable”.

“Some players give vent to their emotions, but Brassey was always in control of himself and gave the impression he was in control of every situation.”
Convenor of selectors for New Zealand bowls, Peter Kean, paid tribute to Brassey, saying his contribution to the game has been immense and unmatched.

“To represent your country for 25 years is a phenomenal achievement,” says Kean. “His achievements speak for themselves and he has been a wonderful ambassador for the game. I feel privileged to have been involved with Rowan either as manager or selector for the last 10 years.”