Honours and Tributes
Meads is regarded by many as New Zealand's greatest ever rugby player, and was named Player of the Century at the NZRFU Awards dinner in 1999. He is a member of both the International Rugby Hall of Fame and the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. In 2001 Meads was appointed as a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, the second-highest honour in the New Zealand honours system. In May 2009 Meads was elevated to Knighthood when his DCNZM to converted to a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
The trophy contested in New Zealand's domestic competition, the Heartland Championship, is named the Meads Cup in his honour. The All Blacks website states 'As a sporting legend Meads is New Zealand's equivalent of Australia's Sir Donald Bradman or the United States of America's Babe Ruth.'
Read more about this topic: Colin Meads
Famous quotes containing the words honours and/or tributes:
“Come hither, all ye empty things,
Ye bubbles rais’d by breath of Kings;
Who float upon the tide of state,
Come hither, and behold your fate.
Let pride be taught by this rebuke,
How very mean a thing’s a Duke;
From all his ill-got honours flung,
Turn’d to that dirt from whence he sprung.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“The fame of heroes owes little to the extent of their conquests and all to the success of the tributes paid to them.”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)