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Legendary All Blacks captain and men’s health advocate Wayne Shelford was knighted for his services to rugby and the community at a ceremony at Government House in Auckland on Saturday.
Sir Wayne says his whakaaro on life changed after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2007.
It led to his campaign for better men’s health in Aotearoa.
He says he found out about his honour while checking his email spam folder, and it took him a couple of weeks to accept.
“It’s another way of inspiring our people to be better, to stand up, to be counted and go out there to achieve things because we can achieve, all of us. My dad was just a chippie, my father in law was a painter, I was in the military and had a big group of military mates, done my time and just got out and played rugby,” Sir Wayne says.
At the same ceremony, Rawiri Paratene was formally made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori, film and theatre.
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