Dynamic Wellington rugby player Daniel Baldwin dies days after club rugby match
TOM HUNT
Last updated 11:28, May 18 2017
Daniel Baldwin, a Colts player for the Wellington Football Club, died in Wellington Hospital, days after a club rugby match in Porirua at Ngati Toa Domain.
The 19-year-old Wellington player who died after a weekend match was known as "Dan, the man with the plan".
Daniel Baldwin, a Wellington Football Club member, had been in an induced coma after having brain surgery at Wellington Hospital following a rugby field incident on May 13.
On Thursday morning, his family issued a statement describing him as a "young man with an enormous zest for life, who had his future mapped out".
The Wellington Football Club president and former rugby journalist Keith Quinn was at the domain during the match, but did not see the incident.
His father Len, mother Eva, brothers Stefan and Markus, and girlfriend Lucy, along with other family and friends were with him till he died in Wellington Hospital on Wednesday night.
His father said he would be remembered as a "larger than life young man, with a strong moral compass, who embraced life in everything he did".
"To all of us he was always 'Dan, the man with the plan', he even called himself that."
The Victoria University student, who was studying psychology, statistics and criminology, loved dogs and planned to be a police dog handler.
"He wasn't the star on the rugby field, but he was the good, hard-working, committed, loyal team player. He loved the game."
He was described as an active sportsman, with involvement in rugby, skiing, and with a black belt in karate and a man who "was always challenging himself to be the best he could".
He had a love for food and worked at popular Wellington restaurant Ortega Fish Shack.
"He took so much pride in doing a job well and his attention to detail was incredible, no matter how small the job.
"He would have been devastated to have let people down by not being able to do his shift Saturday night, he was so conscientious," his father said.
"Daniel was a teenager who loved having fun with his girlfriend Lucy and his mates, but he also loved being at home with his parents and brothers.
"He was very proud of his mum Eva's Swedish heritage, and learnt to speak the language, conversing with his mum and grandmother.
Wellington Rugby earlier this week said Daniel was removed from the field late in the match after teammates noticed he was displaying worrying symptoms during a stoppage in play.
"Shortly after leaving the field his condition deteriorated rapidly and ambulance officers already at the ground attended to the player," the statement said.
"He was taken to Wellington Hospital where he underwent brain surgery on Saturday night."
The Wellington Football Club president and former rugby journalist Keith Quinn was at the domain on Saturday but did not see the incident.
"Initially we thought a local player from Paremata-Plimmerton had been injured, and it wasn't until much later we found out he was one of our boys," he said earlier this week.
Wellington Rugby chief executive Steve Rogers said no single incident had been identified as the cause of the injury but "witnesses have reported the player was involved in a collision during the first half of the match".
"There are no allegations of foul play," he said.
New Zealand Rugby general manager of rugby, Neil Sorensen, said their "thoughts and hearts are with Daniel's family, friends, team mates and with the Wellington rugby community who will all be shattered by this news".
"Nineteen-year-old kids aren't supposed to die playing sport, it's distressing and so terribly sad," Sorensen said.
"The immediate focus is ensuring Daniel's family and his mates are fully supported. The Rugby Foundation is in contact with his family and his club and will be assisting at this horrible time.
"We will spend the coming days doing all we can to support their needs as they grieve their son, brother and mate."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/9271195...ub-rugby-match
