{"id":98962,"date":"2025-08-27T06:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T06:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/98962\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T06:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T06:00:11","slug":"shane-christie-dies-aged-39-former-highlanders-star-new-zealand-maori-player-mourned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/98962\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane Christie dies aged 39, former Highlanders star, New Zealand Maori player mourned"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on Stuff<\/a> and is reproduced with permission.<\/p>\n

Ex-Maori All Black and former Highlanders flanker Shane Christie has died, aged 39.<\/p>\n

His sudden death on Wednesday morning is a suspected suicide.<\/p>\n

NZ Rugby<\/a> paid tribute to Christie, noting his contribution to the teams he represented in Super Rugby and the National Provincial Championship and, later, his willingness to work as a coach.<\/p>\n

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“It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Shane Christie,” NZ Rugby said in a statement issued to Stuff.<\/p>\n

“Shane represented Aotearoa New Zealand in both the All Blacks Sevens and the M\u0101ori All Blacks jerseys.<\/p>\n

“He played in our domestic competitions and Super Rugby, forging deep connections with the Tasman Mako and the Highlanders. He was passionate about coaching, holding coaching roles with Tasman, for both their women’s and men’s teams, and the Highlanders.<\/p>\n

“Any time the rugby community loses a member it is felt deeply. Shane’s passion for the game will be remembered always. Our thoughts are with Shane’s wh\u0101nau, friends, former team-mates, and community at this incredibly difficult time.”<\/p>\n

\"Shane<\/p>\n

Shane Christie of the Highlanders. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

In addition to earning eight caps for the M\u0101ori All Blacks, Christie played 29 matches for the Highlanders between 2014-2017, and amassed 73 caps for Tasman.<\/p>\n

“A proud Tassy man, Shane will be dearly missed by his teammates, colleagues, and the wider rugby wh\u0101nau,” the Mako said in a statement.<\/p>\n

His playing career ended in 2017, a year after he started experiencing serious concussion symptoms.<\/p>\n

Nelson lawyer Craig Morice, who said Christie was a friend as well as a client, was shattered by news of his death.<\/p>\n

“Shane was an incredibly nice, caring person,” Morice told Stuff.<\/p>\n

“He was a friend and I am just so sad for his family, friends and team-mates he has left behind.<\/p>\n

“I will miss him dearly.”<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 Rugby Championship with every match streaming live and on demand on the home of rugby, Stan Sport<\/a><\/p>\n

As Christie told the Nelson App last year, he experienced three or four concussions in the space of six weeks playing for the Highlanders in 2016, and sometimes played games and felt like he was on autopilot.<\/p>\n

“It feels like a bruise in your head, and when you’re walking it hurts,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So when you’re thinking it hurts, when you’re trying to exercise the pressure hurts, and you’re not as fast and can’t think as quick.”<\/p>\n

After retirement, Christie, who played one game for the Crusaders in 2013, experienced ongoing headaches, memory lapses, vision and speech problems, and mood swings.<\/p>\n

Having watched the Concussion film in 2015, he recognised his symptoms were in line with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).<\/p>\n

\"Shane<\/p>\n

Shane Christie.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Christie took up coaching roles with the Tasman Mako and Highlanders, who he worked for as their defence coach in 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n

After his second season with the Highlanders, the Dunedin-based franchise sacked him.<\/p>\n

Christie told the What a Lad podcast in 2023 balancing his concussion symptoms with the pressure of coaching made for many frustrating days.<\/p>\n

“We had the end of season break up. [Chief executive Roger Clark] gets me in the office and says ‘you’ve been good, we’ve been pretty happy with the way you’ve coached, but we just want to go in a different direction’.<\/p>\n

“I was like, ‘sweet, jumped up, left’.”<\/p>\n

Christie has no idea how many concussions he suffered during his career, but his first occurred playing a senior B game in T\u0101kaka when he was aged 18 or 19, Christie told the What a Lad podcast in 2023.<\/p>\n

The podcast’s host, Crusaders assistant James Marshall, recalled coaching alongside Christie, who would regularly take breaks during the day to nap.<\/p>\n

“There’s light, man. I know that I can come right. Because this January-February I was feeling really good, I was exercising hard out. I got a chest freezer and was ice bathing every day,” Christie said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got a group of people I can rely on, and if I got to a stage where I thought I was in danger of going downhill or feeling I was suicidal, I’d give you a ring.”<\/p>\n

If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via lifeline.org.au<\/a>. In an emergency, call 000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article originally appeared on Stuff and is reproduced with permission. Ex-Maori All Black and former Highlanders flanker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-98962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}