\u201cA proud Grey Valley man, his passion for the game remains a defining part of his legacy,\u201d the union said.<\/p>\n
Mirfin represented Nelson Bays, Marlborough and the New Zealand Divisional XV, and wore the West Coast red and white hoops 26 times between 2009 and 2011.<\/p>\n
A moment\u2019s silence was held before senior rugby matches on the Coast today in his honour.<\/p>\n
Blair \u201cMirf\u201d Mirfin was a known stalwart in the rugby community. Photo \/ Facebook<\/p>\n
Grey Valley Rugby Club described Mirfin as a \u201cformer club president, player, hard man and all round good bugger\u201d.<\/p>\n
The club said he was instrumental in reforming Grey Valley Rugby Club in 2008 and held numerous roles over the years, including player, manager, coach and president.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis personality and passion for our club and the game drew in many players to the GV family,\u201d the club said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis tireless efforts never went unnoticed and were truly appreciated by all.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club added Mirfin had been \u201ca huge part of the Ikamatua & Grey Valley communities and will be sorely missed by so many\u201d.<\/p>\n
At Marist Nelson Sports Club, where Mirfin played from 1997 to 2001, he was remembered as \u201ca tough, uncompromising prop forward on the field but big friendly giant of a man off it\u201d.<\/p>\n
The club said Mirfin came from a \u201cfarming and rugby loving family\u201d in Ikamatua and attended Nelson College as a boarder, following in the footsteps of his older brothers Andrew and Nathan, who both played first-class rugby for West Coast.<\/p>\n
Mirfin was part of Marist\u2019s Division 1 championship-winning side in 2001 and amassed 86 first-class games across Nelson Bays, Marlborough, West Coast and the NZ Divisional XV.<\/p>\n
Mirfin (centre) was widely remembered as a larger-than-life figure whose influence stretched far beyond the field. Photo \/ Grey Valley Rugby Club<\/p>\n
\u201cBut [he] was much more than a rugby player,\u201d the club said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a successful farmer and a loving father and great mate to many.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blaketown Rugby Football Club said Mirfin had been \u201cone of our senior team\u2019s biggest supporters\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis generosity, kindness and unwavering support touched everyone who had the privilege of knowing him,\u201d the club said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gave so much of himself, always quietly and without expectation and our club is better because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across the tributes, thoughts were repeatedly extended to Mirfin\u2019s partner Tori and children Lily and Max, as well as the wider Mirfin family and Grey Valley community.<\/p>\n
Mirfin\u2019s death will be referred to the coroner.<\/p>\n
Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cA proud Grey Valley man, his passion for the game remains a defining part of his legacy,\u201d the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,80303,11586,634,3233,2740,4999,44661,305,214489,215183,215184,3180,111,43,139,69,9617,53501,15120,16948,6327,137548,24994,10140,3807],"class_list":["post-418987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-blair","tag-coast","tag-death","tag-farm","tag-former","tag-friday","tag-gavin","tag-have","tag-ikamatua","tag-mirf","tag-mirfin","tag-near","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-player","tag-poured","tag-remembered","tag-representative","tag-rugby","tag-stalwart","tag-sudden","tag-tributes","tag-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}