Brad Thorn – A servant leader

⁴² But Jesus called the disciples together and said:

You know that those foreigners who call themselves kings like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over the people they rule. ⁴³ But don’t act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. ⁴⁴ And if you want to be first, you must be everyone’s slave. ⁴⁵ The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue any people.

Matthew 10:42-45 

Many of you will know that I love all sorts of sports, so to begin Faith Matters this year, I though we’d look at some stories from the world of sports and relate them to matters of faith!

Brad Thorn is a personal hero of mine. He has had a legendary career in both Rugby Union and Rugby League. His achievements include a Rugby World Cup, Super Rugby Championship and three NRL championship titles. He played 59 tests for the World-dominating All Blacks, and now coaches the Queensland Reds in the super rugby competition.

Mr Holden shared a snippet of his story at our Year 6 Leaders’ Induction service this week, and it gives an insight as to why he is such a hero of mine. Thorn, following his World Cup victory with the All Blacks in 2011, went on in 2012 to play for Leicester in in the UK. Already a world-renowned legend of the game, he had nothing to prove, no more accolades to add to his name. But following one of Leicester’s home games, when the team were out celebrating, Thorn was nowhere to be found. Later, they discovered that he had stayed behind to sweep and clean out the sheds after everyone had left. This example of servant leadership is a great reminder of our call to be humble, and selfless. Brad Thorn is a Christian, and I’m sure Jesus’s words written above echoed in his head when he busily cleaned the sheds… “if you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others.”

In my opinion, Thorn showed his true greatness that day, and in all the ways he served his teammates.  

Isaac Williams
College Chaplain – Wyvern