‘Fitzy’ learned lifelong values at Sacred Heart College

By CathNews New Zealand

May 22nd, 2026

Sean Fitzpatrick (Wikimedia Commons)

Former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick says he learned the values he lives by at Sacred Heart College in Auckland – and now he is lending a helping hand to a sports centre project at the school. Source: New Zealand Herald.

Mr Fitzpatrick recounted how he was placed in a low-grade team when he was aged 12, because his weight would have seen him play against much older boys in higher year levels. But the former All Blacks hooker paid tribute to the coach of that team, Guy Davis, for the values communicated.

“Mr Davis, a beautiful Fijian man, knew nothing at all about rugby, but he was serious about the values that we were taught here. And to this day, I live by these values,” he said.

Mr Davis announced there were just three things he wanted from the team in 1977.

“He said: ‘The first thing, everyone on this team is equal, no matter who you are. The second thing is when you turn up on a Monday night . . . I want you to have the attitude that you want to be here.’

“And the [third] thing . . . was: ‘All I want from you individually is to be as successful as you can be’.

“Those three things just lit a spark in my head,” Mr Fitzpatrick said. “I’m still smoking and drinking and doing all the things I shouldn’t be doing – but it just gave me something that moved me on.”

Mr Fitzpatrick is to be the inaugural ambassador for a proposed $30 million project to build a sports centre at Sacred Heart. A fundraising launch for the 4000-square-metre Marist Brothers Sports Centre at the college is set for July.

The project includes a sports hall that can be used for basketball (three courts), volleyball, futsal, table tennis and badminton, along with a strength and conditioning gym, four changing rooms, four classrooms and a multi-purpose room for lectures and hosting functions.

While $15 million is already accessible, London-based Mr Fitzpatrick will assist the college’s Development Foundation in raising the balance through grants, sponsorship and a capital campaign with the wider Sacred Heart College diaspora.

FULL STORY

Sean Fitzpatrick and Ian Kirkpatrick: Legendary All Blacks captains reveal what drove them (By Bruce Holloway and Adam Julian/New Zealand Herald – subscription required)