If you think your laundry pile is bad, spare a thought for Caroline and Braeden Whitelock. The Palmerston North couple are the parents of four players playing for the Crusaders this year: former All Black George (26), Adam (25), World Cup star Sam (23) and Luke (21). Caroline says she washed countless rugby jerseys for her sons while they were growing up, but “I loved doing it, that’s what my mum used to do for my brother.” It helped, though, that the boys quickly learned that they had to clean their own boots. “I had to do that originally.”
The Whitelocks are something of a rugby dynasty. Braeden Whitelock is a former Junior All Black and both Sam and George got a try on test debut for the national team. Caroline says it was an amazing experience to watch Sam shine on the pitch at the Rugby World Cup 2011. The family got together to walk the fan trail to the final in Auckland and soak up the atmosphere.
The Whitelock boys moved to Christchurch at different stages over the years, primarily for university, but for the rugby opportunities as well. “George was at Otago for a year before moving to Christchurch,” Caroline says. She is originally from the Garden City and still has family there. “We go down there as often as we can.”
Now the boys are all in the South Island, less hands-on support is required, but Caroline says she and Braeden make sure they go to as many of their games as they can – even last year, when it was difficult because the Crusaders didn’t have a home base. Caroline says having four rugby-mad boys has been hectic over the years, especially as they are so close in age.
“They’ve always been rugby mad. They’re outdoor boys. Any sport, they played,” she says. The boys grew up in the country and Caroline says that, because they had so much energy, it was great not to have to rein them in. “They would come in at night, eat well and sleep well because they had been so active.” But ferrying the boys to their rugby training sessions was not always easy. “We had to call on Nana and Granddad sometimes. For a while we had to go in four directions. It was easier when they all started to play on the same team.”
A match in February against the Hurricanes, which the Crusaders won, was the first time all the Whitelock boys had appeared in the same match, apart from one game they played at school. “It just depends on how it all pans out whether they can all get on together,” Caroline says. “Some go off, some go on.”
Caroline says while the boys fool around a bit when they are at home together, they are each other’s biggest supporters. “When they are away, if one of them got in trouble, they’d stick up for each other.” Being brothers helps the team, too, Caroline reckons. “They know each other’s play from being at school together. They play similarly.”
There has been some friendly, competitive rivalry over the years as the boys jockeyed for positions in their sport. “They all love the game, they are very passionate about it,” Caroline says. Standing on the sidelines of a rugby field in the middle of winter is not every parent’s favourite pastime, but Caroline did it four times over every week – more than willingly.
As well as doing the washing, cleaning, cheerleading and chauffeuring, Caroline was even hairdresser to the boys when they were younger. “I used to give them all the same haircut – a number four with a fringe.” Caroline’s the shortest in the family and the boys tower over her. Sam is 2.03m tall and Braeden and the others are 1.93m. She says she and Braeden could not be prouder of their family’s contribution to New Zealand rugby. “We’re beaming with pride and excited about the future.”
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