17 February 1999
The Press
by Tony Smith
Former All Whites defender Garry Lund has retired from top-level soccer.
Lund, 32, is the latest member of the great Christchurch United national league and Chatham Cup winning squads of the late 1980s to hang up his boots.
He confirmed yesterday that he would not be playing for Rangers in the Canterbury premier league this year.
"I've done my dash," he said.
"I suppose I could have gone on for a couple more years. I've got absolutely no regrets, but it's time to move on and do something else."
Lund struggled with injuries last year, which he found frustrating, but he said it was not a major factor behind his retirement. However, the recent retirements of contemporaries such as Danny Halligan, had played a part in his own decision.
"It's a generational thing, I guess. Now it's time for another generation to have their turn."
Lund will continue as a director of Canterbury Soccer for another year, but is looking forward to a break from the game.
"I'll take on some other physical challenges. I might do the Coast-to-Coast and a few of the (soccer) boys are talking about playing some social golf."
A former senior club cricketer, Lund burst on the national soccer scene in the mid-1980s.
Apart from a brief flirtation as a striker, scoring three goals ("all in the same game") in 15 outings up front, Lund settled into the centre of a formidable Christchurch United defence.
He played alongside All White, Rhodes Scholar and Oxford United professional Ceri Evans, who Lund rates as "probably New Zealand's premier centre-back".
Lund soon joined Evans in the All Whites, making his international debut in 1986 in a 2-1 win over Fiji. He won 13 caps over the next three years and played in the All Whites' 1990 World Cup qualifying campaign.
But Lund's international career was cut short by a knee injury.
"That was my biggest disappointment. I played for New Zealand again later, but I was never really as agile or physically capable as I was pre-injury."
But Lund said the good times outnumbered the bad. "There were three phases really. Winning the league and cup double with Christchurch United was pretty special, a once in a lifetime thing really, and there were a lot of great characters in those teams.
"Playing for your country is the ultimate and I was lucky enough to do that. We got really good results in my time with the All Whites. "
Lund also enjoyed the final stages of his career, with Rangers.