A tragic loss
Tania Dalton: Silver Ferns remember a fabulous friend
As Tania Dalton lay in her hospital bed, surrounded by family, her devoted husband Duane threw open the door to the steady stream of friends who came to see her one last time.
She might have been unconscious, but he knew exactly what she would have wanted – to be encircled by friendship, love and laughter. And that’s how it was. They giggled. They wept. They reminisced. They even painted her toenails.
Five days after the 45-year-old former Silver Ferns legend collapsed during a social game of touch on Auckland’s North Shore, her life support was turned off. The ruptured internal carotid artery aneurysm she’d
suffered had starved her brain of oxygen for too long. There was no hope of recovery.
At 10.20am the following day – Wednesday, February 28 – Tania took her last breath, leaving behind Duane and their three beloved children, Tayla, 15, Charlie, 13, and Matt, nine.
To New Zealanders, Tania (née Nicolson) represented all that was good about Kiwi sporting culture. She was the lanky, 1.84m Takapuna schoolgirl who dazzled the netball scene with her speed, agility and fancy footwork.
She was the sporty ingénue who grew into a formidable opponent on court, playing 12 tests for the Silver Ferns between 1996 and 2007, including the highlight of her career – bringing home the World Cup in Jamaica in 2003.
But sporting glory was just one part of Tania’s legacy. Another was her infectious personality. She was cheeky, big-hearted, generous and a fully signed-up lover of life. As her former teammate and fellow sports commentator Jenny-May Clarkson says, “She lit up a room.”
When Tania – known to friends as “T”, “T-Bag” or “Tarns” – was on tour, fun was never far behind. Her love for Neil Diamond and dancing on tables was legendary throughout her time with the Ferns, the Northern Force and Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic.
In 2002, Tania agreed to join the Southern Sting just a day after giving birth to her daughter Tayla. Unfazed, she got back into shape in record time and flew from Auckland to Invercargill every week to train and play with the team, later also returning to the court as quickly as possible following the births of Charlie and Matt.
After retiring from elite sport in 2007 at 35, Tania joined the commentating team at Sky Sport, where her irreverent humour was a breath of fresh air. “I thought she was going to vom,” the former PE teacher famously remarked about a netballer who had to leave the court.
Even after retiring from top-level sport, Tania still never let up, playing social netball, basketball, touch and tennis, also doing the odd marathon and harbour swim, as well as coaching her kids’ netball and basketball teams.
In 2006, Tania, Duane and their business partner Chris Henderson brought the Canadian franchise Pita Pit to NZ and grew it into a thriving enterprise with almost 100 stores around the country. She was playing for the company’s social touch team when she collapsed.
Tania was also just about to return to netball training for the World Masters Games in Auckland next month. Her team, which includes many of her old sporting colleagues, has since changed its name to “The T-Bags” in her honour.
Regardless of her many achievements, it was her family that was Tania’s greatest legacy. As they struggled to come to terms with their loss, a family spokesperson said, “It’s unbearably sad, but we are comforted by how big a life she lived in a short 45 years. She loved her husband. She loved their kids.”
Duane adds, “We couldn’t be prouder of her or love her more. That’s how we all feel.”