Rod Lane 1946-2004

It is with great sadness that we must inform you of the death on November 27th of Rod Lane from a brain tumour. Many of you will know that he was taken ill on the day of the Bev Teams, ironically itself an event in memory of another dearly departed Samurai player. He spent several weeks in hospital before being discharged. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy sessions were arranged, but the disease had already spread beyond treatable levels and his previously very robust health had declined with terrible speed. However, his last days were comfortable and he died peacefully with his family around him.

Rod’s children started judo around 1985 at Bewdley Judo Club (then still known as Kidderminster Judo Club) but in 1986 they took the decision to move to the Samurai Judo Club. The ethos of the Samurai club, with its emphasis on a wide range of activities rather than just competitive, was something Rod was very enthusiastic about and he quickly became heavily involved with the club. Although already in his forties he took up the sport himself, fought his way up to brown belt and took a gold medal as part of the Wyre Forest New Town Games Team, including being named as Player Of The Day at one event for his courage and determination. He qualified as a table official and had an interest in kata, but his two major loves were coaching and refereeing.

As a coach, Rod ran firstly a junior session and then in later years our parents and senior beginners session. His delight was in starting somebody in the sport, giving them a good base and then passing them on to the higher grade coaches at the club, but many of them continued to seek his help and quite a few went on to become black belts, including current players such as Paul Clarke and Archi Shrimpton. We currently have a lot of parent players who Rod started and encouraged in judo.

As a referee, Rod gained a tremendous reputation as a fair, consistent ref who was always interested in the welfare of the players and this made him a much better referee than many more experienced refs. Although he reached National B level, he was never interested in seeking high grade for himself and preferred refereeing genuine lower grades and club players to the British Open. For a while he became Midland Area Junior Referees Co-ordinator, but even after he relinquished that post he continued to coach the juniors in refereeing and it is because of him that the Midlands has have the strongest group of junior refs in the country today. A lot of his refereeing pupils, including his son Stuart and daughter Ali, and currently Archi Shrimpton and Stefan Newbury, went on to become Area and National referees.

A neck injury during training (and increasing age) ended Rod’s competitive career whilst he was still 1st kyu. Although clearly well deserving of a non-competitive promotion to dan grade, he refused to even consider it until Stuart and Ali gained their black belts and even then it took a lot of persuading to prise his licence from him so that we could make the application. Such self-effacing lack of self-interest was typical of him and made him much more worthy of the grade. Rod became a black belt in 2000.

Rod's wisdom was a major pillar of the Samurai club, which he was vice-chairman of at several times and of which he was made an honorary life member in 2000. His unstinting support was also something I personally came to rely upon very much. We will all miss him greatly, but the sport as a whole and our club in particular have been very much enriched by his many years of unselfish contribution.

Yours in Judo,
Andrew Haffner,
Coaching Co-ordinator, Samurai Judo Club.