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Manly five-eighth Kieran Foran has a special name tattooed on his chest
WHEN Kieran Foran realised Manly expected him to step into the boots of Matt Orford this season, he took a deep breath and rubbed the three-word tattoo inked on his chest.
It simply reads: Hedley Royle Fielden — the name of his grandfather. “He was a man of very few words but he spoke with his actions. He influenced a lot of people’s lives. He was a man of very special qualities with great morals and standards,” Foran said.
Among his chief admirers was his grandson, now 19, who this season has taken over the leading playmaker role for the Sea Eagles by wearing the No 6 jersey.
It was a fairly daunting prospect. “One of the best things for my footy was having those nine games with Matt last year. I had a good understanding with him and learned fast.
“Then when he left it was mixed feelings. No one wanted him to go and then I thought: `Wait a minute, all the pressure comes on me now. They’ll want me to do what he did.’
“Matt’s had years of first grade and I’ve had a handful of games.”
Then Foran placed his fingers on his grandfather’s name.
“One of the great things about granddad was that he hated to see people get stressed or fussing over things,” he said.
“He never did it, so he would sit down with me and talk it through. He was able to remove the frustration and stress of everything — whether it was football or life in general.”
Foran, who hails from Auckland where his grandparents also lived, cannot speak to Hedley Fielden in person any more.
Foran was playing in a junior league tournament in Townsville in July 2008 and his grandparents were on holiday in north Queensland at the time.
“It just happened to coincide and they came to all my games.”
Hedley Fielden died two days after the competition ended of a massive heart attack. He was 79.
“So he got to see me play. And I look back and think of how I spent the last five days of his life with him,” he said .
“I can see him walking over to me to talk with me after I played.
“Those memories are with me always and they are some of the best days of my life.”
So why place the tattoo over his heart? Why not across his shoulders or down his arm as other NRL players have done with family names?
“Well if he means that much to me I’m going to put it somewhere where it means a lot,” Foran said.
“Several times a week I hear his voice in my head — that calmness and strength of his words — and it helps me. I feel sometimes he’s quite often `there’ with me.”
However, getting the tattoo had its embarrassing moments.
“I skipped school one day to go and get the tattoo, but I wasn’t 18 and they wouldn’t do it. I had to take my mum back with me the next day.”
All his Manly teammates have now heard of Hedley Royle Fielden and keep hearing about him. “It’s a daily reminder for me of him and how I want to live my life and how I want to deal and handle the tough moments,” he said.
“He was easygoing and everyone’s friend.”
Manly is also feeling fine with its Kiwi-born half.
After five rounds he is second in the NRL on try and linebreak assists behind Benji Marshall.
Since they both play No 6, Foran’s path to New Zealand colours seems thwarted. But he made his Test debut in last year’s Four Nations playing in the centres in the 20-12 loss to England.
He won’t get stressed about whether he makes the May 7, Anzac Test or not.
“I haven’t set any long-term goals. For the moment I just want to keep improving and keep consistent each week. I want to be a good player.”
He credits Manly’s international centre and five-eighth Jamie Lyon and coach Des Hasler for improving his play this year.
“I go home from training every day a better footballer.”
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Think before you ink: Quarter of tattooed Britons admit they regret their body art
Nearly one in three Britons aged 16-44 has a tattoo, according to research.
A massive boom in body art has been led by celebrities, footballers and other high-profile figures over the past couple of decades.
A fifth of all adults have a permanent tattoo, but this rises to a 29 per cent of men and women aged 16-44, the study revealed.
But 23 per cent admit it is something they now regret, said the survey based on questions to the website Ask Jeeves.
Many users have asked about laser and other removal techniques making it one of the most popular subjects for questions in recent years, said the company.
Tattoos are becoming increasingly trendy and 86 per cent in the survey of 1,000 adults believe they are now more commonplace.
But one in three said tattoos look ‘awful’ while 21 per cent think it is fine to have a tattoo just as long as it is not on display.
Attitudes vary among age groups, though not by as much as some may think.
Asked about David Beckham’s so-called tattoo ’sleeves’ covering his arms, 93 per cent of the over-60s think he’s gone too far, and so too do 74 per cent of the under-30s.
Almost half of all men – 47 per cent – think tattoos on a woman are a turn off but only 38 per cent of women think the same about the markings on a male body.
While inked-up celebrities from Cheryl Tweedy to Amy Winehouse have helped increase the popularity of tattoos, there seem to be good and bad role models.
According to the study, 55 per cent of all adults think Amy Winehouse looks worse for her collection of tattoos but only 17 per cent thought the same of actress Megan Fox.
Nadia Kelly of Ask Jeeves said: ‘We have noticed an increasing number of our users asking Jeeves about tattoo removal services and about the various ways to get rid of them.
‘Tattoos are obviously more popular than ever and we get enquiries about the latest designs or to look at those sported by celebrities.
‘But it does suggest that this is one of the things that seems like a great idea at first but which many come to regret when they grow older.’
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