A FORMER NEW Zealand rugby player has died at the age of 39, police in the country have said.

Shane Christie, a former Maori All Blacks player, was known for campaigning for greater awareness in rugby of the impact of repeated blows to the head after he suffered multiple concussions during his career.

Christie also played for Otago Highlanders, Canterbury Crusaders and the All Blacks sevens team.

The cause of his death is not yet certain. 

“The death will be referred to the coroner and we have no further information or comment we can provide,” said police.

New Zealand Rugby said Christie was deeply passionate about the sport and would be “remembered always”.

After retiring from the game in 2017, Christie reportedly suffered from headaches, memory lapses, speech problems, depression and mood swings consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). 

Christie reportedly wanted to donate his brain to the New Zealand sports human brain bank for its studies into CTE, a degenerative disease caused by repetitive head trauma that cannot be detected in living people.

Hundreds of American football (NFL) players have been affected by the condition, which is linked to an array of behavioural symptoms including depression.

A 2023 study by the Boston University CTE Centre said that of 376 brains of former NFL players, 345 of them were found to have CTE.

– © AFP 2025

Written by AFP and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.