Supervisor Ben Gardiner took centre stage in the UK report of the rescue
As if stealing the naming rights for Pavlova and claiming to be the first country in the world to ‘give’ votes to women wasn’t enough, a New Zealand news article has claimed British lifeguard Steven Gregory as one of their own after he’d worked just 2 seasons in the country, and then left his colleagues out of the plaudits.
Here’s the headline as it appeared in New Zealand
Steve Gregory became a ‘Kiwi hero’ overnight
Here’s a link for the original UK article. Note how it was a member of the public who pulled the drowning girl from the water and Steve Gregory was one of a group of heroic lifeguards who helped to resuscitate her. Steven has also helped out in other rescue missions: July 2013
By the time New Zealand got hold of the latest rescue story, Steve had taken headline billing and turned into a Kiwi, despite being described in the NZ article as “an English lifeguard.” Furthermore, they published their photo of him wearing his NZ uniform, free advertising for DHL included.
For the record, here’s Steve’s photo from the UK press coverage:
Steve Gregory wearing his UK attire, minus advertising
None of his colleagues that participated in the rescue got a mention in the NZ press so we’ll mention them here: Robin Howell, Sam Chamberlain, Mitch Coldicutt and Ben Gardiner, aided by an off-duty nurse and a local paramedic (no names given).
Very bad form NZ, very.
Here’s how it was reported in NZ
“A former Mount Maunganui lifeguard has been hailed as a hero after he helped to save the life of a toddler found face-down in the ocean in the UK.
Steven Gregory has been congratulated by the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service after reports of the rescue in England.
Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service general manager Glenn Bradley said Mr Gregory was an English lifeguard who patrolled Bay beaches with the Mount service over the past two summers.
Mr Bradley said Mr Gregory followed the summer season between England and New Zealand, working as a lifeguard in both countries.
Mr Gregory was featured by an English media website at Perranporth, England, after he saved the life of a toddler found face down in the water…” source
Good on you Steven for being part of a team working hard to save lives, regardless of where you do it or what your nationality is.
E2NZ.org 
Typical. And as often as they do it – they should be embarrassed, grubbing for fame like that.
Off topic, but this is another example of NZ’s broken justice system. http://news.msn.co.nz/worldnews/8867582/shorter-jail-time-for-killing-nz-flatmate. Also, please follow the post upon an obituary page for the victim. https://www.facebook.com/ripjaved
I quote from the page ” As you have probably heard by now, James Cooper was sentenced to only 8 years and 3 months for killing Javed & perverting the course of justice.
This is definitely not the outcome we hoped for but we do understand that given he was only convicted of ‘manslaughter’ and not Murder after the trial, that we did get a good outcome.
James is now 25, in 8 years, he will be 33. He will still be able to have a life, a family, a future. Javed will never again be able to experience any of this. In our minds James should have received something closer to a life sentence but the cards did not play out this way. Our justice system needs to change. Let’s hope there won’t be a day we will regret letting this monster out early.
As a family we will now only hope to be able to forward and live everyday cherishing Javed’s memories to keep us strong.
On a final note, we would like to thank all the detectives and lawyers involved in the case. You may say it’s only your job but we know that over the past year you put 120% into every aspect so that we could find some justice for our son & brother. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and we will never forget what you did for us “
I must respectfully disagree. Kiwis are massive freeloaders and they are especially vulnerable to believing the derisory notion that they can get something for nothing. They love government programmes not because they care about their fellow human beings, but because they think someone else is going to pay tax enabling them something for nothing.
If Kiwis cared about their fellow human beings, they would not rip off each other the way they do. They might also demand tougher accountability on crime rather than saying, “I won’t judge mate” before smoking their next blunt.
exactly, selfish right wing in it only for themselves and sod everyone else… the complete opposite of socialist, which is a way of thinking that puts the community before self.
But that’s OK , I realise that many mistake one for the other. 😉
Thanks for sharing this piece illustrating the jingoistic and distorted coverage that one finds in the New Zealand press. Another point worth considering is that if this courageous young man were a Kiwi, he is yet another example of someone with good moral and professional qualities leaving New Zealand. The Kiwi media might be better off focusing on why the best people leave New Zealand leaving behind idiots such as the editor of the article.
As an aside, normally Kiwis tend not to interfere if something bad is happening to another. They just prefer to shirk and avoid responsibility, which is in their Socialist DNA. They expect the government or Big Brother to do everything.
I must take exception to your “socialist DNA” statement. One thing Kiwis don not suffer from is a desire to show concern or a desire for equality or indeed any real social concern from another.
Self centered jingo driven right wing selfish pricks would be more apt a description, espeially so under the current government. Or rather should I say under John Key, as the under the average kiwi is unable to understand that politics is about party and policy and not a popularity contest.