“It’s just ingrained in my family and my history,” he said.
Some of his earliest memories are of throwing a ball around in the dead-ball area while his father, Gary, coached the senior side.
“It was like an event every Saturday,” he said.
“You didn't know so much about the ins-and-outs or the club dynamics or the rivalries or anything like that, it was just more about enjoying footy.”
Now 36, Horan has followed in his father’s footsteps, taking over as head coach of the Lyttelton premier reserve side at the end of last season.
He has lived in Lyttelton almost his entire life – moving over the hill to Governors Bay in 2019 after buying a house.
"It was one of those places where you grew up knowing everyone.
"Your grandparents knew each other, your parents knew each other, so, it was a really cool place to grow up as a kid,” he said.
Horan went to Lyttelton Primary School, but only took notice of the port town’s unique culture when he attended Shirley Boys' High School.
"It’s something so small as like when you went back to a guy from school’s house to hang out and you’d notice some of them didn't know their neighbours or they didn’t really associate with other people on their streets so much.
"Everything over here was way more connected,” he said.
He remembers Lyttelton families gathering on New Year’s Eve, watching the parents sing Auld Lang Syne on the street corner.
With no new players coming in, it looked like the beginning of the end for the Dolphins.
Following a difficult year, then-head coach Alex Ryan stepped away. Horan, who had always had an interest in the tactical and analytical side of the game, stepped up, initially agreeing to take the team for a year.
“It’s just about not wanting the club to fall over. A club you hold so dear to your heart. One where you have so many memories and have made so many friendships.
“We are like a family for life and once you're a Dolphin, you’re always a Dolphin,” he said.
Horan played all his junior rugby at Lyttelton before turning out for Shirley Boys during his school years.
But at 16, rugby took a back seat while he focused on work, making windows and doors for Rylock.
Two years later, he applied to work for the Lyttelton Port Company, where he has been for the last 18 years.
Starting off as a cargo handler, he has risen through the ranks and is now a full time logistics officer.
“It’s awesome, I love it,” he said.
Due to his work roster, Horan occasionally needs to use his annual leave to coach Saturday games and credits his coaching staff for stepping in when work prevents him from being there.
Back in 2009, when the club was struggling for numbers, Horan and many of this year’s core group joined the side.
By 2011, they won the Metro premier reserve title, the club’s first, and repeated the feat two years later.
Since then, they have come close several times, falling short in the semi-finals and final.
Horan played 197 games for the Dolphins and wore the yellow and blue for the last time in 2020.
After last year’s tough season, Horan focused on recruitment. By the time preseason training rolled around, they had a squad of 30 attending, up from just eight the year before.
From those struggles, the Dolphins have now claimed the premier reserve title again, beating Shirley 32-5 in last Saturday’s grand final.
“The crowd was massive and it was awesome just to share that moment and know that we sort of achieved something special. It didn’t just impact us, it impacted the wider community,” Horan said.
Adding to the emotion of the win was the memory of one of the team’s biggest supporters, Horan’s grandfather, Charlie Macilquham, a former Lyttelton player.
“He would always stand at the same spot near the dead ball line with his old-school nineties Lyttelton jacket on,” he said.
Macilquham died in May, the week of the team’s only loss of the season, against New Brighton.
“We all put black armbands on in memory of him and it was probably our worst game of the year.
“It was sort of granddad’s way of throwing a bit of adversity at us and seeing how we handled it. It definitely meant a bit more, especially at the end when we won,” Horan said.
Though he originally planned to coach for just one season, Horan has decided to stay on for another year.
He has already laid down a challenge for the team: To become the first Lyttelton side to win back-to-back titles next season.
