Bunnings chips in $30k to upgrade Kaitaia wahine toa rugby club Te Rarawa

Te Rarawa Wahine are making a big splash and will have he changing rooms to match. Photo / Facebook

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Te Rarawa Rugby Club in Ahipara has been given $30,000 in funding to help upgrade its facilities for wāhine.

"This was built only for blokes back in the day," club co-ordinator Georgina Linguard says.

In a move to make the club more comfortable and safe for female players, it plans to add more bathrooms and upgrade the showers.

Linguard says, "We're getting a lot of young girls and a lot of older women coming in for the first time or coming back. They come from different backgrounds like netball and touch, so they're not really used to the shared facilities."

The Bunnings Rugby Assist Programme is funding Te Rarawa to improve and expand shower and bathroom facilities for women. The grant is also supporting nine other grassroots rugby clubs across Aotearoa.

Te Rarawa Rugby Club is more than 100 years old but it only established a women's team to compete in the local competition five years ago.

In those five years, the women's team reached the finals four times. The club hopes accommodating wāhine will help its team become a permanent fixture.

Club president Leslie Wallace says, "We are trying to make the rugby club more of a community facility, the main reason being that here in Ahipara, we don't have a community hall."

Covid restrictions meant the club could not celebrate its centennial. The financial boost means the community will be better able to host the event.

Bunnings Rugby Assist ambassador Ruby Tui says she is excited to see how this support will help women's rugby to thrive in Aotearoa.