City-wide sports contests tax schools

College Sport chief executive Manoj Daji said that the cost of getting sports teams from South Auckland to the North Shore and vice versa every Saturday was getting out of hand. Photo / The Aucklander

Auckland schools plan to cut back on city-wide sports competitions as some colleges spend up to $20,000 a year in taxis to get students to games.

The changes are also aimed at helping parents who have to drive their sports-playing teenagers from one side of the city to another most weekends.

College Sport chief executive Manoj Daji told the Weekend Herald that the cost of getting sports teams from South Auckland to the North Shore and vice versa every Saturday was getting out of hand.

Administrators were working towards a compromise in which most teams played schools in their area.

"We've got a league competition across the whole of the region for premier sport and then it would be sensible for the sport underneath that to be played in clusters."

Schools across the city are spending thousands of dollars each week on taxi vans to get teams to games because many parents are unable to help.

South Auckland Taxis manager Douglas Hall said his firm carried sports teams from up to 20 secondary schools a week and some primary and intermediate schools.

It was a substantial part of the company's business and some schools had long-term contracts, which gave them cheaper rates. "The days of parents pitching in and providing vehicles are gone."

Auckland Girls Grammar School in central Auckland spends $18,000 to $20,000 on taxis a year, partly because it does not have its own playing fields.

Principal Liz Thomson said most of the money went on midweek sport played after school. Parents usually lived too far away to help with transport and were busy anyway.

Papatoetoe High School sports co-ordinator Graeme Phillips said his school was likely to spend about $10,000 on taxis this year - easily the biggest cost in the sports budget.

He said hardly any parents were able to help drive students to games and buying a minivan was probably not the answer either.

Mr Phillips said it was probably a good idea to switch to smaller competitions between local schools but he would be a little disappointed for the students.

"I think it's good for the kids to get around Auckland. It exposes them to different experiences."

Auckland Secondary Schools Heads Association president Byron Bentley said local sports leagues were a great idea but would work only if there were enough teams in each area.

The biggest problem was still the lack of coaches, which meant schools struggled to put teams together even when students were keen to play.

Traditionally teachers took sports teams but this was becoming more difficult. The average age of the workforce was getting older and many teachers were already involved with cultural activities such as music and drama.

MIDWEEK GAMES SOLUTION TO WEEKEND CRUSH

Many school sports now have midweek games to avoid the weekend rush, says College Sport chief executive Manoj Daji.

"League's a classic. They play on a Wednesday night and it's been a godsend because if they played on a Saturday they'd be competing not only against rugby union but against clubs.

"In secondary schools we've seen a huge growth in teams playing league now [up from 23 to 32 this year]."

Cricket had problems with the clash between lengthy school and club games on Saturdays.

North Harbour had waived club play in favour of a school-based competition, while Auckland was looking at social grades playing midweek 20/20 games after school.

Mr Daji said schools could also face divided loyalties over where to play. Henderson High School had a new astroturf hockey field, partly thanks to money raised by the Auckland Hockey Association. The school was now debating whether it had an obligation to play in the Auckland rather than North Harbour competition.