Get behind the Wairarapa-Bush boys

WAKE UP MASTERTON!
Does anyone out there realise that come next Tuesday Wairarapa-Bush will be challenging Canterbury for New Zealand rugby's most prized trophy, the Ranfurly Shield?
It's the first time in eight seasons that Wairarapa-Bush have been given the chance to grab that coveted log of wood and only the seventh occasion since the two unions amalgamated in 1971.
If ever then there was an opportunity for the local business community to indicate their support for one of their sporting teams this is it, but a quick walk around the Masterton shopping centre yesterday showed absolutely no sign of that happening.
Even if shops decorated their windows with green and red balloons it would be a start but how about initiating special sales with a Ranfurly Shield flavour. Perhaps anything with red and green the predominant colours at half price??you know that sort of thing.
And why not a couple of huge banners across our main street, letting the whole populace know that, hey, little old Wairarapa-Bush is about to hit the big time
But it's not only the local business community who need a shake up.
What is the WBRFU itself doing to push their team's cause? Why haven't they been visiting shops offering them memorabilia of previous Shield games involving Wairarapa, Bush or Wairarapa-Bush teams to display..
And why haven't they had current Wairarapa-Bush squad members visiting local schools and JAB clubs as a means of explaining to youngsters just why the Ranfurly Shield has such an aura about it?
And did they ever think of actually asking the Canterbury union if they could "borrow" the Shield and travel it around the Wairarapa-Bush region, accompanied perhaps by the NPC third division trophy their premier side won last season.
Speaking of that third division win, the same sort of malaise was all too obvious in Masterton then too, wasn't it.?
Leading into the grand final against Horowhenua-Kapiti at Memorial Park there was very little indication in the main business area that anything out of the ordinary was about to occur. A few balloons here and there was about it, that despite the fact that a Wairarapa-Bush win was very much on the cards. Next Tuesday, of course, it would take a near miracle for the Ranfurly Shield to be winging its way back to Wellington, and then onto a bus for a trip over the Rimutakas.
In fact, with Canterbury due to welcome their Junior All Blacks back into their side for this particular game anything less than a 50-point advantage to the home team would be a surprise.
But for me the very fact that we are even in a position to mount a challenge for such an esteemed trophy should be celebrated big time.
C'mon Masterton??you can do it!!!!!!