Rugby: Strong faith in unified competition

Bay of Plenty Rugby chief executive Mike Rogers is convinced a unified Baywide competition is best for the future of Bay of Plenty rugby. Photo / Ben Fraser

The Baywide club rugby crisis is still to be resolved - with Rotorua and Eastern Bay clubs considering whether to leave the Baywide competition for next season. Sports writer Peter White talked to Bay of Plenty Rugby Union chief executive Mike Rogers about the standoff.

Q: Are Whakarewarewa and Rotoiti in or out?

A: We are not 100 per cent sure to be honest. We are going to meet with the sub-union chairmen on Thursday night as a follow-up to try and get some resolution to this. Depending on who you talk to, there are different views on what those clubs want to do. We have 39 clubs, which compares to 17 in Auckland and 18 in Wellington. That creates a lot of challenges. Trying to create competition structures that work for everyone is incredibly difficult. We need to try and create good competitions that are robust at different levels.

Q: What is the latest update you can give following last week's Bay of Plenty Rugby Union board meeting?

A: The board is still of the position that a unified Baywide competition is the way forward for Bay of Plenty. From the board's point of view, it would be detrimental for rugby in the Bay if we don't have the best teams competing against each other from throughout the region. That's what the players want. For their aspirations to become Steamers, they want to be playing against the best. At a meeting with clubs at the end of 2013, clubs asked that contracted players be involved in the club competition, and for the union to pick players from the club competition, and the board adopted that. To pick local players you have to have a strong club competition that promotes talent capable of playing at the ITM Cup level.

Q: Central and Eastern Bay clubs say you and other key staff at Bay of Plenty Rugby do not listen to them. What is your reply to that?

A: A big part of what we do is consult and talk with clubs, but ultimately we have got to make decisions. With 39 clubs, you are not going to be able to deliver everything that everyone wants. This board has been dedicated to consultation. If you went back over the last 18-24 months, the number of meetings that we have had with clubs has provided a pretty good platform for that conversation to happen. Staff and board members attend sub-union and other committee meetings. Also for the first time this year, we have encouraged sub-union chairmen to come to a board meeting and actually present on behalf of their clubs.

Q: Are you confident you can break down the communication barriers and find a solution to this?

A: Yes I am confident. I think we are all here for rugby. Ultimately while we may disagree on some things, everyone here wants rugby to be strong. That has to be our starting point. If we all agree we want a strong, unified Bay then that is a really important point. We need everyone to put Bay of Plenty rugby first and work together to achieve that.

Q: How do you get a wider distribution of the playing talent throughout the whole Bay of Plenty region?

A: We are well aware most of the players are based here (Western Bay). We want a strong competition where all of our teams can beat each other, so spreading the talent is definitely something we are trying to address. But equally, 60 per cent of the population lives in the Western Bay and players moving to the region do want to live here. So the thing for us is how do we work with the Rotorua and Eastern Bay clubs to ensure they have good infrastructures in place, and can support the players, because they are part-time players. They need jobs outside ITM Cup to survive. We also need to ensure our players have access to training facilities etc in those areas.