Crowds force BOP to rethink NPC base

Officials are pushing for more NPC rugby matches to be played in Tauranga after a series of poor attendances in Rotorua this season.

Craig Ross, an independent director of the Bay of Plenty Rugby Football Union, said he would argue for Tauranga to become the province's base for NPC games.

"Historically, Rotorua may have been the base but times have changed.

"People have to come to terms with the fact that Tauranga is a growth city, it has a larger population base and it can attract bigger crowds.

"We need to position ourselves for our own growth over the next five to 10 years."

Last Saturday the Bay of Plenty union cut ticket prices in half but only 3500 people watched Bay of Plenty beat Hawkes Bay in Rotorua to retain their first division status.

Ross, a former Bay of Plenty representative and captain, said support from Rotorua for a game of that stature was pathetic.

"It was their chance to get out and show their true colours," he said.

"When Hawkes Bay scored the first two tries you would have thought you were sitting in McLean Park [Napier].

"Half of the crowd were supporting Hawkes Bay and that's around 1500 people from the Bay of Plenty; that's poor."

Ross said there was no question more people would have turned out in Tauranga for the match against Hawkes Bay.

Bay of Plenty have four home games next season and Ross wants at least three of them to be played in Tauranga.

"I think the 2/2 split [between Rotorua and Tauranga] is the soft option.

"A stake has to be put in the ground and it has to be based on a hard business decision.

"If a Tauranga sponsor backed Bay of Plenty rugby then there would be no argument that all the games would go to Tauranga."

Bay of Plenty union board members will discuss the pros and cons of staging matches in Rotorua and Tauranga next Monday.

- NZPA