Fans flying high on rugby team success

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE


Diehard fans of the Bay of Plenty Steamers have chartered two Boeing 737 flights to Christchurch for the team's NPC semifinal clash with Canterbury on Saturday night.

More than 100 bay backers will be on each flight, with some driving from as far away as Opotiki to catch the plane.

Long-time rugby fans Gerry and Shona Browne, Paul Owen and Murray Clark can't believe the dream season their favourite team has had.

After the Ranfurly Shield win, making the NPC semifinals was icing on a very sweet cake.

When the group found out in February that all the Steamers' matches on the draw were in the North Island, they bought season tickets and booked trips to each game.

But when the players won their way to Christchurch this weekend Shona Browne faced a dilemma, as she had a "girls' weekend" to Auckland arranged to see Saturday Night Fever.

But no way was she going to miss the rugby. After the Friday night show, Mrs Browne will fly from Auckland on Saturday morning to catch the plane to Christchurch.

"I am not going to miss out," declared the Opotiki real estate agent.

The only woman in the band of four faithful Steamers' "groupies", she is the designated sober driver after post-match celebrations.

"But when we go away, the others allow me to go shopping and they all carry my bags," Mrs Browne laughed.

The rugby team had given the Eastern Bay of Plenty a lift after winter's disastrous floods and slips, she said.

The Bay union's chief executive Paul Abbott said a request for Canterbury to put the Ranfurly Shield back on the line at Saturday's match was "cheeky" and the refusal was not surprising.

Making it to the semifinals was thrill enough and the Steamers hoped to have another chance to win the shield back early next year, he said.

Across the Kaimai Ranges in Hamilton, fans are a bit more seasoned. Friday night's game would mark the sixth time in eight years that Waikato had made the NPC first division semifinals, said union marketing manager Pat Mellsop.

With several domestic flights scheduled from Hamilton to the capital, there was no need to charter jets. But Waikato supporters would be there behind their team "with lots of bells", he said.

Semifinals

* Wellington v Waikato, Westpac Stadium 7.35pm Friday

* Canterbury v Bay of Plenty, Jade Stadium, 7.35pm Saturday


NPC fixtures, results and standings
Division One | Division Two |