Rugby: Big shakeup likely for Auckland club rugby

There is talk of a semi-professional competition featuring fewer clubs. Photo / Greg Bowker

The ground is being prepared for a revolution in Auckland club rugby, with talks under way for a semi-professional competition featuring fewer clubs.

Ultimately, the competition could incorporate North Harbour and Northland clubs, run concurrently with the Super 15 and act as a feeder to the Blues, though that idea appears to be still at the conceptual stage.

The formation of any new competition, whether Auckland-wide or incorporating the Blues franchise area, would mean the merging of many of the city's traditional clubs, an often painful process hindered by nostalgia, into "superclubs".

A source told the Weekend Herald talks had already begun to merge Grammar-Carlton and Teachers Eastern, initially at junior level only, but Ant Strachan said it was too early for any statements about its viability.

The Grammar-Carlton chairman and former All Black did confirm, though, that the sustainability of Auckland's 16-team competition was in the spotlight and "loose discussions" had taken place between various club councillors over the creation of an eight to 10-team superclub competition.

"Clubs are realising now that they have to work really hard within their catchment areas to get boys playing rugby at their clubs," Strachan said. "Up until a few years ago, only two or three clubs were doing really well in terms of recruitment.

"It's becoming less sustainable for some of the smaller clubs - in terms of membership and playing numbers - to make a living.

"It's progressed to the point where we're saying, 'Rather than having 16 teams in the comp, why don't we have 10, or whatever the number might be, based around existing clubs?'."

While club rugby has declined since the sport went professional in 1996 with most fielding far fewer teams than they did in their heyday, several Auckland clubs remain either cash or asset rich.

These clubs - which include Grammar-Carlton, Marist, University, Ponsonby, Waitemata, Pakuranga, Papatoetoe and College Rifles - would be the likely nucleus of a new competition.

Strachan emphasised that the discussions had been "really loose" to this point.

"To sustain Auckland rugby and make it a really exciting competition, maybe it's time to consider and start seriously discussing the possibility of a refined club competition."

The move would almost certainly meet staunch resistance. Allegiances to club crests often override economic realities, but both Strachan and another source involved in the discussions said club identity did not necessarily have to be lost.

Junior teams, for example, could continue to wear the old club colours while the senior operations were merged.

It has become clear in recent years that some Auckland rugby clubs have been proactive in retaining members and recruiting new ones - with Pakuranga, under the direction of former Auckland and Fiji coach Wayne Pivac, and Geoff Moon-led Papatoetoe cited as the best examples - while others have fallen into decline.

To stop that decline becoming terminal, it seems several will be asked in the coming months to investigate partnering with healthier clubs.