Heartland Championship - news
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@SouthernMann Yeah, North Otago squad was named on 17 July. There may have been some changes to some other squads as well. For example, Joe Royal was named in the NPEC squad, but has since then been included in the Auckland squad.
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I won't start a new thread but Thames Valley and King Country will be playing in the curtain-raiser for the Chiefs-Hurricanes game in May.
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Highlighting the financial problems Heartland provinces have.
The South Canterbury Rugby Union has withdrawn from its Ranfurly Shield challenge against Hawke’s Bay in Napier in July citing financial constraints. South Canterbury Rugby chief executive Tim Hyde-Smith said the decision was one which had not been taken lightly, but having exhausted all funding options he confirmed the union was well short of raising enough to cover the cost of taking the team to Napier.
A statement released by the union on Tuesday afternoon said the SCRU had advised Hawke’s Bay Rugby and NZ Rugby of the decision. -
Also for South Canterbury, it's two expensive domestic regional flights each way, or ... a 2hr bus trip to Chch each way and a flight to Napier, orrrrr a flight to Wellington and a 4.5hr (or thereabouts) bus trip each way, so the quickest way (Timaru-Wellington-Napier) is probably $500 each way = $1000. Throw in accommodation and expenses and it's probably $1300 per person. So maybe $40k once you throw in support staff?
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you have to feel for the players, the chance to challenge for the shield has too be up there with why some of them play at all
its a slippery slope talking about value for money (as opposed to being able to afford it at all), almost nothing about professional/semiprofessional sport is financially responsible
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@Kiwiwomble Not really mate, I know players love it, but this would be 3rd year out of 4 for South Canterbury players, so most players would of already played in at least on Shield match. I know what you mean about it being a highlight for many players, but I not sure it would be that much of one after 2.
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@Bovidae yep, pre-season challenges, with almost zero chance of losing to a Heartland side, the holder should take it on the road.
They benefit from bigger crowds when they have a challenge at home, give the Heartland province the chance to get a few punters through the gates for a Shield challenge!
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@taniwharugby thats a good idea, challenger roadshow
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If holding the shield genuinely boosted crowds for more than a couple of weeks to create a bit of a war chest, I'd support that, but all you're doing is shifting the cost from the Heartland union to a larger union that has plenty of overheads as it is (player contracts etc). No issue if it's Hawke's Bay heading north to Poverty Bay for example but if the two challenge matches were away in Timaru and Thames Valley, for example, you're probably looking at $60k outlay and no gate takings in return.
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New Zealand Rugby Commercial (NZRC) has announced that the Grassroots Club Rugby and Heartland Rugby programmes will air on NZR+, You Tube, Sky Sport and TVNZ from late June.
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also interesting i just that the "Bunnings NPC" socials have renamed themselves "Bunnings Provincial Rugby"....not sure what it means other than we wont just see NPC....so more from all levels?
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Not sure whether they can monetize it well, but it's a great way of getting eyeballs - my son and I watch cycling highlights on the morning whenever there a race going on.
I could see us dialling in to watch highlights / run downs of heartland games in the same way.
Grassroots and Heartland Rugby shows set to return to screens across Aotearoa
