Heartland Championship - news

[Bovidae]

Yes, it's not cheap. I think these games should be taken on the road as the NPC unions have more money.

[Kiwiwomble]

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

[Dan54]

@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.

[Kiwiwomble]

@Dan54 i have always felt it was one of those, take as many chances as you can never gets old situations....because they know there are lots of players that never got the chance

[taniwharugby]

@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!

[Kiwiwomble]

@taniwharugby thats a good idea, challenger roadshow

[Smudge]

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.

[Pepe]

Excellent news. It now means the mighty King Country get to steal it before anyone else.

[Bovidae]

@Smudge Throwing a bone to the Meads Cup winners is a recent thing. Usually the RS holders would just accept challenges from neighbouring unions. NZR should pay the costs if they want to continue with this system.

[Bovidae]

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.

Grassroots and Heartland Rugby shows set to return to screens across Aotearoa

[Kiwiwomble]

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?

[gt12]

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.

[Kiwiwomble]

@gt12 i kind of wonder if its one of those benefits thats will be really hard to quantify....but could be important in raising the general awareness in the public

[Bovidae]

Mainfreight Rugby was going to be axed, as I remember reading a comment from Ian Jones about his disappointment. TVNZ will have ads, and so will youtube I assume, so there will be a source of income.

[taniwharugby]

@Bovidae ads probably less frequent than the DJ interludes at live matches...