It's been a big week for Northland sport on the national scene with New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) giving the province the nod to bid for a franchise for next year's Bartercard Cup competition.
The opportunity to have its own Bartercard team has long been an aim of Northland Rugby League chairman Val McDonald.
"The second division regional competition hasn't been a great competition for us and we think, like the Northland Rugby Union, that your best players shouldn't have to move away from the area to succeed in their sport," he said.
Having a Bartercard Cup team he believes is the answer to that age-old problem and it coincides with the NZRL's initiative to try and shift the focus of the competition away from Auckland.
At the moment the Bartercard Cup is a 12-team league with the eight teams from Auckland but the competition is going to receive a face lift next year according to Bartercard Operations manager Kevin Bailey.
"Next year there will only be five franchises operating out of Auckland and the league will drop to a 10-team competition," he said.
He said the drop to ten teams would only be a temporary move and after a period of adjustment a further two teams would be added to the competition.
The competition will now advertise for expressions of interest to run a new franchise in the area.
Player strength and financial viability are the two main criteria the competition will be looking for.
McDonald said the showing of the Northland under-16 rugby league team in this year's Lion Foundation Cup shows Northland has the player depth to support a bid. But to start with, a Northland franchise would probably have to attract players from outside the area to survive in the competition.
With three teams disappearing from Auckland there would be opportunities to recruit there but there are also opportunities across the Tasman.
At the moment there are a number of Northland players playing for Hibiscous Coast and other Bartercard Cup teams and they would be the first players approached.
A successful Northland bid would be likely to be based on the Central Falcons or Counties-Manukau Jets - both recent additions to the competition.
Bailey said any new franchise would be expected to struggle early on but an initial two year licence would be granted.
"It will be interesting to see what Northland can come up with," he said. "They've got plenty of players up there - in many ways it is an untapped supply of talent in both rugby codes but we'll see what they come up with on the financial side. But I'm sure people like Val will have something in the bucket that he hasn't let out."
A minimum operating budget would be something in the area of $30,000 but obviously the more sponsorship that can be gained, the better the bid would be viewed by the Northland Rugby League and the NZRL.
McDonald said he already knows of one group currently putting together a bid - and he is expecting others to follow. McDonald is organising a seminar at the Kingsgate Hotel for Friday June 24, so prospective business people can talk to the New Zealand Rugby League directly about the competition.
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