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Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Rugby: Western Bay says no to subdivision

Peter White
By Peter White
Sports writer·Bay of Plenty Times·
2 Nov, 2014 04:00 PM5 mins to read

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Tauranga Sports coach Mike Rogers is not interested in split competitions run by Bay of Plenty sub-unions.

Tauranga Sports coach Mike Rogers is not interested in split competitions run by Bay of Plenty sub-unions.

Regional gripes need to be sorted fast to save comp

The general consensus from Western Bay rugby clubs is simple - they want Rotorua and Eastern Bay clubs to stay in a united Baywide competition.

The thought of going back to the old days of three separate sub-union competitions is abhorrent to the men who guided their teams to the top four play-offs this year.

Mike Rogers (Tauranga Sports), Craig Jeffries (Te Puke Sports), and Rodney Voullaire (Mount Maunganui Sports) want the strongest possible club competition to test their players and help create a stronger Steamers squad.

Rogers says he is not interested in playing in a sub-union competition.

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"We want to win the Baywide, we don't want to win a Western Bay competition," he said.

But he is not sure what will happen in 2015.

"I heard last week that the six Western Bay premier clubs, Paroa and Opotiki are in, and Rotoiti and Whaka are not engaging in any form of dialogue. So I assume that means they are out. I had a meeting with Paroa's president, Paddy Wana, and he said categorically that they have not worked their arse off to get promoted to just walk away from it.

"But is it broken? Yes but is pulling out a good move, obviously not for anybody. It is broken in that both regions' clubs are not competitive. You have had Paroa come up and come down. Opotiki have battled away and they have some really good forwards, but once those guys retire, which is happening at the moment, they are unlikely to compete. Rotoiti have struggled to compete in the second round and this year Whaka did really well, but that was on the back of a really motivated head coach who recruited really well, so that is probably not sustainable for them."

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Voullaire, who coached Mount Maunganui to the Baywide title after an unforgettable final against Whakarewarewa, is confused with why there is such dissension within the union.

"It is very sad that they would want to break up such a strong area," he said. "I don't know who is pulling the strings over there and I don't understand their concept and what they are trying to do.

"We have all struggled in different clubs over the past few years to try and get up and out of the second division. We have all worked hard, not just players but the management and boards, to raise money and to get out there and search for players. It is a hard job to create a winning club and you have to be so pro-active out in the community, look for sponsors and create a really good cultural atmosphere for the player so he wants to be in this area.

"Obviously it is not happening on the other sides of Bay of Plenty and they are feeling like they are getting the short straw. We work hard for our players, trying to find them jobs, and that is a problem for some of the little towns around the area and clubs in those areas. It is hard for them to produce jobs for these outside players."

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Te Puke Sports coach Jeffries says the current standoff needs to be sorted out and quickly.

"I do understand that Rotorua and Eastern Bay have some grievances that need to be sorted out and we don't sort them out by being completely against each other," he said. "We should be all working together and we don't appear to be and I'm not sure why.

Jeffries would like to see a tweaking of the competition to give promoted teams a fairer chance of getting back into division one if they are relegated.

"I would love to see a smaller competition in which they bring in the bye week. I prefer the 10-8 split that we used to have, with 10 in the first round, then two drop down into the next division and the top two from that division come back up the following year.

"Teams like Rangiuru, who worked bloody hard to where they got last year, dropped down and they have to do it all again to get back again. I think that is too hard for those clubs to do. They beat Greerton fair and square, and were the difference between Mount beating Greerton into the playoffs."

Background:
At a special Bay of Plenty Rugby board meeting held on October 8, it was agreed the Baywide Premier and First Division will remain as 10-team competitions, the Premier Development competition will continue in the same format as 2014, and Premier clubs will be required to field a Development team.

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Following this announcement, a special meeting was called by Central Bay and Eastern Bay clubs as they had specifically asked for changes to the top-tier competitions.
Central Bay sub-union chairman, Trevor Albert, said they were looking at setting up their own competition without Western Bay clubs, and a draw had been drafted for the new competition.

What do you think? Email sport@bayofplentytimes.co.nz

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