Former Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union chairman Hayden Swann says the Rugby Park grandstand redevelopment, scheduled for completion in June 2026, will be a legacy project for the sport in the district.
Former Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union chairman Hayden Swann says the Rugby Park grandstand redevelopment, scheduled for completion in June 2026, will be a legacy project for the sport in the district.
The redevelopment of Gisborne’s home of rugby, Rugby Park, has been both a legacy project and one that has caused “many sleepless nights”.
Hayden Swann, in his final annual report after seven years as chairman of Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union (PBRFU), said the development of the RugbyPark grandstand and increased player numbers were the achievements he was most proud of over his tenure.
The number of registered players had increased from 2262 to 3321 (1059), or by 47% between 2018 and 2024, Swann said.
He told the Gisborne Herald much of the rise was in female players; an original 200 Junior Advisory Board players increasing by another 700 girls and women taking up the game.
The union had put extra resources into developing a local competition, appointing a Heartland women’s coach and creating fixtures.
Swann said the success of locally born-and-bred Black Ferns and Black Ferns Sevens players such as Renee Holmes, Charmaine McMenamin, Kaipo Olsen-Baker and Kelsey Teneti also promoted women’s rugby and showed there was a pathway for talented players.
He said Horowhenua-Kāpiti was the only one of the other 25 unions to match Poverty Bay’s increased player numbers, which came at a time of economic challenges and growing competition from other codes.
The Covid-19 era was another testing time, Swann said.
“We were still having matches. Rugby was operating in a bubble. We worked so hard. It was really, really hard to keep going, but we did.
“We were wiping down posts and pads. We were wiping everything. We were breaking people down into groups, but we got there.”
Gisborne's Kelsey Teneti in action for New Zealand against France at the Singapore 7s earlier this year. The success of Teneti and other Gisborne-connected female players is a factor in the increase in female player numbers in Tairāwhiti, says Hayden Swann in reflecting on his tenure as Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union chairman. Photo / Jayne Russell, Photosport
The annual report said the Rugby Park redevelopment had been impacted significantly by the Covid-19 pandemic, Cyclone Gabrielle and inflation.
But the union decided to develop “our ageing asset” and the $12.5 million grandstand redevelopment, originally costed at $8m, had been fully funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment/ Kanoa Regional Economic Development and Investment Unit and Trust Tairāwhiti.
Swann told the Herald the union was showing huge profits for the past two years of around $2.5 million, “which of course” related to capital project funding for the grandstand redevelopment which had not yet been spent.
“It is not a real profit.”
But the union had made an operating profit in 2024 of $45,000.
Swann attributed that to an increase in commercial revenue and New Zealand Rugby (NZR) funding being boosted because of increased player registrations.
The union retained strong relationships with local sponsors and funders and took a conservative approach to spending, resulting in more revenue and less spending in 2024, he said.
The union was now endeavouring to “put money away”.
Swann said interest earned from the union’s $500,000 share of the Silverlake equity payout to NZR would be ring-fenced for maintaining assets and would not be spent on staffing or operations.
The union wanted to avoid the example of other sporting infrastructure in the district ageing to a point where it was not fit-for-purpose.
The grandstand was due for completion next June and would result in a significant uplift in the equity of the union.
Swann said the union had assets of only $321,000 back in 2018 and recorded a deficit of $129,000.
Swann, who has stepped aside after serving as an independent member of the PBRFU board for the maximum period of three three-year terms (seven years as chairman), said his nine years had been the most rewarding and enjoyable time of any organisation he had served on.
“Being chairman is a privileged position because you are working for New Zealand Rugby,” the Makaraka School principal said.
“There are 25 other provincial union chairmen [and] you learn from their knowledge, experience and capabilities.
“Rugby is such a neat network and such a giving network.”
The new union chairman is Trust Tairāwhiti general manager economic development Hayden Green.
