The Hawke's Bay Rugby Football Union is proudly in the financial black for the 25th straight year, with support from the community and local businesses a big part of the financial success. Photo / NZME
The Hawke's Bay Rugby Football Union is proudly in the financial black for the 25th straight year, with support from the community and local businesses a big part of the financial success. Photo / NZME
Hawke’s Bay may have lost the Ranfurly Shield, but they’re still winners off the field financially.
The Hawke’s Bay Rugby Football Union (HBRFU) has just posted a profit for the 25th successive year and, despite a pending $200,000 cut in funding from New Zealand Rugby (NZR), is ona mission to ensure it stays in the black.
That includes the sound use of $2.3 million it receives in sponsorships from businesses and other backers in the region, and funding the community game via $78,000 in annual interest the union gets from the $1m it received as part of the seed capital from NZR’s deal with Silver Lake in 2022.
As other provinces and NZR face financial pressure, HBRFU chief executive Jay Campbell has spoken of how his union is bucking the trend, the importance of provincial rugby, why the Magpies are attracting some of the biggest crowds in the NPC, and why the national body must do more than just think about “teams in black”.
“We’ve just set our 25th profit in a row, which is something we’re immensely proud of,” Campbell said.
“But we can’t do that without our rugby community.
“And we’ve got a fantastic commercial community that supports us through thick and thin. Our commercial revenue continues to grow and that’s great because then we’re able to put it back into the game.
Magpies boss Jay Campbell has opened up on the Hawke's Bay Rugby Football Union's winning formula off the park. Photo / Neil Reid
The increasing credit crunch on what has traditionally been the country’s national game last year saw NZR post a $9m financial loss.
And in May, NZR general manager of professional rugby Chris Lendrum flagged cutbacks in funding to provincial unions, as well as saying he felt the number of professional teams in New Zealand was “instinctively too many”.
Campbell revealed the since-confirmed funding cutback would see the Hawke’s Bay union receive $2m from NZR next season, a drop of $200,000. That came on top of an earlier $100,000 funding cut from the national body in 2024.
“So, we want to be able to ensure that we retain the things that we are doing in the community game,” he said.
“We’re going to have to work smarter to ensure that we can continue to grow the game at all levels and continue to have high-performing Magpies and Tui squad, and [the same] with our other rep teams.”
The financial smarts already shown by the HBRFU include paying off the nearly $2m cost of its impressive HQ and training centre – which includes an indoor sprint track – at Park Island.
The provincial union also opted to invest the $1m it received as part of NZR’s multimillion deal with global private equity firm Silver Lake.
The Hawke's Bay Magpies - including Isaia Walker-Leawere - have strong connections to the local community, something the HBRFU says must continue.
Other provinces used the funding they received to pay down debt or split the initial funding with clubs.
After deciding to invest their sum, the HBRFU is able to share the interest earned on it with the 21 affiliated clubs in the province.
Last year that resulted in $78,000 being shared around the sport at the community level, with each club’s percentage based on player numbers.
In further steps to help clubs, the HBRFU covers ground fees and players in rep teams at all levels have associated expenses covered.
“We believe that we’re doing everything we can to make rugby accessible to everyone,” Campbell said.
That accessibility had helped player numbers top 8000 in the region, continuing a four-year increase in players.
Fans have flocked to McLean Park to see their rugby heroes in action for successive years since the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo / Photosport
That included growth in the number of secondary schoolboys playing, a demographic that nationwide had seen a drop in numbers.
Women and girls’ rugby numbers were going from “strength to strength”, Campbell said, while the club scene was also strong, including with initiatives such as the under-85kg grade.
The provincial union was also backed by a “fantastic commercial community”.
The commercial revenue generated by the union was its biggest earner, exceeding the funding provided by NZR by $300,000.
“We’ve got 158 commercial partners and they give us anything from $1000 through to big three figures,” Campbell said.
“That is what runs the game, and that allows us to run all our programmes, allows us to run club footy and it allows us to actually pay those funds through the clubs, those dividends through the club.
“Without them, we couldn’t do it. We never take that for granted and we are eternally grateful for many people in this community to keep putting their hands in their pockets.
“We never take it for granted because it’s vital to our survival.”
Another factor that has helped HBRFU’s balance sheet has been crowd sizes at Magpies matches at McLean Park.
Attendances pushing towards - and at times exceeding - the 10,000 mark have cheered on the black and white-hooped team in recent seasons, a figure which should be the envy of other NPC provinces and one that even eclipses some Super Rugby matches played in New Zealand in the past two years.
Initiatives to make game day an “event” include a kid’s zone, and the R18 “Bird Cage” where fans can soak up the footy and the sounds of local DJs.
Campbell said there was no “secret ingredient” behind the staunch support for the Magpies, saying the Hawke’s Bay side had a “proud history ... rugby is really relevant here”.
“It’s got a huge following and it’s a true rugby province,” he said.
“Rugby is actually in a really good space here in Hawke’s Bay.”
Campbell opened up about rugby financials and the game’s health in Hawke’s Bay as NPC contenders eye the play-off stage of the 2024 season which begins next weekend.
Rugby in the main centres has been increasingly struggling to get big crowds. Photo / NZME
It was a competition that he described as “New Zealand’s point of difference, it’s a jewel in the crown” for rugby.
It was also a competition that continued to get stronger and one he urged NZR administrators to protect and nurture.
“It’s tribal, players love playing in it, and it is the one [rugby] competition that is a true national competition,” he said.
“It provides a platform for players from all over the country to be seen on the national stage, it keeps throwing up talent year after year.
“New Zealand Rugby often talks around the cost of the competition. My view is it’s an investment into the growth of the game across the 14 provincial unions.
“New Zealand Rugby, in my mind, needs to think strongly about where the direction of the game is going. It can’t be all about teams in black because the grassroots and the connection to the communities is vital for the survival of the game in the regions.”
Campbell and HBRFU’s planning goes well beyond how they will operate with the six-figure reduction in funding from NZR next year.
It also is looking at how to ensure the sport stays “relevant” in the region in the medium to long term.
That includes expanding the under-85kg weight grade, increasing the option of non-contact rugby into secondary schools in 2025 and growing the base of the female game in the region.
Jay Campbell says rugby needs to do all it can to ensure future generations retain a strong link with the All Blacks. Photo / Photosport
“We’re just trying to get people to have some sort of connection to the game for as long as possible,” Campbell said.
“And that has a spin-off nationally. Are they still going to be an All Black fan in 20 years’ time if they have no connection to the game?
“This is a holistic view of rugby. If you don’t have any connection, are they going to want to be a fan?
“That’s what New Zealand Rugby needs to think about. [And] if they suddenly go and remove rugby across all these places [in grassroots areas], where is there going to be the connection to the game?”
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.
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