Malcolm Dixon: A Bay tradition that really matters

Malcolm Dixon

An insight into how a long and continuing tradition provides a unifying force in the face of Hawke's Bay rugby and gives some youngsters their first opportunity to taste glory at a higher level:

Does the Ross Shield matter?

It is not really worth asking the question, because the answer is an emphatic yes. We know the difference between sport that matters and sport that does not in sport's specialised and trivial terms.

And the Ross Shield matters.

Test matches against the Lions, South Africa and Australia matter -- pre Super 15 tournament warm-up friendly games do not.

A Grand Slam tour of Great Britain matters -- a Golden Oldies tournament does not.

Mattering is not an absolute thing: there is a hierarchy of mattering. The World Cup matters more than the Bledisloe Cup. The Bledisloe Cup matters more than the Tri-Nations Cup.

At the schoolboy level, in Hawke's Bay the Ross Shield matters. It matters to those who play for their district teams and it matters to those who play against them.

It matters to those who play rugby on frosty, damp playing fields on Saturday mornings; it matters to those who go to a primary school.

It matters to the families; it matters to those small towns, hamlets and villages; it matters to those in the cities, the suburbs and the neighbours. It matters because it has a long tradition that comes from players, coaches, teachers and spectators from the districts where these players come from. No one has to stand up to explain that the Ross Shield matters; we just know.

Every year that the Ross Shield is staged it throws up talent, ability and passion. It is not warfare, it's sport, and a sporting tournament has a momentum all of its own. Especially when there is a whiff of victory in the air and any victory is so heavily sought.

This tournament is not a gala performance, an exhibition match, a benefit game, a commemorative friendly, a testimonial, a charity gig, an end-of-season romp, a reunion, a "pick-up" match for the boys, a lunch-time game, a parade, a lap of honour, a one-off-see-you-afterwards-for-the-champagne match.

This is the Ross Shield!

It's real! It matters!

* Malcolm Dixon, a Hastings District councillor, is chairperson of the 2015 Ross Shield Tournament Organising Committee.

* Business and civic leaders, organisers, experts in their field and interest groups can contribute opinions. The views expressed here are not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz.