Takapau puts its hand up to save rugby club

The red and black of century-old rugby club Takapau will fly again with a community answering the 11th-hour call to keep the club alive in 2025.

Treasurer Matt Wade said enough people responded last week with concern for the future of the Central Hawke’s Bay club, which was established in 1886, and a meeting went ahead on Sunday with about 25 present.

He had said last week if the support was not forthcoming, after key positions were unable to be filled at the annual meeting, the club would have “folded”, leaving big gaps in sports and community in the Central Hawke’s Bay township and surrounding areas.

A special meeting is now set for this Sunday for the election that was unable to go ahead at the annual meeting.

Children’s rugby at Takapau’s War Memorial Park.

Wade said there was a good mix of people from within the club, families with players in the children’s teams, and from outside, and advice came from Sport Hawke’s Bay, the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union and the New Zealand Rugby Union, including an online meeting with the unions on Monday.

The club is now sending a party of about 23 players on its annual exchange with Taranaki club Kaponga this weekend and is preparing for a season in Hawke’s Bay’s third division, which starts on April 5, with 14 clubs entered, about four more than in the grade last season, said HBR community rugby manager Sean Davies.

Central Hawke’s Bay, which has flown the flag for some growth in country rugby in Hawke’s Bay in recent seasons, will have six clubs represented across the grades, with Onga-Tiko, based at Tikokino, scheduled to field a Senior 3 side as well the Colts team it draws from farm cadet training institution Smedley Station.

Hawke’s Bay Premier club rugby starts on March 22, with a full round-robin for the 10 teams playing for the Nash Cup, the top six then playing for the Maddison Trophy championship title, and the bottom four being joined by the next two eligible clubs in a competition to decide the Division 1 championship.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.