Super Rugby game coming to Mid North

The Hurricanes' Julian Savea is wrapped up by the Blues duo of Jared Payne and Rene Ranger during a Super Rugby pre-season game in Kerikeri in 2011. Photo / Ron Burgin

Super Rugby could be on its way back to the Mid North with the Northland Rugby Union planning a pre-season match between the Blues and the Chiefs on February 2.

The NRU's initial proposal was to hold the game on Kerikeri Domain — where the Blues beat the Hurricanes in 2011 — but Kaikohe Rugby Football and Sports Club is putting up a case for hosting the match at Lindvart Park instead.

The NRU will manage the event if it goes ahead but wants the Far North District Council to underwrite it. That means ratepayers would pick up the tab if the event lost money.

Meanwhile, Kaikohe Rugby has also put a proposal to the council, arguing Lindvart Park would be a better venue.

Club president Cheryl Smith — a two-times Black Ferns world champ — said holding the game in Kaikohe would mean big savings for the NRU and the council because more than 5000 spectators could be hosted with minimal infrastructure costs.

Lindvart Park was already surrounded by a 2m-high fence, had a newly refurbished stand seating 700 and room on the embankments for 2500 at one person per square metre or 5000 with two per square metre. If necessary temporary grandstands could be erected at either end of the field.

Players would be able to use the changing rooms at Kaikohe Rugby Club and the nearby Lindvart Park sports complex.

In contrast, when a Super Rugby game was held at Kerikeri Domain in 2011, a temporary fence and grandstands had to be put up.

Since then the Domain pavilion had been damaged by fire so temporary changing rooms and showers would be required or players could be bussed from the Kerikeri Sports Complex beside the Heritage Bypass.

Another factor in Kaikohe's favour was parking, which was in short supply in Kerikeri in summer, while Lindvart Park had space for 1150 cars with room for 500 more at Northland College and 300 in surrounding streets.

In her submission Smith said Kaikohe was one of the most deprived towns in New Zealand and had a high proportion of under-15s. Sport, and rugby in particular, was a way for them to engage and excel.

As well as giving locals a chance to see their heroes play live, a Kaikohe game could be a memorable experience for the teams.

''When I was playing international rugby some of the most enjoyable places I played were the smallest,'' Smith said.

''The people in those places are not usually afforded the same opportunities as larger, richer places. They really appreciated us and we felt it.''

Councillors voted at last Thursday's meeting to delegate the decision whether to underwrite the game — and whether to push for Kaikohe as the location — to its Audit, Risk and Finance Committee meeting on September 27.

In the meantime staff will work out the potential liability to ratepayers if the council agrees to underwrite the game and how much could be raised through ticket sales and sponsorship.

NRU chairwoman Sharon Morgan said it would be up to the council, as the event underwriter, to decide where the game should be held. She ''whole-heartedly supported'' any move to bring rugby out of the main centres.

The net cost to the Far North District Council of hosting the 2011 Blues-Hurricanes pre-season match was $41,879 including staff time. The game, which was won 33-22 by the Blues, drew a crowd of about 4000 and takings of $104,392. An Air NZ Cup Northland-Auckland pre-season clash at the Domain in 2009 drew about 7000 spectators.