Secondary school rugby in Northland is in for a boost as Sky TV has agreed to broadcast live a match between Whangarei Boys' High School and Kamo High School later this month.
But, despite a three-year wait to secure the match, Boys' High headmaster Al Kirk believes the hardest part is yet to come. He is calling out all rugby-mad Northlanders to get behind the match at Boys' High and help show their support by turning up to support the teams.
"We don't want Northland to be embarrassed after it taking Ben [Smith, Boys' High's director of rugby] so long to jack it up," Mr Kirk said. "We want a crowd here."
Mr Smith's efforts in securing the July 27 match are nothing short of remarkable as Sky TV generally focuses its secondary school rugby coverage on traditional rivalries between schools such as Kings College and Auckland Grammar, or St Bede's and Christchurch Boys'.
"I was at Kings-versus-Grammar first-XV competition game [which was broadcast live on Sky TV] three weeks ago and there would have been between 5000 and 6000 people at Grammar. It was just an amazing experience. Whereas, [in Northland], we'll be lucky to get about 500 people. Normally at a club game we'll have 50-100 people, if we're lucky.
"Sky TV focuses on St Bede's-versus-Christchurch Boys', Kings-versus-Grammar, that sort of stuff; big-time traditional stuff. We haven't got that here.
"All those things [traditionally rivalries between schools] are brilliant. Up here we're stuck between a rock and a hard place so we can't break in. That's why it has taken so long [to secure coverage]."
Mr Kirk added it was hard work for Northland schools to produce large numbers of players to strengthen secondary school rugby and have teams in several competitions.
Northland Rugby Union chief executive officer Jeremy Parkinson commented from Singapore that the match was a positive step forward for secondary school rugby in the region.
"[The live coverage is] hugely positive for rugby, and positive for secondary school rugby up here which we struggle with," Parkinson said. "Hopefully this match is cemented on the map that kids in Northland want to play for their first-XV. The long-term vision is to get first-XV rugby up and running in the region again [because] it's a big concern where all our players are coming from and hopefully this will help fill the gap."