The possibility of a Whangarei team in next year's Bartercard Cup competition took a step closer this week with a group of Northland businessmen officially deciding to go ahead with a bid.
The group of six men ended months of speculation with spokesman Anthony Murray saying their decision was finalised after
meeting with the members of New Zealand rugby league last weekend.
But Murray added some intrigue to the situation by saying that their group might not be the only bid to come from Northland.
"We may not be the only consortium putting in a bid, there might be another bid from here for the licence," he said.
He said the New Zealand Rugby League board had indicated that they would go with the consortium that best suited the future of rugby league in the province and he believed his group best fitted that profile.
Bartercard operations manager Kevin Bailey confirmed that there had been two expressions of interest about the licence from the area but as yet nothing further had been heard from the other party.
Murray said the six men involved in the consortium were all long time league players or supporters.
"Everyone in the groups' objectives are the same, we're not in it to make money, we're in it to grow the game in Northland," he said.
He said the others in the group were Napo Henare, Harry Clyde, Mark Simpringham, Mark Lymen and James Nair.
The concept of a Bartercard Cup team has been talked about for several years and Murray said it was a good feeling to finally make the first step toward that goal.
"It's been talked about for a while but in the early days of the competition the criteria was set so high that although we could foot it with the others on the field, we couldn't match it off the field," he said.
Murray said that the picture had now turned around.
"The people are here now to back the team financially but there are a few concerns about the players levels left in the area."
"Eventually we want to rely on using our home grown players but that probably won't happen first off, we may have to go shopping," Murray said.
A first year budget of between $30-40,000 is expected to be the minumum required but that could increase with player payments being the most significant factor.
The final proposal has to be completed by August 15.
