Excitement was mounting at Awanui ahead of the arrival of the Toyota Grassroots Rugby Show production team this Saturday to cover the senior team at Awanui and Eastern.
Club officials have organised a full card of activities with the day beginning for many ex pats from Awanui and Eastern (the main game being featured on the show when it airs next week) with a luncheon at Awanui Hotel at 1pm.
The main event - a top of the table clash between the two Mangonui senior rugby teams, the resurgent Awanui and the current champions Eastern - kicks off at 2.30pm, while curtain raisers include a Northland under-19 game between the local 90 Milers and the visiting Whangarei Boys' High School (kick-off at 12.30pm), and two JMB matches, Awanui v Eastern U11s (at 11.45am) and Awanui v Pirates in U7s (at 2pm).
The organisers, keen to reflect the importance of the national game for the local community, have secured Tane the Taniwha, the Northland mascot, as well as a bouncy castle, face painting and raffles in a grand plan to put on a real family fun day and a festival of grassroots rugby. The long range forecast is for fine conditions which will help encourage a strong turnout to show the SKY cameras that the local game was still in good rude health, while the publicity from the host club reminded everyone this was a "chance to get on TV!".
Meanwhile, the Toyota Grassroots Rugby Show producers have confirmed that an hour-long segment on the day's proceedings - with the emphasis on the senior match expected - will screen next Thursday (July 4) on Sky 1 at 7.30pm, and repeated at 8.30pm on the Rugby Channel then several times thereafter over ensuing days. The item will also screen free to air on Sunday, July 7, on Prime in an early afternoon slot. The edited version will be presented by Ian 'Kamo' Jones and Richard Mason although neither will be in the Far North.
The long-running Toyota Grassroots Rugby Show is an independent production funded by the sponsor, who in turn receives key advertising space on SKY. Producer Denise Bell said she was really looking forward to returning to the area, noting that Far North rugby has featured at various times in the past during the show's 15-year history; including a night game at Awanui, day games at Opononi and Ohaeawai, as well as interviews with former All Blacks in the area such as Percy Erceg and AD Clarke.
And she was pleased to see Awanui was really planning on making it a big day, as most clubs do, for her crew.
"They've done a great job. Lots of places we go to do that, to show off their town and their club, put on a great meal, quite entertaining. It's great work - I go to places I have never been to and meet lots of new people."
Told that more than 200 were expected at the luncheon, Denise laughed at the suggestion there'd be enough footage from all the old tales told there to fill a hundred shows, or at least require an extended screening. Awanui, The Director's Cut perhaps?