Blues players sidestep training to help tidy up

Blues rugby players Charlie Faumuina and James Parsons along with workers from BNZ Bank paint a fence in Henderson as part of their Closed for Good initiative. Photo / Dean Purcell

Blues rugby players took a break from training to help clean up Auckland streets yesterday. Among them were Charlie Faumuina and James Parsons who helped paint over the graffiti on a fence in Henderson, West Auckland.

Players from the franchise joined community volunteers and BNZ bank staff in the Closed for Good initiative - a yearly event in which employees from the bank work alongside volunteers on local community projects.

More than 3000 staff from the bank and more than 400 community volunteers took part in the day. Organisations involved in the initiative, which is New Zealand's largest one-day volunteer event, included Community Housing NZ, the Auckland Council and the Safer Papakura Community project.