The official parliamentary rugby team blazer costs members about $200. Photo / Kenny Rodger
The official parliamentary rugby team blazer costs members about $200. Photo / Kenny Rodger
KEY POINTS:
Taxpayers relax: the parliamentary rugby team at the centre of a political storm pays it own way.
It also regularly uses its matches to raise money for charities or people in need.
The team, led by co-captains Damien O'Connor and Murray McCully, won the parliamentary equivalent of theRugby World Cup in France last week with a mixture of MPs, staffers and their spouses and siblings.
The players got to France through a combination of sponsorship and by paying some of their own bills, with many forking out $3000 to $4000 each.
Among the MPs to take the field were Mr O'Connor and Mr McCully, National MPs Chris Tremain, Mark Blumsky, John Carter and Colin King, Labour MP Shane Jones and New Zealand First's Pita Paraone.
Suspended prison officer Jim Morgan, whose partner Marie is Mr O'Connor's senior private secretary and the manager of the team, was also eligible to go and to wear the blazer that indicated he was representing New Zealand's Parliament. The blazers are bought by players for about $200 when they start playing in the team.
Mr Morgan, a utility back who has played at first five-eighths, is not considered a vital cog of the team, whose stars include Mr Tremain and another National MP who could not make the trip, Nathan Guy.
Mr Tremain is the son of former All Black great Kel Tremain.
The trip to the world cup was funded by the team's regular sponsors, Air New Zealand, adidas, Lion Nathan, McDonald's, Visa and AMP.
According to Mr McCully, sponsorship is handled by someone who is not in the Government, and more recently it had been shifted to an outside helper to put distance between the MPs and the arrangements.
Although the team does not get any public funding, MPs who play do use their parliamentary entitlement to domestic air travel to get to games.
It is not the only sporting team to represent Parliament - a netball team has competed against its Australian counterparts and a cricket team has also played.
