Sports Minister Grant Robertson asks sporting bodies to help create Covid-19 recovery package

Sports Minister Grant Robertson has tasked New Zealand's main representative sports body to come up with details of a recovery plan, as Covid-19 continues to impact sport at all levels.

This comes as the Super Rugby season has been suspended, Black Caps games have been called off and the remainder of the Netball Premiership is to be played without live spectators.

Sporting at a community, club and school level have been impacted too – with many organisations cancelling games across the country.

The moves will come at an enormous cost to clubs and the sports bodies they represent.
But Robertson has indicated that the Government is willing to step in and "help where we can" when it comes to sport in New Zealand.

"I asked Sport NZ to lead discussions with our major sporting codes and those discussions are currently underway," he said in a statement.

"I have asked them to come back to me with what a recovery plan would look like."

When asked about the impact on sport yesterday, Robertson said that every sector of the economy will be impacted by Covid-19.

"The Government has the ability to support and help where we can, but we cannot make a promise to do everything."

There was no Government money for sports in yesterday's $12.1 billion Covid-19 spending package. But Robertson said there would be more announcements to come in May's "rescue" budget.

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In a statement, Sports NZ said that it had facilitated a call yesterday between a number of the major sporting bodies to discuss the next moves.

"We felt it was important to bring some of our larger participation sports together to share, among other things, their experiences and challenges," a spokesman said.

"This is an unprecedented situation and there is a lot that can be gained from sharing information and working together."

National's sports spokeswomen Nikki Kaye said as many sporting organisations do not have big balance sheets, a financial package is needed pretty quickly.

She said public safety should be paramount, but it's time for some "creative thinking" from the sports bodies and the Government as to what happens next.

Kaye said she has sought a briefing from Robertson and said National would work with the Government to come up with a solution.

Speaking to media this morning, Rugby NZ chief executive Mark Robinson said his organisation has had "great dialogue with the Government".

"We think we have all the advice and information from them that we could have hoped for in terms of informing the work we're doing at the moment both when it comes to community games and the professional game."

In fact, he said he had just come off a call with the Government looking at a "whole range of scenarios" which were being modelled at the moment.

Rugby NZ is one of the many New Zealand sporting bodies working with Sports NZ to come up with a sporting recovery plan.