Rugby: Power shift puts the boot into Eastern Bay clubs

Brent Drabble says the state of club rugby has declined in the past decade. Photo / File

Brent Drabble Whakarewarewa manager and Bay of Plenty rugby historian Brent Drabble said rugby in the province has not been the same since the union's headquarters moved from Rotorua to Tauranga.

And while he was impressed with the standard of this season's Bayfair Baywide premier club rugby competition, he said the state of club rugby had declined in the past decade.

"We had a good competition until about 2004, but as soon as it all shifted to Tauranga, club rugby changed a bit and everyone started going over there."

Drabble believed irreparable damage may have been done - especially in the Eastern Bay of Plenty - which is not represented at all in this season's Steamers squad.

The life member of the Bay union spoke fondly of the days when the Eastern Bay of Plenty clubs provided the measuring stick in the region and a good deal of representative trainings were held in Paengaroa - basically as close to the centre of the triangle that binds the three sub-unions together as possible.

"I used to love going to Whakatane Marist, Kawerau and Te Teko, but I don't think I'll ever go back there because I can never see them getting back into the premier division," Drabble said. "I don't think it will happen in my lifetime unless something drastic happens."

Drabble believed crowd numbers would not lift until players from more clubs in all sub-unions were represented, and that people from the Eastern Bay now had less motivation to cheer for the Steamers let alone attend their games.

He said the current focus of Bay rugby was not in keeping with the history of the union, which had been based in Whakatane until a move to Rotorua in the 1960s and the subsequent shift to Tauranga about a decade ago.

Bay of Plenty rugby union chief executive Mike Rogers said the union had so far been unable to verify whether all the clubs in the Central and Eastern Bay of Plenty were on board with the threat of a split.

No timetable had been set for resolution, he said.

"We are continuing to work on planning for 2015; we felt that there was some very good progress with club rugby this year," Rogers said.

"The premier and division one competitions were very even and clubs indicated an increased spectator attendance at games, along with eight clubs represented in the Steamers and the same number in the development teams."

He said it was always going to be difficult to keep such a large number of clubs of different sizes happy.

"When you have close to 40 clubs that have different views it is impossible to meet the demands of everyone. Our view is to try and provide the best competitions for our players and coaches."

Despite the walkout of some Eastern and Central clubs from the recent meeting and the potential for the union to split into sub-unions, Rogers said progress had been made with clubs.

"Based on feedback received as part of our strategic directions consultation, I would say overall our relationship with our clubs and schools is moving in the right direction."

He pointed to Whakarewarewa and Paroa's success as proof the Western Bay of Plenty did not dominate the union, but that discounts the fact only four of 31 Steamers squad members come from clubs outside the home of the union.