Game logged as nil-result due to a broken leg

A Bay of Plenty senior rugby league match has been recorded as a nil-result after a player suffered a badly broken leg in Reporoa.

Reporoa hosted Pacific (Tokoroa) in the Bay of Plenty reserve grade last Saturday and all was going well until the 26th minute.

One of the players went down with a badly broken leg and the game was stopped. With only one field available at the ground in Reporoa, both teams decided not to move the player and wait for an ambulance to arrive.

By the time the ambulance arrived, the game had been abandoned.

Both clubs wrote into the Bay of Plenty District Rugby League suggesting what they would like to see done about the result.

Bay of Plenty District Rugby League secretary Jenny Nahu said it was an unusual case and they held a meeting during the week.

She explained the game would be postponed until Queen's Birthday Weekend and the match would be replayed at Puketawhero Park.

"[In this case] we have used our discretion and made a decision in fairness to both clubs," she said.

Nahu said the referee had included his report to help them make their decision.

"The usual thing to do in these circumstances is just to move the game over to another field but they can't do that in Reporoa."

She said the injury also coincided with the 50th Rotorua Marathon, which meant the ambulance took about an hour-and-a-half to get there.

Nahu said they had created a new ruling if a similar situation occurred in the future, which would see games recorded as a nil-result and postponed to another date.

She said the only similar rule they had was when a game was called off following a brawl. The match would be registered as a nil-result and players would go before a judiciary.