"It's important that district football doesn't die."
That's the message from Waikato rugby league coach Morgan Kutia, who has been left frustrated by Bay of Plenty after they pulled out of this weekend's representative fixture.
Tomorrow was meant to present a chance for aspiring players to show their skills and force their way into the national competition with the WaiCoa Bays Stallions representative side, which is also coached by Kutia.
The match between Waikato and BOP in Rotorua had been on the calendar for several months, slotted between the local club competitions finishing and the WaiCoa Bays comp starting.
It presented the only opportunity for players to push their case to go further. However, the game won't be going ahead, with BOP pulling out a couple of weeks ago.
Bay of Plenty district rugby league board chairman Bill Liddell told The Daily Post yesterday he understood Kutia's frustration but the board was left with little choice after they were unable to secure a coach with the appropriate credentials.
"The problem is not so much with the players as the staff at the level required to coach and manage [this level] of teams."
The two provinces, along with Coastline (Tauranga) and Gisborne, are part of the Upper Central Zone and have worked well together in the past. But the latest situation has disheartened Kutia.
He did not directly deal with BOP, but SportsForce rugby league development officer John Devonshire did, passing on the news to him that BOP didn't have a coach or a team to field.
"I don't know what the reason is," Kutia said. "Whatever's happening over there is their business. The thing that's most disappointing is that we were willing to go and play them in Rotorua, and all they had to do was put a team on the field."
Liddell said the board could not simply put a team on the field without the proper coaching staff.
"Maybe, we could have but realistically we're not prepared to just put a team on the field," Liddell said. "We want to be competitive with the best we could offer."
Marcus Reynolds, general manager of the Upper Central Zone, was aware of the situation, Kutia said. "He's of the same opinion, that it's very disappointing that Bay of Plenty can't play us."
Kutia said provincial football had been around longer than the national competition, and he wants it to keep its place.
"I just want the districts to give some importance to representative football, if they can," he said.
Liddell said the board were supportive of the district representative competition.
"But it needs to be set in place with more than a one-off game. We are finding the lack of interest in being involved at this level is due to there being nothing planned."
The board had endeavoured to get other districts such as Taranaki, Manawatu and Counties involved but with little interest.
To try to do the best for their players, Waikato then tried to get a game organised against Coastline, but it proved too short a notice, and then the same thing happened when they contacted Counties-Manukau.
So with no rep game on the calendar, Waikato will instead hold a training camp on Monday for the players who would have been involved.
But Kutia's job of selection for the Stallions becomes more difficult.
"We're going to have to try and pick and choose the best [club] games to go to," he said. "There might be one or two players that don't get seen because we can't watch the best of each district play. I'm just going to have to rely on the coaches and other people like the development officers in those areas to just give us some feedback."