Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Rugby: Rangataua-Mount Maunganui men's Good Friday clash doubles as Cancer Society fundraiser

Kristin Macfarlane
By Kristin Macfarlane
Bay of Plenty Times·
16 Apr, 2019 04:08 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Mount Maunganui and Rangataua captains Matty Axtens (left) and Paranihi Lovett (right) with Cancer Society's Ellen Fisher. Photo / George Novak

Mount Maunganui and Rangataua captains Matty Axtens (left) and Paranihi Lovett (right) with Cancer Society's Ellen Fisher. Photo / George Novak

Mount Maunganui and Rangataua face off in this weekend's Baywide competition, they'll be near unrecognisable.

They will be wearing bright colours — Rangataua swapping their traditional black jerseys for white and the Mount side wearing pink, and most of their players will have their heads shaved.

The special edition jerseys will be sold via an online auction and about 12 players are raising money by shaving off their hair.

Although each side will look different, players' on-field rivalry, the love for their clubs and a good cause will remain the same. It's all part of the clubs' joint efforts to raise awareness and funds for the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Cancer Society.

Among those shaving their heads are captains Matty Axtens from Mount Maunganui Sports and Rangataua's Paranihi Lovett, who has been growing his hair for three years. Both men are looking forward to raising as much money as they can for the Cancer Society.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Mount Maunganui captain Matty Axtens and Rangataua captain Paranihi Lovett with Cancer Society's community services manager Ellen Fisher. Photo / George Novak
Mount Maunganui captain Matty Axtens and Rangataua captain Paranihi Lovett with Cancer Society's community services manager Ellen Fisher. Photo / George Novak

For Axtens, cancer has hurt immediate family members so he had no hesitation in getting involved.

The idea to use the Good Friday Baywide clash between Rangataua and Mount Maunganui as an awareness and fundraising event came after the death of someone close to both clubs.

Chris Elvin, from Mount Maunganui Sports club, said there was a lot of connection between the two clubs so he approached Rangataua members late last year about holding a joint fundraiser for the Cancer Society. Everyone was supportive of coming together for the cause, he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We both lost a few people to cancer recently," Elvin says.

For Timoti Gardiner, Rangataua is his family club and he's now a senior player. He says they lost one of their club stalwarts, Rapata Ririnui, to cancer recently.

"It's a disease that affects so many people and the Cancer Society is a fantastic organisation who is there to help them through this tough time.''

Although there is no set fundraising target, they club want to raise as much as possible, with more than $8000 so far.

Discover more

Mount take victory over Tauranga Sports

06 Apr 06:06 PM

Two Te Puke rugby sides unbeaten

10 Apr 08:00 PM
Rugby

Strong teams eye Baywide premier women's title

12 Apr 01:35 AM
Rugby

Rugby - a family affair for Hannah Ward and daughters

14 Apr 07:59 PM

Waikato/Bay of Plenty Cancer Society's fundraising manager Catriona Findlay is grateful for the support of both clubs and everyone involved. All money raised will stay in the region and help provide free supportive care services, raise awareness through education programmes and fund cancer research.

"This is a great example of community fundraising at work and I'm looking forward to being there on Friday to see who takes bragging rights on the field," Findlay says.

"We're a community-funded charity, so it's only thanks to people like Chris and Timoti that the Cancer Society can be here for people with cancer and their whānau."

Meanwhile, although the match is for charity, it will be a different story once teams take the field.

"There is a lot of healthy rivalry between us. Every we time play each other, it's a big battle on the field and that won't be changing on Friday," Gardiner says.

Baywide Premier Men:
Friday: Arataki v Ōpōtiki, Arataki Park, Field 1, 2.15pm.
Friday: Tauranga Sports v Rotoiti, Tauranga Domain, Field 1, 2.45pm.
Friday: Greerton v Whakarewarewa, Greerton Park, Field 1, 2.45pm.
Rangataua v Mount Maunganui, Te Ariki Park, Field 1, 2.45pm.
Friday: Te Teko v Te Puke, Dunderdale Park, Field 1, 2.45pm.
Saturday: Te Puna v Rangiuru, Maramatanga Field, Field 1, 2.45pm.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses
Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

The new facility will include a new building plus 14 asphalt and nine cushioned courts.

14 Jul 07:00 PM
Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought
Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

14 Jul 05:17 AM
Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes
Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes

14 Jul 04:28 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP