Exclusive: Frustrated Super Rugby bosses make 'urgent' plea to Government

Crowds have been restricted for Super Rugby matches. Photo / Getty

A leaked letter has revealed an 'urgent' plea to the Government from the bosses of New Zealand's five Super Rugby teams. Liam Napier reports.

New Zealand's five Super Rugby bosses have requested "urgent intervention" from the Deputy Prime Minister to allow increased crowd sizes at match venues after detailing their frustrations with unfair treatment.

Last week Cricket World Cup matches hosted in New Zealand were granted permission to increase crowds from 10 to 20 per cent venue capacity.

As they continue to battle financial hardship due to the latest Covid outbreak, New Zealand Super Rugby teams believe their match attendance should follow suit.

New Zealand Super teams are understood to be contemplating individual losses ranging from $500,000 to $2 million, depending on crowds, this season alone.

In a letter, obtained by the Herald, sent to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Sport Grant Robertson on March 4, the five Super Rugby bosses requested crowds be immediately expanded to the same exemption offered for the Cricket World Cup.

The letter is signed by chief executives Andrew Hore (Blues), Avan Lee (Hurricanes), Roger Clark (Highlanders), Colin Mansbridge (Crusaders) and Michael Collins (Chiefs).

The Super Rugby bosses outline their compliance with public health requirements over the past three seasons, explaining that this year includes relocating teams to Queenstown temporarily, providing testing and observing isolation requirements around close contacts, all of which they say has come at significant costs.

The letter notes Cricket World Cup matches will be staged in the same venues as Super Rugby games, such as Eden Park.

"We understand the exemption for CWC was provided because the Ministry of Health was comfortable that higher attendances do not create a significant risk," the letter says. "We fully agree with this approach as our clubs, New Zealand Rugby and our home stadium operators have said for some time there were ways to safely host larger attendances in outdoor stadia, as has occurred in other countries. Government and the relevant ministries have now accepted this logic."

Using Eden Park as an example, the Blues suggest they can already host more people at the stadium using the pod system than a 10 per cent crowd (4900 compared to 4500).

The problem, though, is compliance costs around the pods are so exorbitant it cannot be justified. At Eden Park the Blues, therefore, could only afford to accommodate 12 pods of 100 people for a total attendance of 1200 - in a venue that can accommodate 50,000.

The letter argues the pod approach creates more risk of transmission, by forcing groups of 100 together to ensure they comply with the settings compared to spreading people out under the 10 per cent crowd settings. It also notes a cricket One Day International requires fans to be in venues much longer than for a rugby or other football code event.

"This different treatment for different events has a significant financial and relationship cost on each of our clubs," the letter states. "We have already had fans and supporters, including stadium and club members, asking how they are being permitted to attend CWC fixtures in the same venue - and, in some cases, in the same week - at a time when they are not able to attend Super Rugby Pacific matches.

"In addition to the financial harm of increased compliance cost and reduced membership and ticketing revenue, we risk significant backlash from commercial partners and members around the different treatment and access afforded to them."

Crowds have been restricted for Super Rugby matches. Photo / Getty

With the Cricket World Cup exemption underway, Super Rugby bosses say they could easily implement the same protocols for their home venue matches as well as the women's competition, Super Rugby Aupiki, which kicked off its inaugural season in Hamilton on Thursday night.

"Our boards, teams and our venues all fully support the Government's aspirations to promote women's sport and are encouraged by the reintroduction of international sports events," the letter says. "However, it seems unfair to us that some sporting codes and events are being treated differently, especially given the extreme impacts that Covid has had on all of us – as clubs and venues.

"We would respectfully ask for your urgent intervention to immediately expand the exemption offered for CWC to major sports events (e.g. those being hosted in large indoor and outdoor stadia/venues), providing they can demonstrate the ability to safely comply with the revised requirements. We are confident that every one of our clubs and venues meet that standard.

"We are, as always, happy to discuss this with you and your officials."

Eight days on from the letter, Robertson is understood to have responded to Super Rugby bosses to essentially direct them to the Ministry of Health.

In response to a request for comment from the Herald, Robertson offered a statement in which he sidestepped the issue.

"I recognise that for sporting competitions such as Super Rugby it is a challenging time," Robertson said. "However, decisions on crowd attendance under the red settings are decisions for the Ministry of Health and the Director General.

"In the meantime the government is in the process of reviewing the settings of the Covid Protection Framework as we emerge from the Omicron outbreak."