Rugby: Counties Manukau's man with a fresh vision

Bart Hoggard at Steelers' HQ, ECOLight Stadium, a ground where he would like to see spectator experience enhanced. Photo / Campbell Burnes.

Bart Hoggard has come full circle.

Back in 1986 he was billeted by the rugby-mad Dawbin family in the Bombay Hills for the duration of the week-long Roller Mills tournament in Pukekohe. He was an astute, multi-skilled, thinking first five for the Auckland East team and would continue to be so over several levels of the game until 2000. After four seasons in the Auckland Grammar First XV, he won two Gallaher Shields with Marist in 1994 and '96 in the last great era that storied club enjoyed. There were appearances for Auckland Under 19, Auckland B and stints in Italy with the L'Aquila club and in England with Bracknell before his occupation as a lawyer took priority.

Fast forward to 2017 and he is looking to buy a house in the Bombay Hills as he embarks on his new job as chief executive of the Counties Manukau Rugby Union.

The 44-year-old has only been in the job a few days and has already got his head around some of the issues and history of this proud union, and a strategically important one to New Zealand Rugby. He has also proven to be a good listener as he gets around the many passionate people and stakeholders that make up Counties Manukau rugby.

He sat down with the Herald in between meetings to chew the fat. The first question seemed like the most obvious: why leave a lucrative corporate legal career in Dubai to come home and head up a provincial rugby union in an ever challenging landscape?

"I guess everyone says you want to do a job you are passionate about. I've been a lawyer for 20-odd years. It's paid a few bills, but it's definitely not something I am hugely passionate about. It can be a dour profession. We were looking to come back to New Zealand and looking at options in rugby. The Counties Manukau job came up and I saw it as a fantastic opportunity," says the father of four and stepson of former broadcaster Murray Deaker.

Hoggard only flew in on a Saturday morning and that afternoon he was watching a game on 'The Hill' in Bombay. He was suitably impressed.

In Dubai, he had kept tabs on the New Zealand rugby scene and he was very aware of the Counties Manukau union's success from winning the second tier Championship in 2012, cracking the Premiership semifinals in 2013 and '16 and annexing the coveted Ranfurly Shield for the first time in the union's 60-year existence in 2013.

Since the restructure of the provincial game in 2006, Counties Manukau have been one of the more prudent spenders. They don't have a lot to splash around but, unlike some unions who used the then $2 million salary cap as a target, Counties Manukau did not spend money they didn't have. Once they worked out that Pukekohe was their spiritual home and not Mt Smart (a dire 2006-08 experiment), things have moved in the right direction. Outgoing chief executive Andrew Maddock left Hoggard with a healthy balance sheet, well in the black.

"I've got a lot to thank Andrew for, because he has left the union in very good shape financially. We're not swimming in cash, but it's a very robust business model. We are in the black, and it's a great platform to start from," Hoggard says.

He'll be working closely with commercial and sponsorship manager Phil Kingsley Jones, a man who bleeds red, black and white.

"We'd like to be paying our players market value. The Tana era helped create this great environment we have. We need to also make sure we give players the environment to play their best rugby. Those who come to Counties Manukau aren't coming for the money. They know they'll be playing with a great bunch of guys who play exciting, expansive rugby," says Hoggard.

To that end, he will also be working closely with Steelers coaches Darryl Suasua and Grant Henson. There was good news on his first day with favourite sons Tim Nanai-Williams and Baden Kerr confirming their returns for 2017, though Hoggard is not taking credit for those signings. Most of the places on the roster are filled, with less than three months until Mitre 10 Cup kickoff.

"We'll do what we can for Darryl to get the players he wants, but there are those salary cap constraints."

While the Steelers may gain most of the media prominence, there is much to consider as the head of a union. The Counties Manukau Heat are the defending Farah Palmer Cup champions, while there is a competitive club scene, with eight out of 10 Premier 1 sides capable of upsets on any given Saturday. But grassroots rugby is never an area to be taken for granted. Weymouth and Drury pulled out of Premier 1 play in 2017 and registered numbers always need to be watched closely for negative trends.

"It would be easy to focus all your time on the Steelers, because that's the shop-front window and it's cool, but our clubs and schools are the lifeblood of the union. If you don't have your grassroots in good condition, you won't have these guys feeding into the Steelers," says Hoggard. Hear, hear.

He is onto the vexed issue of retaining talent when they reach First XV level. Pukekohe High is not as strong as it was when Hoggard was the general of the Auckland Grammar First XV, while Wesley is still a proud, if not as imposing, rugby school making its way in the Central North Island competition. Manurewa now plays in the Counties Manukau/Waikato premier competition. But when prime young talent is poached by some well-resourced Auckland schools, there is little the union can do except hope they return when their schooling is done.

"Our junior rugby is very strong (up to 13). But there's a good proportion of our players being shifted to schools in Auckland, so we are losing some of those from 13-18. We need to try and retain some of them, ideally in the schools system."

Hoggard would like to see some of the union's tired old facilities upgraded. The Steelers have a pokey, yet homely, gym in Drury, which is one of their bases. A spruced-up high performance facility is on the wish list. Hoggard would love to see a bronze or copper memorial to Jonah Lomu outside ECOLight Stadium. All these things cost money, but they can happen in time. The stadium itself has character with a quaint old scoreboard, but more can be done to sweep it up.

Hoggard would also love to see big crowds of up to 10,000 or more flock back to the stadium.

"We want to ECOLight Stadium to be the heartbeat of the region. It's making sure we are engaging with the community and making sure spectators ae getting what they want on game day. It's important we optimise our spectator experience."

Having lived in the UK, he has seen the tribal nature of the EPL and how the overall event almost transcends the sport. Furthermore, if it is good enough for a 'sport' such as darts to pull big crowds, why not rugby?

Good luck there, as the Mitre 10 Cup is squeezed into a tight two-month window and is in competition with the All Blacks for space and attention. It's a tough sell at a tough time of year.

Hoggard is acutely aware of how the union sits geographically, overlooking the vast Auckland region and its unique challenges, while to the south lies Chiefs country, of which Counties Manukau is a partner. He has not felt isolated. Chiefs boss Andrew Flexman, another former lawyer who entered sports administration, is already keen to meet up, while Steve Lancaster, an old Auckland Marist teammate, is based with New Zealand Rugby in Auckland overseeing the community game. Jarrod Bear is not long in the Auckland Rugby hot seat, while David Gibson starts at North Harbour next month. Ali McGinn is the new man at the helm of Northland. So it is all change in the region's rugby admin ranks.

"Geographically Counties Manukau is so well positioned. I'd like to see us continue with this great culture we've built, continuing to grow community rugby and making it accessible," Hoggard says.

He has plenty of good ideas, so will need to prioritise. Reliable wifi in the press box would be a start, not to mention some hot food for the fourth estate. Thanks, mate. But the free drink at the after-match is, and always will be, welcome.

So there you have it. Hoggard is coming in fresh, he's rolling his sleeves up to ensure this union retains its soul. There is no truth, however, to the rumour that he is going to strap on the boots again, like his chairman Craig Carter, to help out Maramarua with their numbers on the bench in Premier 3 rugby. It was the turn of the century, after all, when Hoggard last played.

"Back in the day, rugby was almost a non-contact sport for me, so I'd be broken."
Very wise early call.