There are four competitions within the Power Farming Cup: the Under-45kg (Goord Cup), Under-60kg (Gwynne Shield), Over-60kg (Kukri Cup) and the Clarke Family Cup, which goes to the team with the most sportsmanship points.
Power Farming director Brett Maber says that the players have taken a lot of pride in playing for the new franchises and donning the kit.
“We asked a lot of kids about what was cool about making junior rep teams. Half of it was getting a cool hoodie and a warm-up T-shirt. We brought a PA system along and kids were walking on to ‘walk-on’ music, like all their heroes do. You could see the kids loving that,” he says.
“It was an awesome thing to be a part of. You get 30 players that walk off the field feeling like they’ve had a good time, not just the 15 that happen to get more points.”
A lot of work goes in behind the scenes for the tournament and all of it is done voluntarily.
“I had volunteers helping me from 6am to 6pm on a Sunday for four consecutive weekends. Although we were all pretty exhausted at the wrap-up of the event, it was certainly worth all the effort.”
Brett says that Power Farming is rapt with how the tournament went and it “far exceeded” their original expectations.
“We run a tractor and machinery business, so we’re certainly not experts in sports administration but we’re all involved and all passionate about our sport,” Brett says.
“We’re really happy with how it’s going. We’re really committed to moving forward with the event, without making wholesale changes every year. We take on a little bit of feedback to enhance the tournament.”
Thanks to previous feedback, the Over-60kg division was added this year.
Now more players have been kept on the field to continue playing at secondary school and beyond.
“We also changed the scoring a little bit so it was a little bit more reflective of what was [happening] on the field and made it a lot easier for the referees,” Brett says.
“There’s [been] lots of positive comments from coaches, supporters and parents. The way that the tournament is designed really does influence and change behaviours. It doesn’t take away any of the competitive nature or the winning spirit.
“I think it’s just managed to mitigate some of the parent behaviour, which has ruined a lot of junior sports for kids. There’s been a lot of fun and a lot of really good rugby, which is what we were stoked about.”
Power Farming says it believes there’s more to rugby than just winning. It’s about being part of a team, supporting one another, learning to come back from defeat and taking pride in the progress.
“The winning and losing in the tournament is based more around behaviour than performance. I think we’ve got the balance pretty good,” Brett says.
“With rugby, sometimes we get a bit too focused on the high-performance aspect. I think what this tournament does, is it brings a higher level of performance yet it acknowledges that ‘you’re 13-year-old kids, just be 13-year-old kids’.”
The interaction between each group of players, supporters and coaches led to a bunch of little communities within the tournament - building connections both on and off the field.
“Rugby is a combative, competitive sport. What the Power Farming Cup does, is it lets people get stuck into that stuff but it swings the pendulum back towards fair play and the way the sidelines react is a big part of it.”
Power Farming Cup 2023 trophy winners:
Under-45kg (Goord Cup) - Northern Eels
Under-60kg (Gwynne Shield) - Eastern Eagles
Over-60kg (Kukri Cup) - Waikato Kauri
Clarke Family Cup (Sportsmanship) - Western Sharks Under-45kg
