The State of the Union!
14 June 2010

In the last few weeks I have been watching lots of club rugby and have been disturbed to look at the number of clubs that seem to be missing teams in each of the grades.

If Kumeu were the Premier team that folded last year then the question has to be who will it be this year? A standout candidate must be Helensville who scrape together a team week in week out whilst robbing their other teams of games, to fulfil their Premier grade obligations. Yet should they even have Premier grade obligations this year? as they can no longer field a senior reserve side and their U21 side looks precarious to say the least. Not only do they have no senior first side but for every U21 player they use in their premier grade another 22 players (their U21 opposition) often go without rugby due to the non completion of a game. Is that fair?

It is understood that there was an option to merge with Kumeu over the summer but that move was wholeheartedly rebuffed by those at Helensville. I understand that the thought of merging with another club (a bitter rival) is hard to swallow and that finding a compromise is the toughest of jobs but is some rugby better than no rugby? It remains to be seen what will happen with Helensville this year. With no senior reserve side fielded each week, North Harbour rulings should mean that Helensville default the rest of the season but that does no good. Do their U21's default for the rest of the season in order to create enough strength and depth in their premier team? It is a quandary that will require some action in the coming weeks.

This article is not a slight at the Helensville club in any way but merely debate as to how the 'State Of The Union' is going to be addressed. With many clubs unable to field one team in each grade and a ridiculous number of dispensated players in the U19 grade is it not time that the North Harbour Union bring in some professionals to look at the best way forward for club rugby in North Harbour. Surely it is better to bring in people with the skills to do a job rather than a union that is incompetent in dealing with the day to day issues of both club and professional rugby. How many premier sides do we require to stay as a union? How many over aged players should be allowed in the U19 grade? Should we have two U21 championships instead of an U19 & U21? Should the premier clubs be bound to having a fixed number of certain aged players (5 under the age of 23?)in order that the clubs have a lifeline to bringing through the next crop of players for their squads? Should the union direct its U20 players to other clubs through a draft system so that each club can try and get players in critical positions?

It seems only fair to ask the many questions and at least explore the possibilities. If the state of the union is to be addressed it would seem that the union itself must ask some hard questions about how it wants to conduct itself in the modern world of rugby. Does it slowly want to wither away and leave itself with eight club sides who struggle to put out a full compliment of teams on a week to week basis or does it want to pioneer and make sure that the continued strengthening of its clubs is for the greater good of all?

As for Helensville, I wish them all the best in their quest to stay alive in North Harbour rugby. I hope that their players will come into away teams club rooms and take part in speeches and not leave it to their coaches and management. I hope that they can find and retain some new players and most of all I hope they can reconcile their differences with their local rivals and potentially merge to create a stronghold of rugby in the western area of the union. Surely anything is better than nothing!

Mairangi Murray - from the terraces!