Rugby league ready to return to region

A short, sharp Taranaki rugby league competition will return this year, nearly three years after it folded.

Five Taranaki clubs will be involved in the eight-week competition, starting on Saturday, February 13, with one full round, semifinals and a final.

Finals day will align with the junior open day in late March with the competition featuring both men’s and women’s teams.

In 2018, clubs from Taranaki, Whanganui and Manawatu¯ were involved in a regional competition, which didn’t last. That meant 2019 was the first time in 110 years there was no senior competition. That continued into last year.

Former Warriors coach and Kiwis manager Tony Kemp realised something needed to be done to re-establish a competition.

The new chairman of Taranaki Rugby League said the organisation undertook due diligence and looked at other sporting windows to make sure there were no clashes.

‘‘We put it out there as a possibility and all the senior teams had been training for a few weeks getting themselves ready for a February start,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s the end of summer, straight after Waitangi weekend, still daylight savings, the grounds are firm and that makes for good football.’’

Western Suburbs, Bell Block Marist, Waitara, Ha¯wera and Coastal will all have teams in the competition with Normanby/ kaiawa entering a women’s team.

During the season, each club will host senior matches, something that Kemp said would give back to the league community.

‘‘It will assist our clubs to make some revenue and for our community to get right behind it with our men and women coming together.’’

During the process, Kemp found several volunteers were also interested in getting back into the sport. ‘‘There is a passion for the sport to be players here. We’ve been able to establish the pathway for senior men again, coaches, managers and everyone has come out of the woodwork. Each club has been naming their staff.’’

He said with the competition in the pipeline, people are getting ready and preparing for it.

With no Taranaki representative games locked in yet, Kemp said this was about getting league back into the district first. ‘‘We want our seniors to start leading around and give our kids something to look up to.’’ –