Home is where the Heartland is
Spectators can get to see where Richie Mccaw’s career kicked off as Kurow, Whitianga, Temuka and Fairlie get set to host Heartland games.
The Heartland Championship is going even more heartland this season with All Blacks great Richie Mccaw’s home town, a Coromandel beach resort and four small South Canterbury towns becoming first-time venues.
North Otago will take a game against Mid Canterbury to Kurow, where Mccaw first laced on a pair of rugby boots.
The Thames Valley Swamp Foxes will play at the Mercury Bay Rugby Club’s home ground in Whitianga.
Meads Cup champions South Canterbury are also staging matches in Temuka, Fairlie, Waimate and Geraldine while Timaru’s Fraser Park is being redeveloped.
Kurow has a population of around 312, but North Otago Rugby Union chief executive Colin Jackson said the Kurow rugby club ‘‘have an unbelievable following’’ and he expects ‘‘a whopping crowd’’ for the September 3 fixture against Hanan Shield district rival Mid Canterbury.
Jackson said it would be the first North Otago game in Kurow, not far from the Hakataramea farm where Mccaw practised by tackling sheep.
‘‘We wanted to take one of our games to a club and Kurow is one of our strongest country clubs, that’s the first reason,’’ Jackson said.
‘‘The second reason is we are possibly going to get a new sports and events centre, next to our home ground at Centennial Park, and if building does start then we’re going to have to find another ground, so this [taking a game to Kurow] is a trial.’’
Kurow have won the last two North Otago Citizens Shield club championships and Jackson said they were ’’a very hospitable club’’.
The town – which terms itself Mccaw Country – will be the smallest population centre on the 2022 Heartland Championship schedule, supplanting Ruatoria, Ngāti Porou East Coast’s home base.
The crowd at Kurow is likely to outnumber the residential population of the town, sited on the south bank of the Waitaki River.
Jackson expects a lot of North Otago fans to make the 66km drive from Oamaru and is confident of a bumper attendance.
North Otago players will face a flight to Auckland and a near200km bus ride to the Coromandel for their September 24 match with Thames Valley at Whitianga on September 24.
Thames Valley
Thames Valley rugby general manager Paul Nisbet said it was the first time the Coromandel coastal town was hosting a Swamps Foxes game.
‘‘At various stages our clubs will put in a proposal to the Thames Valley union to host a Heartland game.
‘‘Taking the game to other parts of the province is something the union is looking to do in the future. It’s what Heartland rugby is all about.’’
He said Whitianga is ‘‘a goahead place. The growth in that community has been quite exponential in recent years.’’
Whitianga – population 6330 (but swelled by weekend holidaymakers) is a bigger town than Thames Valley’s recent home base of Te Aroha (population: 4650).
Nisbet said the ThamesCoromandel District Council had developed ‘‘a great venue’’ with modern facilities at the Mercury Bay Sports Park where the local rugby club will install temporary stands for the game.
‘‘They are anticipating great support from the eastern beach communities on the peninsula.
‘‘The Swamp Foxes team has got great support right across the whole valley’’.
The Thames Valley team will get a taste of playing at a smaller venue in the opening round tomorrow when it visits Temuka for a 2021 grand final rematch with South Canterbury.
South Canterbury
South Canterbury are taking their four home games beyond Timaru while Fraser Park is being redeveloped into a multisports stadium.
After playing in Temuka, they will host North Otago in Fairlie on September 3, Poverty Bay at Waimate on September 24 and Ngāti Porou East Coast at Geraldine on October 8.
Pleasant Point will be the venue if South Canterbury get to host a semifinal and final in October.
‘‘This is quite unique,’’ South Canterbury Rugby Union chief executive Craig Calder said. ‘‘I don’t think we’ve had a home game in any of those four locations before.
‘‘It’s taking rugby back even more to the grassroots. Our clubs have adopted it and are really quite excited by it.’’
Calder said some of the host communities were planning carnivals on game-day and worked hard to ‘‘bring facilities up to scratch’’.
‘‘In places like Fairlie the whole community has got behind it. That’s what Heartland rugby is about.’’
While South Canterbury were first to look at fresh fields, Calder said it was a concept worth considering for the future.
‘‘All Heartland unions should be looking at that opportunity.’’
With some Heartland games being televised live, including South Canterbury’s opener in Temuka, it was an opportunity for host clubs to showcase their district, Calder added.
Some Heartland games will be held in the ‘‘big smoke’’ of Whanganui (population 47,300), Gisborne (37,000), Masterton (28,200) and Taupō (26,800) and Palmerston North (88,300), where Wairarapa Bush will host a televised game against North Otago on Sunday night.
Small-town venues have been used before – Mid Canterbury won the Lochore Cup final in Methven in 2017 when Ashburton Show Grounds was unavailable – but 2022’s far-flung places roster will be the widest spread yet.