Fielding premier two team aim for Pirates

PIRATES is pushing ahead with plans for next season although there are no plans to field a premier side.

Pirates had its annual meeting on Sunday and chairman Kelvin Trainor said it was a positive meeting at which the 28 members present came up with plans to try to make the club successful.

It was looking to appoint a person to recruit players to play in the side’s premier two team.

Trainor said it was unlikely the club would be fielding a premier one side or a premier colts team.

Pirates pulled out of the premier one grade shortly before the start of the 2017 season and did not have a team in last season as player numbers dipped throughout the city.

The club has not had a premier colts team for a few years.

Pirates made a cash loss last year which could not be continued as the club had reserves but could not keep eating into them every year. The club also fielded a women’s team.

The club had invited football club Caversham to use its facilities and a ground at Hancock Park and Caversham had enjoyed the first year at the ground.

Caversham was looking to move from Tonga Park to Hancock Park. There had been complaints about the surface on the No 2 ground which was not smooth enough for football but there were plans for the Dunedin City Council to do work on the ground over summer.

Pirates had a strong junior club with more than 10 team. The mystery was why so many of those players did not return to the senior club after finishing high school, Trainor said.

In reality it was hard to say whether the club would get the players for next season as most people were not thinking about club rugby at this time of year.

The real question about fielding a premier two grade side would only be able to be answered in March when players turned out.

Trainor said there were no formal merger talks with other clubs happening at the moment.