Field days, Burt Munro date clash emerges

A GENTLEMEN’S agreement to host two major Southland events at different times has been broken and a 2022 date clash looks set to hit the pockets of Southland’s already cashstrapped hospitality providers.

The Southern Field Days and Burt Munro Challenge have both been booked for the second weekend of February next year, field days organisers having moved their event a week earlier than usual.

Field days president Wayne Ross yesterday said field days was usually held on the second week of February though events in 2018 and 2020 both took place on the third week of the month.

Dates for the 2022 field days were set before last year’s event and the organisation had not conveyed those dates to challenge organisers.

‘‘It didn’t actually occur to me, to be fair,’’ Mr Ross said.

‘‘I thought they would have been the week earlier as well.’’

Field day organisers had set the 2022 dates working from the Northland Field Days dates, putting three weeks between the two events to allow suppliers and those who would attend both, enough time to get from one event to another.

He believed it may have just been the way the dates fell which caused the clash.

Mr Ross said he had received a phone call from a challenge representative about the matter ‘‘a while ago’’ but hadn’t heard anything since.

He was not ‘‘too sure’’ about any gentlemen’s agreement.

With dates locked in for so long and already present on the event website, suppliers and stallholders would have already booked accommodation throughout Southland, he said.

Southland Motorcycle Club president Andy Underhay said he only learned about the date conflict last week.

He needed to sit down with the club’s committee to figure out what they wanted to do.

The gentlemen’s agreement regarding which week each organisation would hold its event was common knowledge, he said.

‘‘We’ve been as shocked as everybody else.

‘‘This has the potential to be awkward for everybody.

‘‘We’re just working out what we’ll do next.’’

Great South tourism and events general manager Bobbi Brown said the clash of events was not ideal and would affect the potential revenue earned if the events were held over the same weekend.

Both events drew thousands of people into the area.

It was more important than ever, given the impact of Covid19 on the hospitality industry, events were not doubled up.

‘‘They’re two of our biggest events for the region. Both have significant need for accommodation, food and beverage.

‘‘That’s why it’s not desirable to have them on the same day,’’ she said.

‘‘One of the recommendations of the Southland regional development strategy plan was to try and spread the events out throughout the whole year so we can try to get the most benefit.’’

It was important to understand where both organisations were coming from.

Great South would work with both parties, she said.