There are a lot of closet rugby league supporters in Tasman reckons, Southern Zone Rugby League boss Zara Fa’avae-Mika.
And plenty sure came out of the woodwork for the One New Zealand Warriors South Island 14s tournament at the weekend.
“Heaps of people just popped down to Jubilee Park to view the sport. It was fantastic,” declares Zara.
She was back on familiar rugby turf as her husband Joe had savoured club success with Waimea Old Boys, and her oldest son Ali first played in the nursey grade there.
“I am from a rugby union family, a Stoke girl, but I am a leaguey now.”
Joe became a league coach in Canterbury, while 15-year-old Ali has signed a youth contract with the Gold Coast Titans.
Zara and her family left Nelson for Australia over a decade ago and settled in Christchurch on their return.
She was Rugby Bricks chief executive, but after enjoying volunteer roles with the Linwood Keas, traded her corporate and commercial background when shoulder-tapped to become general manager of Southern Zone Rugby League.
So, coming back to Richmond in that role last week was special.
“We chose Tasman because we wanted to showcase the sport in an emerging district. There are no clubs here, but we want to grow the profile. We are starting with tamariki and rangatahi, educating our volunteers and hopefully working towards a club competition in the future,” says Zara.
The New Zealand Rugby League recently held a manager’s course at the Sport Tasman offices.
“We met with the Tasman Rugby Union at the end of last year and shared our calendars. We don’t want to clash. The Southland model has shown you can work together.”
As for the 14s tournament, all six South Island districts were involved with Tasman (Te Tauihu) enjoying home ground success.
The girls recovered from a tough start against a strong Canterbury side to beat the Aoraki Eels 18-10, with hooker Ayla Marfell scoring two tries, and Otago 20-16.
That set up a rematch with Canterbury in the final and their more experienced rivals won 38-0.
The highlight for the Te Tauihu boys was a 38-18 win over the West Coast.
“It was amazing to have the event here. We have mostly rugby boys so are still working on our pace and positioning in league,” says coach Tim Crone.
In the absence of a Canterbury boys’ team, which was playing in Auckland, the Eels won the final against Otago 32-4.
Te Tauihu proved a big winner off the field, scooping three awards, two of them for the girls.
Keana Carew was named the top coach of the tournament and Belinda Mataele the leading manager, while Caleb Tauwhare was declared the best trainer for the 14 boys.
