Hold on to your seats, the juniors are coming
MAKE WAY: The Junior Rugby Festival returns to Taupō. Photo: Andy Thompson from Adventure Lens NZ
Thousands of budding young footy stars from across the country are arriving in Taupō this weekend for the New Zealand Junior Rugby Festival at Owen Delany Park from September 18-21.
By Dan Hutchinson
The festival is one of the country’s largest junior sports festivals with about 2500 players plus support staff, family and general supporters.
Run by not-for-profit organisation Global Games, Founder Tyrone Campbell says there will be 120 teams coming to Taupō.
The concept of the festival is to give junior players who sit outside the elite representative teams, the opportunity to experience an “old school tour”, Tyrone says.
There will be an opening ceremony at 4.30pm on Thursday and then games are scheduled back-to-back on every field at Owen Delany Park, From Friday to Sunday.
The festival is split into two legs, with Queenstown and Taupō both hosting tournaments a few weeks apart.
Many of the teams have spent months toiling away practising and fundraising to attend and for some of the players it is their first time leaving home to compete.
Many of the families are also facing financial hardship, making the opportunity that much more meaningful for the keen young rugby players.
Organisers are hoping to have a couple of former All Blacks as special guests.
There will be more than 40 teams taking part, complete with an opening ceremony, and many teams will do hakas before their games.
Tyrone says every team is buddied up with another team to give the opportunity for lasting connections, for example a team from the far north might get paired with a team from the far south of the country.
There are also teams coming from Australia for the event.
“It's not just about the rugby; it's about the whole kind of experience and these clubs have been fundraising all year to make this happen and they're very much looking forward to it. They get an awesome experience and lifelong memories.”
He says Owen Delany Park is one of the best venues in the country to run an event like this.
“The reason it's so popular is everyone just loves coming to town, and there's just so much to do for families, and we always get hosted really well, and are really grateful to the community for putting up with us every year.”
He says the demand for accommodation is so high many teams have to stay in Rotorua and travel over for the festival.