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The organiser of the New Zealand Junior Rugby Festival is hoping history won’t repeat when the three-day tournament kicks off in Queenstown tomorrow.
Heavy rain’s forecast for today, with conditions expected to ease to showers tomorrow before clearing for the weekend.
Queenstown-based Global Games boss Tyrone Campbell says the festival’s been unlucky with the weather in recent years, and he’s got his “fingers crossed” it won’t cause any disruption this year.
Last year, the first day of the tournament was cancelled at the 11th hour after heavy rain affected the Queenstown Events Centre’s playing fields — it eventually got under way the following day.
Now in its 16th year, the festival will open tomorrow with a ceremony at the Events Centre’s Sir John Davies Oval.
Fifty-three under-10 to under-13 teams and about 1100 children are taking part, up from 42 teams last year, Campbell says,
The teams are coming from “every corner of the country”, from Northland to Southland.
The aim is to “make sure all the kids feel like superstars for the weekend”.
His biggest concern isn’t the state of the playing fields, but the safety of teams travelling to Queenstown, particularly those coming from Canterbury, who’d normally drive over the Lindis Pass.
“You’ve got a lot of families there with young children, so we’re advising them to get down as early as possible, or take the longer route,” he says.
“Our first consideration is making sure everyone arrives safely.
“Whether we have to cancel grounds or not is a very distant second.”
Global Games has contingency plans to move some games to Wakatipu High School and Cromwell if the fields at the Events Centre are ruled out.
It’s working closely with Queenstown’s council, he says.
“They’ve been really reasonable, and we don’t want to muck up things for the community here, because they have to use the grounds all year round.”
Global Games runs festivals and tournaments for children aged seven to 16, mainly in rugby, rugby league, netball and football.
Earlier this month, it picked up two awards for the junior rugby festival at the NZ Event Awards.
It’ll also host the Kiwi Junior Rugby League Festival in Queenstown in October.
