Debate over Cecil Shield venue continues [Marl Express]
JOHN ALEXANDER
The controversy surrounding the venue for Monday's Cecil Shield representative rugby match between Marlborough and Nelson Bays does not reflect well on either sub-union, or the Tasman Rugby Union (TRU).
Why the venue had not been agreed to by both parties and set in concrete at the start of the season is beyond me.
For Marlborough to find out by chance late last week that the game was being played in Nelson, after believing that they were hosting the match, bordered on farcical.
Surely both parties should have been in contact with each other long before last week to confirm match details. Buses have to be booked, aftermatch and catering arrangements made, a field to play on booked and teams selected in enough time to prepare.
Obviously not all of this was done, which explains why the match is being played at Jubilee Park in Richmond and not Trafalgar Park because the latter venue was booked for Chatham Cup football.
I have no idea what the Cecil Shield protocol is, as far as where these matches should be played, and nor, I suspect, do the administrators. Nelson Bays argue the matches are played twice a year, hosted alternatively, while Marlborough obviously feel that it is a one-off annual encounter and that, since the game was played in Nelson last year it should be in Blenheim this time.
According to Tasman Rugby Union operations manager Mike Kerrisk, last year's Seddon Shield match in Blenheim also doubled as a Cecil Shield match. However, the Marlborough coaching staff said they knew nothing about that scenario while none of the Express's match previews and reviews of that successful Seddon Shield defence made any reference to the Cecil Shield being at stake as well.
It seems that, as far as Marlborough administrators knew, since the Cecil Shield match was contested at Trafalgar Park in 2011on a home and away sequence it should be contested in Blenheim this year, a fixture pencilled in on Marlborough's 2012 itinerary by former area manager Aaron Senior. No-one this side of the hill, until it leaked out last Thursday, has had any correspondence from Nelson Bays suggesting otherwise.
The Tasman alliance seems to be working well at present. The Tasman Trophy is proving popular and there has been some superb promotion of young talent in the region beamed live on Sky TV last week as Marlborough Boys' College played Nelson College in a Press Cup match, so I hope this embarrassing slip-up is a blip on the radar.
I'm sure it is and Monday offers a chance for Marlborough, Nelson Bays and TRU officials to meet and sort this thing out the rules surrounding the Cecil Shield once and for all. We are one union now when it comes to the ITM Cup, but long may the intense and parochial rivalry between the two sub-unions continue at that level. It's a major part of rugby history in the region and should remain that way.
Let's have these matches treated seriously and promoted properly by both sub-unions and the TRU. Why not make the Queen's Birthday Monday clash a regular Cecil Shield game and play it home and away on a ground befitting the occasion.
That means Lansdowne Park, Trafalgar Park or even Sports Park in Motueka, but not Jubilee Park, where there's no place for spectators to sit, at least there wasn't last time I was there and heck, the TRU could even charge entry and make some money.
Reassuring to see that on this occasion, Red Devils coach Steve Crockett and the team aren't firing up about where the game is being played, they just want to put in a good performance.
I'm a bit the same because as long as it's any sporting contest between Marlborough and Nelson teams, I'd watch it on d'Urville Island in a southerly storm and still enjoy it.
Monday's match at Jubilee Park in Richmond kicks off at 1.30pm.
