The NationalProvincial Sevens Rugby is set to explode into Rotorua in January 2015 with the help of the Rotorua Trust in the lead up to the Rio Olympics.
The Trust has provided a grant to Bay of Plenty Rugby to support growth of this national event in Rotorua.
Mike Rogers, BOP Rugby chief executive, says “we are incredibly grateful to the Rotorua Trust for supporting this event and the local Rotorua community. The funding will help us to engage and ensure more involvement from the Rotorua community in this event.”
The event had been staged in Queenstown for 10years until moving to Rotorua in 2014. The 2015 event will be even bigger as 26 teams descend on the city to vie for the championship.
Sevens Rugby is now an Olympic sport, so participants will also be vying for a much-coveted spot in the New Zealand Rugby Sevens team for Rio in 2016. The reward will include potentially being part of the first team to win gold in sevens rugby at the Olympics.
Each team has about 15-20 players, making a total of about 400 participants, with an additional 50 referees and 100s of volunteers from Rotorua and other Bay centres.
The 2014 event didn’t attract the organisers’ expected 20,000 attendees, so much of the Trust’s grant will go towards publicising the event and ensuring fantastic entertainment is on offer. There will also be a special deal for locals attending the games.
Note: the 15-a-side version of the game was discontinued at the Summer Olympics after 1924.
For more information, contact:
Mike Rogers
Chief Executive Officer
BOP Rugby Union
07-547 4680
mike@boprugby.co.nz