{"id":88102,"date":"2025-08-22T18:21:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T18:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/88102\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T18:21:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T18:21:07","slug":"napiers-mclean-park-has-been-among-options-for-rugby-league-test-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/88102\/","title":{"rendered":"Napier\u2019s McLean Park has been among options for rugby league test match"},"content":{"rendered":"

McLean Park was initially leased for rugby league \u2013 and football \u2013 as early as 1912<\/a>, making it one of the oldest grounds connected to the code.<\/p>\n

The growth of rugby league nationally, and Hawke\u2019s Bay being a leader in the provinces, is encouraging the code\u2019s administrators to stage some bigger games outside Auckland.<\/p>\n

The international opportunities are limited by the small schedule of home matches.<\/p>\n

But, with a Napier City Council desire to create wider use, Leydesdorff can see international sides, the New Zealand Warriors and other NRL teams heading to the park.<\/p>\n

McLean Park last hosted an international side when Great Britain opened their 1990 tour against a NZRL President\u2019s XIII.<\/p>\n

Two NRL matches have been played there in the past decade, featuring the Warriors, Brisbane Broncos, Melbourne Storm and St George Illawarra<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Leydersdorff and wife Andrea moved to Hawke\u2019s Bay about seven years ago, and operated the Stirling Sports franchises in Napier and Hastings.<\/p>\n

He was elected to the NZRL board in 2021 on the strength of his rugby league, sports trusts and business experience in Auckland, and was made chairman last year, also becoming a member of the international board.<\/p>\n

Participation growth is big, particularly in children and youth grades. <\/p>\n

However, Leydersdorff worries about the detrimental impacts \u2013 on league, other sports and the social consequences \u2013 of Government proposals to license offshore online gaming operations without protection of funding for New Zealand sport. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis directly affects at least 1.5 million people,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He said most sports are struggling financially, particularly at the grassroots level. They are funded largely by grants from gaming trusts, and any decline in resourcing would be \u201cdisastrous\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rugby league player numbers in New Zealand increased by more than 40% at youth and children\u2019s level, and 24% across all age groups.<\/p>\n

Leydesdorff said the growth is reflected in Hawke\u2019s Bay.<\/p>\n

District chairman Antz Taueki said 113 teams are registered across the age groups, including the men\u2019s women\u2019s and youth age groups starting this weekend,for the region\u2019s spring season. <\/p>\n

Alongside this upward trend, opportunities for young players are rapidly expanding, courtesy of representative teams at age-group tournaments at a local level, and NRL expected to grow in Australia.<\/p>\n

Senior men\u2019s side the Unicorns are likely to become part of a new national inter-district structure in the next few years.<\/p>\n

Hawke\u2019s Bay has in recent years been linked with Taranaki and Manawat\u016b in a Mid-Central zone structure. However, this could end, with a plan being considered by leagues throughout the country, possibly for first-stage implementation next year.<\/p>\n

The premier competition opens with matches between second-season outfit Taradale Stallions and long-standing club Maraenui Phoenix at Tareha Recreation Reserve in Taradale, and defending champions Omahu Huia<\/a> and Tamatea Arikinui at Bill Mathewson Park, Hastings.<\/p>\n

Doug Laing has been a reporter for 52 years, more than 40 of them in Hawke\u2019s Bay, at the Central Hawke\u2019s Bay Press, the Napier Daily Telegraph and, Hawke\u2019s Bay Today. He has covered most aspects of general news and sport. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McLean Park was initially leased for rugby league \u2013 and football \u2013 as early as 1912, making it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[9665,64,63,65748,22806,65750,13057,580,1631,9492,19439,16371,2877,22795,65746,9484,65745,27697,15498,11920,65751,65747,760,588,85,47867,65749,231,3605],"class_list":["post-88102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-among","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bays","tag-been","tag-dramatic","tag-first","tag-for","tag-has","tag-hawkes","tag-increase","tag-into","tag-league","tag-match","tag-mclean","tag-napier","tag-napiers","tag-numbers","tag-options","tag-park","tag-playing","tag-queue","tag-rugby","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-stage","tag-steers","tag-test","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}