At 8am this morning a small group of players were registered from schools participating in the Intermediate Schools Tournament held here at North Harbour Domain yesterday and North Harbour Rugby Union achieved a long awaited goal of 10,000 registered rugby players for the first time in a season.
Very many thanks to the Clubs and Primary, Intermediate and Secondary Schools for their considerable efforts in registering their players for 2016, without your dedication this could not have been achieved.
Our previous highest number was 9884 in 2014 and yesterday we were at 9988 at the end of the day and the much anticipated 10,000 players was just around the corner.
The 10,000th player registered this morning is Matthew Tataurangi of Whangaparaoa College Year 7/8 Small Blacks (Tackle) team who played in the Intermediate Schools Tournament yesterday. Matthew also plays for Silverdale J2 Black.
The Union is putting together a surprise for Matthew and his family.
North Harbour Rugby Union join Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Canterbury and Auckland in achieving 10,000 registrations in a season. North Harbour have the third most juniors at 8100 behind Canterbury and Auckland.
The increase is attributed to additional rugby opportunities being created for both boys and girls in Club and Primary and Intermediate Schools and a modest increase in senior Club registrations and teams.