RIPPA WORLD CUP
Rugby fever builds up with Rippa rugby competition
It's not long now until the Rugby World Cup (RWC) kicks off. We’re passionate about sport at NZCT and we’re looking forward to the competition, the patriotism – and the 80,000 visitors who will flock to New Zealand to be part of this exciting event!
The RWC presents many opportunities, from raising awareness of New Zealand as a tourist destination, to a monetary injection into our hospitality sector and economy. From a sporting perspective, the RWC will draw attention to our ‘national sport’ and will make rugby the centre of attention for a few weeks.
As the largest funder of amateur sport in New Zealand, we see this event as a great opportunity to encourage young people to get involved in rugby. So, when the New Zealand Rugby Union approached us with the idea of supporting a Rippa World Cup for 10 year olds, we were all ears.
The concept was simple…. get school rugby teams to compete for the chance to represent their region in a national competition. Each region would be allocated a ‘nation’ as per the RWC and, following the same format as the RWC, each ‘nation’ will compete for ultimate victory in the final. The competition would involve year six boys and girls playing ‘rippa rugby’ - where velcro straps are ‘ripped off’ players’ waists, instead of them being tackled.
Around six hundred primary schools across the country took up the challenge, and after many qualifying games - the 20 teams who qualified to participate in the Rippa World Cup (and the regions and countries that would represent) were announced. The successful school teams were:
Mt Eden Normal Primary School (representing Auckland and Italy)
Maungatapu Primary School (representing Bay of Plenty and Australia)
Grey Main School (representing Buller/West Coast and Georgia)
Elmwood Normal Primary School (representing Canterbury and South Africa)
Roscommon Primary School (representing Counties Manukau and Fiji)
Te Haupara School (representing East Coast/Poverty Bay and France)
Parkvale Primary School (representing Hawkes Bay and Japan)
Otaki School (representing Horowhenua-Kapiti/Wairarapa Bush and USA)
Te Kuiti Primary School (representing King Country/Thames Valley and England)
Riverdale Primary School (representing Manawatu and Romania)
Ashburton Borough School (representing Mid-South Canterbury/North Otago and Ireland)
Albany Primary School (representing North Harbour and Canada)
Whau Valley Primary School (representing Northland and New Zealand)
Arrowtown School (representing Otago and Wales)
Salford School (representing Southland and Scotland)
Lepperton School (representing Taranaki and Argentina)
Richmond Primary School (representing Tasman and Samoa)
Fairfield Primary School (representing Waikato and Tonga)
St Anne's Catholic School (representing Wanganui and Namibia)
Silverstream School (representing Wellington and Russia)
The Rippa World Cup competition followed the real RWC match schedule, with shorter games played during a two-day event at North Harbour Stadium on 8 and 9 August 2011. And - unbelievably - the New Zealand team (represented by Whau Valley School) won! They bet Wales (Arrowtown Primary School) 50 - 20 to take the cup and the glory! We hope this is a prophetic message to the real boys in black!
The long term goal of this event is to encourage young children to participate in sport. And NZCT was proud to be involved. Congratulations to the organisers, the participants and the winners!
