As the festive season draws close and we look back at the 2016 season, we can take great pleasure in seeing the areas of rugby that we foster and support becoming stronger and relying on our involvement.
Our activities’ list has solidified and programme schedule remains similar from year to year. The management and committee’s programmes that are in place to control these ventures are working well.
With our continued support of the fun days, NZ Area Schools, Top 4, NZ Barbarians Schools and Under 85s, the feedback from the teams and management we sponsor has been admirable and the acknowledgement of the Barbarian backing which has now been in place over a number of years has gained momentum, culminating in the NZ Provincial Barbarians versus Lions game in Whangarei in 2017.
While we foster these activities and thank all our sponsors and supporters for their continued generous support, funding still remains an issue. The assistance we have received this year from Simon Johnston has been great and lends well for the future.
In the house, from the start of the season with cricket and the NRL Nines, Dean, Trina, Mereana, and the team have worked tirelessly. Super Rugby games and Mitre 10 Cup games have been busy, but on test night the club generally gets to standing room only. One of our biggest concerns on this night is (1) numbers in the club and (2)access to the club for members. After monitoring numbers of guests and members, I found that at the peak we reached our maximum patronage. Managing the door and limiting members to one or two guests on test nights would assist with numbers in the club.
It is with sadness that Dean (Paddy) stands down from bar manager duty at the end of the season and we acknowledge the effort and time he has dedicated to the club, bringing it from ‘the House that Jack built’ to the now commercial venture, from which income we depend upon greatly. We thank you deeply.
It is a huge effort by all of the management team and committee that run the year’s events and I thank you all for the work and time you generously give to our programme. We know next year will be just as busy.
Once again unfortunately the John Drake golf day was postponed until February because of bad weather. Notification of the new date will be in the next newsletter.
Finally, to all our members, have a happy Christmas, and a relaxing break.
Mark Moore
Club captain
New Zealand Barbarian Rugby Club
