Behind the two separate groups bidding for a South Island NRL team

Saturday, 1 June 2024

A group seeking a licence for a NRL team in Christchurch sees no issue with there being two competing bids from the South Island.

David Moffett, a former chief executive of the NRL, New Zealand Rugby and the Welsh Rugby Union who lives in Canterbury, is heading the South Island Kea bid team.

The rival South Island NRL Team Bid has ex-Kiwis and Warriors coach Frank Endacott as its president.

Both groups are determined to convince the NRL board to award them a licence to operate a team in Christchurch when the world’s best rugby league competition expands to 18 teams in 2026.

So why are there two separate bids from Christchurch?

South Island NRL Bid Ltd chief executive Tony Kidd (a former Canterbury Rugby League chairman) did not wish to comment to The Press at this point, saying they were “in the process of putting together an impressive quality and professional team’’ and would have announcements to make soon.

Moffett, however, said Kidd’s group asked for a meeting to see if there was a possibility of forming one bid, “and based on the discussions we had, there’s no chance of that”.

“They’re just doing their thing and we’re doing ours. I think that’s fine. Competition is a good thing. Our overriding ambition is to get a NRL team into Christchurch.”

Moffett - chief executive at the NRL from 1999 to 2001 - did not believe having two bids from the same city would dilute Christchurch’s chances of competing with Papua New Guinea, Perth and Brisbane’s Tigers for an expansion licence.

He pointed to a three-way competition between Brisbane clubs for the 2023 expansion spot ultimately awarded to the Redcliffe Dolphins.

The possibility of having another New Zealand club to rival the Warriors was initially flagged by NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo in a media interview in March 2021. He confirmed then that the NRL wanted a second Brisbane club in 2023 and a second New Zealand side in 2026.

Almost immediately, former New Zealand Rugby League chairman Andrew Chalmers claimed he was launching a $30m bid for a Southern Orcas team that would split their games between Wellington and Christchurch and would look to sign an existing All Black as a marquee player.

But Chalmers’ Orcas were not part of the bidding process for the 2023 place. He told the New Zealand Herald last month that he had spoken to both South Island bid teams but was not involved in either.

Former Gold Coast Titans chief executive Mick Searle had been initially involved with the South Island NRL Bid group, but Kidd said he had “taken a step back’’ and was not presently involved.

An article on the South Island Bid’s social media platforms stated the group’s interest began in 2021 after Sydney-based journalist and author Patrick Skene “planted the seed” for a South Island team with Kidd, who was then on the Canterbury Rugby League board.

Kidd, who had kick-started rugby league in Queenstown and reactivated Christchurch’s University club, has recruited some people with domestic rugby league experience, including former Canterbury Rugby League CEO Duane Fyfe and ex-Wellington Rugby League board member Darren Littlewood. Former Christchurch East Labour MP Poto Williams has also come on board in a community and wellbeing role.

A limited liability company was registered last September with Kidd holding 50% of the initial 8000 shares. Fyfe and New York-based Cantabrian Kieran Bligh have 25% holdings.

Kidd’s bid team does not yet have a name for a potential team, but they have done a lot of preparatory work, including financial officer Bligh meeting with Abdo and Australian Rugby League commission chairman Peter V’landys at the NRL promotional event in Las Vegas in March.

Their website and social media posts highlight the consortium’s deep connections with the local rugby league community.

Endacott, who coached the Kiwis from 1995 to 2000 and the Warriors in 1997-98, was appointed bid president earlier this month.

He said on the bid’s website: “After hearing about the work that’s being done behind the scenes that this is quite advanced, I believe we’ll have a very good chance of getting an NRL franchise.”

Endacott thought a NRL team would be “so good for Christchurch as a city, for South Island rugby league, and for young athletes to have a pathway. Instead of going to Australia, they’ll have something here to go for in the long term.”

Moffett said the South Island Kea consortium had only been going a couple of months, but already had “a brand out there, and a jersey” and were working with different groups.

The Kea backroom team includes ex-Sanzaar and Rugby Australia chief executive Andy Marinos and Rob Picone, a former club solicitor with the Bulldogs NRL club who was the driver behind a bid to bring a NRL team to Wellington a decade ago. Former Warriors player Phil Bergman is also on board.

Moffett says “while it’s a fair while ago’’ he has some understanding of what is required in the bidding process from his time at the NRL.

“They will give it people who they think will actually make it a success. On the basis of who we’ve got involved, I know we’ll be successful.”

Moffett said the Kea would completely rule out any association with non-NRL clubs across the Tasman because “there would be a requirement to play games in Australia, and that would completely defeat the purpose of us having a Christchurch bid.”

With Māori and Pasifika comprising 45% of the NRL’s male player base, and 48% of the women’s complement, Moffett believes there is a sufficient talent pool in New Zealand.

“While we’ll be looking for some marquee players, the bulk of our players would be sourced from New Zealand. There is no doubt that any expansion team in Australia is going to be looking in New Zealand for players. Our view is those players should be kept in New Zealand as much as possible where they’ve got whānau and are better off being with their communities”.

Both Christchurch bids aim eventually to have NRL men’s and women’s teams, reserve grade sides and teams in age-group competitions and would look to play occasional games at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium.

They share a common desire to use the city’s 30,000-seat Te Kaha Stadium - due for completion in 2026 - as a home base. Both also have a firm belief they could hit the ground running in 2026.

However, they face a formidable obstacle with the Australian Government backing a bid to have a Papua New Guinea team join the NRL.

Anthony Albanese’s federal government has recently agreed with the NRL a 10-year A$600 million package to use rugby league as a Pacific diplomacy measure in a move interpreted as a bid to counter growing Chinese influence in the region.

If PNG get the nod - as expected - it could push the next expansion window out to 2030.

The NRL clubs, ultimately, have to give the nod to expansion, and Moffett believes Christchurch has a compelling case.

“There’s not another bidder that’s got a stadium anything like the one we’ll have [at Te Kaha]. I believe it will be the best stadium in the NRL, even better than Lang Park.” Now known as Suncorp Stadium, the famous Brisbane ground seats 50,000, but Moffett says Te Kaha’s atmosphere will be better because it will have a roof and its 30,000 fans will be “closer to the action than at Lang Park”.

He says Christchurch is a safe location in a city rebounding quickly after the earthquakes with state of the art facilities and “tourism to die for’’.

The Sydney to Christchurch flight time is shorter than Sydney to Perth or Sydney to Port Moresby and Christchurch matches would be screened in prime time in Australia.

But is 2026 a realistic timeframe for a South Island NRL team?

Moffett says his bid would be “up and running for the opening game of the 2026 season against the Warriors at Christchurch’s fantastic new stadium’’. He reckons he could sell 50,000 tickets for such a fixture, but the ground will only have 30,000 seats.

Kidd told The Press in February that his bid team could have NRL men’s and women’s teams on the field in 2026 and that they saw Te Kaha as the “jewel in the crown’’.

The Dolphins were awarded their 2023 licence in October 2021, but were already a long-established Queensland Cup club backed by a Leagues Club and considerable commercial investments.

The Warriors were given the nod to join Australia’s elite competition in 1992 for the 1995 season. They effectively had three years to prepare, backed by the Auckland Rugby League and its significant endowment funds from the sale of Carlaw Park.

Moffett believes a new NRL club would need $32 million to $35 million to operate. He was confident of attracting investors a believed a Kea bid would “not be a drain on the NRL or the other clubs’’.

NRL franchises get an annual club grant from the NRL - reported to be close to $19 million - to help pay salaries and other costs. The salary cap rose by 25% to A$12.1 million in 2023.

Australia’s Guardian news website has also reported that the 17 existing clubs could get an additional $2m from the NRL from the Government’s PNG expansion proposal.

Moffett sees a South Island-based NRL team creating a natural rivalry with the Warriors, building on the Christchurch v Auckland parochialism. He quipped this week that he was responsible for the Auckland club rebranding as “the New Zealand Warriors’’ during his tenure as NRL CEO, because of the need to embrace the whole country at a time “when the other clubs wanted to kick them out and get South Sydney back in their place”.

He says the northern club should consider changing back to the Auckland Warriors because “that’s what they will be when we get a [South Island] NRL team”.

While a 2026 entry could be a little early given the politics behind the PNG bid, a Christchurch-based NRL team looks a distinct future possibility.