Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

The rollercoaster ride for the ever faithful New Zealand Warriors fans is about to kick off again.

The Kiwi representatives in the NRL crossing the ditch for a long spell in Australia, with the competition restarting at the end of May.

Family and friends have been left behind, with the Warriors become domiciled in New South Wales until sometime in October, as the NRL resumes under strict protocols in empty stadiums.

Last Sunday, the New Zealand team and their support staff boarded a chartered jet aircraft that flew them into the Northern NSW town of Tamworth, to train and prepare under quarantine before relocation to their Central Coast competition base.

The ease of the Warriors jetting across the Tasman contrasts with the challenges that sporting participants faced in earlier times to play the sport that they loved.

A grand example of the difficulties in getting to the game, was that of a Tauranga representative cricket team that squared off with their Rotorua counterparts in the Sulphur City in November 1897.

A newspaper report of the match stated that the Tauranga side arrived at the Lake Hotel in Rotorua at 10.30pm Friday, after a coach journey from Tauranga.

A little research revealed that horse-drawn coach trips between the two Bay of Plenty centres went via Pyes Pa Road to the halfway house in the Ngawaro Gorge, where the travellers would transfer to the Rotorua coach for the second part of the journey to the inland Bay of Plenty town.

A Tauranga Cricket Club trip to play the Mercury Bay 'Knights of the Willow' in February 1913, left the Tauranga Wharf on the ketch 'Wave' on Friday night, arriving in the Coromandel to play cricket at 7.30am on the Saturday morning.

Western Bay of Plenty racehorse Surveyor, who won the 1925 Wellington Cup, found little impediment being trained on Motiti Island.

Owner and trainer John and Bill Paterson travelled the horse extensively around the country, winning 13 races from their Motiti Island base.

It was infinitely easier to travel by sea to Auckland, than by road, with flat bottomed scows plying the northern coastal routes with regular calls to Motiti Island.

Auckland Provincial Peace Cup rugby in the 1920's and 1930's, relied heavily on rail to get the team supporters to the game to follow the fortunes of their team. The Thames Star reported on the 8th September 1922, "Tomorrow at Parawai, the last Peace Cup fixture of the season will be played.

The secretary of the Morrinsville Union has advised that all efforts to secure the delay of the afternoon train from Thames had failed and it would be necessary to start play in time to allow the team to catch the train about 4pm'.

New Zealand sports participants and fans alike have followed their dreams for well over a century – while their mode of transportation may have changed, from horse and carriage and rail journeys to aircraft and luxury coaches, there passion for the game has never diminished.