Papamoa Rugby Club chairman Nick Jones is hoping the sidelines are stacked with people at his sports group’s Club Day this Saturday, June 8.

“We’ve had club days in the past, but not one of this significance for a long time,” says Nick. “It’s quite exciting to have a new team in the Baywide Colts/Under-85kg Rugby competition with teams competing from around the Bay of Plenty.

“It’s rare to have our seniors, colts, and a full schedule of juniors playing on our home ground on the same day.”

Nick says younger grades normally play at Blake Park, but some opposition teams have agreed to play at Gordon Spratt Reserve so Papamoa Rugby Club can host the special event.

Junior teams play from 8.30am through to 1pm, when the Colts take to the field against Kahukura followed by the Seniors at 2.45pm against Rangataua.

“We want to get as many supporters and spectators as we can. We have food vans and coffee carts coming along to make it a really fun family day out,” says Nick.

“We’ve just created a sub-committee to start the process of building a clubroom, so if this goes well we’ll look at turning it into a future fundraising event.”

Nick says his club has one of the biggest junior leagues in the region with more than 300 kids wearing the Papamoa Rugby jersey. The oldest players join the Papamoa Potbellez golden oldies rugby team.

“This year we formed a new team, which is a hybrid for under-21s and under-85kg players,” says Nick. “We did note that Papamoa College first-XV had a few strong seasons but for some of those players coming out of school, it’s hard to transition into the seniors’ competition.

“The Colts is an opportunity to keep young men in the game before they make that big jump into the seniors. The formation of the new team is a bridge to support them through to seniors’ rugby within our local club.”

The Papamoa Rugby Club Day is this Saturday, June 8, from 8.30am at Gordon Spratt Reserve, off Parton Rd, Pāpāmoa.