Taupo venue attracts Cronulla Sharks for next year

Taupo District Council and the King Country Rugby Union have dismissed talk of a A$600,000 deal with the Cronulla Sharks National Rugby League team, but are confident the club will play the Warriors at Owen Delany Park in the coming three seasons.

Sharks management and NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley visited the ground earlier this week and liked what they saw, planning to move home matches against the Vodafone Warriors to the Taupo venue and signing a deal with a locally-based events management company.

But the monetary figure the council were supposedly offering the club is mythical, with the matter still to be discussed.

"We're simply waiting to hear from that," Taupo District Council deputy CEO Anne McLeod said of the inspection of the ground.

King Country Rugby CEO David Trewavas, whose union leases the ground off the council, was also adamant there had been no such pay offer.

He said his organisation was excited about sub-leasing the ground to the Sharks and was hoping the finer details of the agreement would be sorted within the next couple of weeks.

"It's got huge potential and huge opportunity for the area, that's for sure," he said. "We've been working behind the scenes for a couple of months now, just nurturing the process along."

Former Cronulla great David Peachey was one of the major instigators behind the move to play in the region, as his wife comes from Taupo.

Sharks chairman Damian Irvine had previously visited the area with his wife and children, and another former superstar player, Andrew Ettinghuisen, who hosts his own fishing programme, had been a keen advocate, as he's fascinated with the outdoor activities on offer.

"They just love this area and that was the big pull, the natural attraction," Trewavas said.

The central location was also a drawcard so both teams' fans could easily attend and, Trewavas said, the two international golf courses and the five-star Hilton Hotel were also key lures.

"It would be absolutely ideal for their main sponsors and their supporters," he said.

Ms McLeod believed the Sharks would come back and discuss with the council what worked for them and what they would be keen to alter, and she was delighted the region was being recognised as somewhere that could host matches of this calibre.

"We do events very well here and we've got great facilities here and it's really pleasing that we are being looked at as a possibility for holding events of this nature," she said. The district has a population of about 34,000, with Taupo accounting for about 22,000.

Next year's fixture is set to be in the early rounds of the competition and is likely to be a 2pm Sunday game.

The venue has in the past hosted the Springboks in 1994, pre-season Super 14 rugby matches and one-day international cricket, and can hold nearly 30,000 people on the massive embankment area, with a grandstand seating capacity of just 1800 (900 covered).

- © Fairfax NZ News