CENTRAL North has won hosting rights for NSW Country Rugby’s flagship event – the NSW Country Championships.
Tamworth was yesterday confirmed as the venue for next year’s Country Championship weekend, with games to be played at Ken Chillingworth Oval and Scully Park No. 2 on March 23 and 24.
“The Central North Zone was one of Country Rugby’s traditional rugby areas, and it was great the championships would be hosted by the zone after an absence of fifteen years,” Country executive officer Terry Woodward said in making the announcement.
“Tamworth is known as the home of the Country Music Festival but it is also renowned for hosting a wide cross section of sporting events such as rugby, league, soccer and basketball to name just a few.”
Central North President Peter Burke said the whole Central North rugby fraternity, together with the Tamworth Regional Council, had put their full support behind hosting the championship weekend.
Nine Country zones will contest the championships and will play matches in seniors and colts over the two days to determine the winner of the Caldwell Cup, Richardson Shield, Bill Rowlands Colts Cup and Colts Plate.
Five hundred plus players from around the state will participate at the championship weekend, which will also serve as the final selection process for the NSW Country Cockatoos and Country Cockatoo Colts representative squads.
Country Rugby vice president Phil Payne said the zone was to be congratulated on the high standard of their tender submission.
“The awarding of the tender had been a difficult task as the standard of the tenders which had been received was very high, but being able to take the championships to a country heartland had been the swaying factor,” Payne said.
The 2013 Country Championships will be the first year of the revamped format which sees the event staged over two days in two tiers with promotion and relegation.
The draw for the championships will be announced at the end of November.
