Photojournalism May 2017 - revisiting old images

Palmy's best takeaways.

The biggest farm in the Manawatu.

Castlepoint Fishing Fleet

Yeah who's complaining about prices (4 years ago)

Spooky wind farms.

This road is open close open closed slips - possible slips and the highest road in the country for OSH ratings.













Brittania on Palmerston North War Memorial.

Trainging at Memorial Park - the old redefined velodrome.

                                           


                                           Submerged Swan.

Entering the Lions Den the Media Beef Up

So the 12 year cycle approaches and the feeling in changing rooms, pubs and media centers around New Zealand and GB&Irish are tuning into what should be a very, very interesting tour.  Why?  Primarily

 the answer lies with Super Rugby Teams (aka franchises) having a crack at games, once the domain of provincial teams.

A minor issue?  Are provincials way to weak for the task at hand??  And for the Lions, 10 matches - 9 of which are essentially tests.

Yeah sure, they are travelling with a 41 player roster but that won't discount wear and tear.  Predominantly they have a huge task at hand.  So what happens when  all those 9 test matches have hosts winning, is the Lions team a thing of the past?  I don't think so but another 12 years down-track one thing is for sure - the rugby calendar will be very different across all rugby nations and competitions.  I doubt there will ever be another tour to NZ and with Aussie out of rugby soon the outlook is glum.

So how are the host teams going to fare? NZ Maori, New Zealand Provincial Barbarians, and Test Teams have the right to claim touring teams as they did in the past.  For me franchise teams are a sad departure from the past.  No I don't want to see the likes of King Country or Mid Canterbury (heck they're lucky to get a Ranfurly Shierld crack) so the Baabaa's team is a great thing.  Why do I find Super teams a hard watch on a tour that celebrates history.  Purely and simply it's down to provincial pride not Super money machine.  Ok yes I agree, most Super teams will have some of their 30 AB's out with Test duties, but as has been seen by the Rugby comp this year, Super teams have huge depth.  

I'm an old rugby fanatic and I love the romantic idea of the Northern Hemisphere banding together to knock over the Southern teams.  I am also a romantic fool and slather at the idea of all NH countries taking on all the SH teams (A World Series like Baseball) I would also like to see the likes of Russia, Georgia and Romania (WHAT!! Iceland are you serious!!)

Here is my thing for future Lions tours Steve Tew.  If the Lions play the Hurricanes at Arena Manawatu I won't go -  it means nothing to me. If the Lions played Manawatu Turbos at Arena Manawatu I'll be front row central.

And I wager thousands more have the same idea.  Yes I am looking forward to the rugby but not the Franchise rugby.  Cheers.

ITM Cup Championship Race

Ok so the Premiership is locked and loaded with two unlikely teams vying essentially for top honours.  But what about the Championship?

Three teams have bragging rights to promotion and the results this week in the final round robins throws up some interesting permutations.  Currently Manawatu lead the comp by 4 points with both Hawkes Bay second on 26 (and a 40+ differential) and Northland on 26 (plus 20+ differential) with Southland and North harbour vying for the 4th spot. So how does this play out for home semis?

The final round sees the leaders Manawatu away to Otago.  Never an easy game in Dunners but the form Manawatu have been displaying of late is inspiring and I'm picking the Turbos to win a tight one.  So what of their table permutations?  A 5 point win would see them safely at home in the semis, as will a 4 point win.  However if they lose and get 1 point they will have to sweat out the other two team's match results.

Hawkes Bay have a home match (Ranfurly Shield) versus Southland.  This will be one very interesting match as Hawkes Bay have been playing good rugby too, and Southland have this knack of knocking over the holders and stealing the Log of Wood for their own mantelpiece.  If the Magpies win with 5 points they can overtake Manawatu if Manawatu fail to get a point in Dunedin. And with only one differential point between them currently an interesting finals series in the offing.

However the Dark Horse is The Taniwha, Ngapuhi Northland.  They have an away match at Auckland this weekend and same as Hawkes Bay, a 5 point win will seem them move to the top if Manawatu and Hawkes Bay fail to secure a point.  If they tie with Hawkes Bay on points ahead of Manawatu, Hawkes Bay will lead the comp on differential, Unless the Taniwha get a 21+ point advantage over Auckland (which seems not insurmountable).

Of course there are four teams in the finals in both comps, but I'm concentrating on the top four finishing positions.  In the mix for fourth place are Southland and North Harbour.  As stated The Stags have a very tough match for the Log at Napier, but if they knock over Magpies (the points differential will be small) they have a shot at top four, unless North Harbour beat Wellington with a 5 point bonus point win and move ahead of the Stags.  Tough comp eh!!  And who would have thought Harbour would have been in the mix early on in the season?

So folks, starting tonight, forget the Premiership, put your feet up for the weekend and watch the Championship teams fight it out for bragging rights and in the process enjoy some top footy.

Fitzherbert Park, why it has no First Class games and should!

Deep on the southeastern side of Palmerston North City (Pop 86,000) lies the historic Fitzherbert Park.  For many long years this park was solely a cricket (summer) and football(winter) ground, but more recently the winter code has been rugby league.  Much like other parks in New Zealand it is a dual purpose ground.  A few years ago this park lost it's NZ Cricket status as a first class ground (Reasons outlined here)  As can be seen, the work required has been completed and it's fair to ponder why the park has missed out on a first class Plunkett Shield match in the coming 14/15 season.

Especially when you line up the competition.  Napier/Hastings (Combined Pop 131,000) have at their disposal McLean Park and Nelson Park.  New Plymouth (pop 53,000) has Pukekura Park and Nelson (pop 46,000) has the new international stadium Saxton Oval.  So given the population base one would think Palmy has rights to more first class cricket right?

Well the pluses and minuses to other venues in the Central Districts region when comparing Palmy's status.

Napier.  Two grounds both with superior player facilities and a greater population base.
New Plymouth.  Smaller ground but a boutique park setting the players and crowd love.  Not sure on player facilities but bound to be better than Palmy. Smaller population.
Nelson.  Newish ground with better player facilities. Smaller population.
Palmerston North.  A great ground but very substandard facilities.

So it is clear Palmy is second only to Napier/Hastings as a metropolitan area and possible viewing numbers but lacks the facilities the players and the crowd desire.  Surely then if we want to have top class cricket in the cricket mad city then the council, Manawatu Cricket, CD Cricket and the national body would all join forces to erect a structure that will be a permanent feature and guarantee future fixtures on the first class calendar and possibly the odd international ODI/T20.  We deserve as much.  The old grandstand would probably, in today's environment, be assessed as an earthquake risk and due demolition giving cause to the calls for a better stand, player facilities, a HQ for Manawatu Cricket, and capable of supplying OB Units for top televised games.

So Palmy, what say you?  Do you want to use your voice and support this claim for better representation of our summer game?  I for one want to see games played here of the highest calibre possible and I'm sure you do too,  Why do we continue to let smaller cities steal a march on our right (population based) to host top cricket.  We have the ground, let's build a venue. (and a part of the revamp is an Electronic Scoreoard.)