Wools Of New Zealand Backs Shears Sports Dream

Legacies of more than 170 shears of a wool industry in New Zealand are behind Wools of New Zealand’s renewal of a longstanding sponsorship with national sports organisation Shearing Sports New Zealand.

Wools of New Zealand is 100 per cent owned by the farming families who grow the wool which helped make household names out of champion shearers such as the Bowen brothers, Snow Quinn and David Fagan.

Chairman of Shearing Sports New Zealand since soon after ending his 34 years of top-class competition in 2015, the now Sir David Fagan has announced the three-year Wools of New Zealand sponsorship saying it sets a platform for more success at next year’s World Championships in Scotland and the future.

A team of six will be named after some particularly tough competition during the summer, comprising two machine shearers from the Golden Shears and New Zealand Shears Open championship finals, two woolhandlers from a selection series of 8 shows throughout the country and two blades shearers will emerge from an 8-round series in the South Island.

Wools of New Zealand chief executive officer John McWhirter said Wools of New Zealand is proud to continue the sponsorship, previously held with Shearing Sports New Zealand via CP Wool, owned by Primary Wool Co-operative and which merged with Wools of New Zealand last year.

“The New Zealand Wool industry is recognised internationally for its world class fibre and New Zealand has long been heralded as the best wool producer in the world,” he said.

“Partnering with Shearing Sports New Zealand allows us, and our industry, the chance to showcase our world-renowned fibre and encourage an interest in wool and wool products,” Mr McWhirter said.

“There is a huge amount of history in the industry, and it was once the backbone of New Zealand,” he said. “The partnership allows us to remain connected to rural communities through sponsorship and attendance at events co-ordinated by Shearing Sports New Zealand (and internationally), showcasing the art and skill of shearing and wool handling.

He said it is “extremely important” for Wools of New Zealand, because while it produces products for consumers with “carpets that don’t cost the earth” it is also a wool procurement and trading business with growers that are key to the supply of fibre.

“By joining forces with Shearing Sports New Zealand, we can deliver on our vision to make wool accessible and affordable, and ultimately better realise the full potential of wool, which in turn consolidates our strategy to lift strong wool sales volume and price for our growers,” he said.

Last year, growers backed the vision to build one organisation with strength and scale to make a real difference to New Zealand’s “struggling wool industry” by voting positively on the merger.

“Our strategy was to consolidate the sector and better link the supply chain from the grower through to the consumer,” he said. “By combining operations, we provide the scale, focus and shared vision to achieve better outcomes for our growers.

The first shearing competitions in New Zealand, and possibly the World, were held at least 154 years ago, with a blades contest held in Central Hawke’s Bay in 1868.

The Great Raihania Shears at the Hawke’s Bay A and P Show on October 21 commemorates the winner of the World’s first machine-shearing competition at the show in 1902.

The Golden Shears started in Masterton in 1961, heralding a new international era of competition, leading to the establishment of World Championships in 1977.

At the last World championships in France in 2019, New Zealand won the blades individual and teams titles and the Woolhandling teams event, and two years earlier won the machine shearing and wool handling individual and teams events in Invercargill.

The Wools of New Zealand 2023 World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships New Zealand selection series’ started at Waimate last weekend with the first rounds in bladeshearing and woolhandling, and the woolhandling series continues this Saturday at the Gisborne Shearing and Woolhandling Championships. Remaining events in the series’ are:

Machine Shearing – March 4, Golden Shears Open Championship final, Masterton; April 1, New Zealand Shears Open Championship final, Te Kuiti.

Woolhandling - October 7-8, NZ Spring Shears (crossbreds), Waimate; October 15, Poverty Bay A and P Show, Gisborne; October 21, Great Raihania Shears Hawke’s Bay, Hastings; November 12, Central Hawke’s Bay A and P Show, Waipukurau; January 20, Northern Southland Community Shears, Lumsden; February 11, Otago Shears NZ Woolhandler of the Year, Balclutha; February 17-18, Southern Shears, Gore; March 1, Wairarapa Pre-Shears, at Riverside Farm, Mikimiki. Finals: March 2-4, Golden Shears, Masterton.

Blades shearing – October 7-8, NZ Spring Shears, Waimate; October 22, Northern A and P Show, Rangiora; October 29, Ashburton A and P Show; November 10-11, NZ Golden Blades, NZ Agricultural Show, Christchurch; February 4, Reefton Shears, Inangahua A and P Show; March 11, Mayfield A and P Show; April 1, Oxford A and P Show; April 10, MacKenzie A and P Show.

© Scoop Media