NZ Junior Girls Footy Festival Shares Auckland Rugby Stage With RWC 2021

Hundreds of rugby-loving girls will share the ‘City of Sails’ with their Rugby World Cup idols as they look to emulate their heroes at the New Zealand Junior Girls Rugby Festival in Auckland this weekend.

Organised by Auckland-based social enterprise Global Games, the festival will see 40 teams from throughout the country come together for the largest all-girls junior rugby tournament in New Zealand.

Global Games Managing Director and chief festival organizer Tyrone Campbell says the organisation is proud to play a small part in creating opportunities to celebrate and promote female participation in New Zealand’s national game.

“This is our third and final junior sports festival for 2022, and I suppose this one particularly stands out because it creates a space in our national rugby landscape specifically for our junior girls to shine.

“Playing rugby as a junior girl usually means you are the minority in a team dominated by boys.

For a lot of the girls, this will be the first chance they’ve had to play in an all-girls team, against other all-girls teams”

Like all Global Games events, the emphasis is less on competition and more on fostering enjoyment, friendships and lifelong memories.

“Girls from all over the country are coming to Auckland to participate in a festival that is truly all about them. That’s a wonderful environment to create some magic memories they will cherish for a lifetime – and that’s what we strive for.” says Mr Campbell.

The presence of Rugby World Cup 2021 in Auckland has boosted the excitement surrounding the festival and created a fresh set of opportunities. Every player will receive free tickets to RWC2021 matches and visit Blues HQ – home of the Auckland-based Super Rugby franchise.

“We’re grateful to RWC2021 and the Blues who’ve partnered with us to ensure the players receive a truly unique life experience as part of the festival. They’ll get a ‘behind the scenes’ feel for what a professional rugby environment looks like and get to see some of the world’s best women’s rugby players in action,” says Mr Campbell.

The festival will be hosted this year by Auckland’s illustrious Ponsonby Rugby Club. Games commence at 9.00am on Saturday 22 October, with prizegiving scheduled for 2.30pm on Monday 24 October.

Key Facts

WHAT: The New Zealand Girls Junior Rugby Festival
WHERE: Ponsonby Rugby Club, Acukland

WHEN: Saturday, October 22 – Monday, October 24, 2022

WHO: 40 junior girls rugby teams, ranging from under-10s to under-13s, from throughout Aotearoa

HOW: Festival developed and delivered by Auckland-based junior sports event specialists, Global Games.

Blues HQ and RWC Matches

• All players will receive free tickets to RWC matches and a personalized tour of Blues HQ

Global Games: Dream It, Live It.

• Global Games was birthed in 2008 with an aim to bring junior communities and cultures together and create a level of understanding through sport, events and travel.
• Since then, the Auckland-based social enterprise has hosted over 35,000 participants at its tournaments, spanning a variety of codes, including rugby, rugby league and netball.
• By championing an ethos that lessens the emphasis on competition in favour of a commitment to creating experiences and memories youngsters will cherish for a lifetime, Global Games has successfully carved a niche in the global junior sports event space, underpinned by four core strategic brand pillars: Enjoyment; Sportsmanship; Empowerment, and Sustainability.
• For further information on Global Games, visit: https://www.globalgames.co.nz

Teams Travelling from Near and Far

• Teams will be attending the tournament from the following provinces:

Winning Isn’t Everything

• Unlike many tournaments, dominating on the scoreboard won’t necessarily guarantee a spot on the winner’s podium. In fact, to resist the temptation for teams to get competitive, there aren’t any finals at all.
• All of the major trophies up for grabs at the New Zealand Girls Rugby Festival are awarded according to how well individuals, or teams, demonstrate a commitment to sportsmanship and fair play.
• Each participating team is matched with a ‘buddy’ team in the lead up to the tournament. The purpose of the buddy teams is to create further opportunities for kids to foster friendships and connections with other players they would not normally have the chance to meet or play.
• In the event that scores become one sided, (where one side is ahead by 20+ points) both coaches must meet at half time with the referee to find a solution for a more enjoyable game for both sets of players.

All Fun, No Rubbish

• Sustainability is embedded as one of the four pillars of the Global Games central philosophy.
• The company has set a goal for the festival to be a Zero Waste Event by 2025.
• By educating parents, players and supporters and achieving buy-in, it is hoped that by 2025, all products and packaging brought to the tournament will be recyclable, compostable, or avoided altogether.
• To propel this initiative forward, there will be no individual trolley bins at the festival, these being replaced by a centralised recycling and waste tent

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