School pride and serious bragging rights are at stake for Porirua’s secondary schools as the inaugural interschool
sporting event – The Battle Of The Bridge – begins on 6 November.
The schools on one side of Porirua’s Mungavin Bridge – Samuel Marsden Whitby, Aotea College and Porirua College – will
put up a combined girls team and a combined boys team to play two matches of rugby league against combined teams from
Tawa, Bishop Viard and Mana colleges, that are located on the other side of the Bridge.
The prize for the winning schools is the right to fly their schools’ flags on Mungavin Bridge for two weeks.
“The aim of the event is to encourage participation in healthy activity and celebrate achievement through sport and
friendly rivalry between the secondary schools in the region,” says Porirua City Council Sports Development Officer
Faalogo Talosaga Vaai.
“The Battle of The Bridge is starting small this year with one sport – rugby league. However, the sports coordinators
from each of the participating schools have plans to extend what we hope will become an annual event, to include a wide
range of sporting pursuits on offer in our city,” Faalogo Vaai says.
Flagmakers, New Zealand’s largest flag printer and manufacturer, is the event sponsor and is making two types of street
flags to fly on the banner poles on Mungavin Bridge. The first is a series of twelve ‘Battle Of The Bridge’ event flags
which will fly on its own from this week. Then street flags featuring the crests of each of the winning schools will
fly alongside the event flags for two weeks following the 6 November event.
ENDS