Masters tour promotes mini tourney

Rubbing shoulders with league greats of yesterday and having a fun time won’t be all the Cook Islands rugby league masters team will get up to when they take part in this month’s league masters tournament in Christchurch.

A tour group of 22 players and 9 supporters will make their way to Christchurch tomorrow for the tournament to be held from October 5 to 13.

While at the tournament – the team will be promoting the mini league tournament the Cooks will be hosting in April next year. An event the local league masters family are very excited about.

In preparation for Christchurch tournament, local league masters players have fundraised for the trip, bought classy new traveling and playing gear which were blessed at the weekend before the team’s departure this week.

Speaking on behalf of the touring group, team member Tony Macquarie says the Cook Islands team will be one of 48 teams from across the globe at the league masters tournament.

This will be the third time a Cook Islands league masters team has taken part in the tournament after joining for the first time in 2009 in Auckland and again in 2011 on the Gold Coast of Australia.

The team is also set to be part of the 2015 tournament in Auckland.

Macquarie says there is plenty of excitement among the local group who are looking forward to rubbing shoulders with ex-greats who have retired from premier grade rugby league.

The league masters tournament is for players 35 years and over and games will not be soft.

The league masters rules state that players between 35 and 50-years can be tackled.

Players 50 to 60 can only be wrapped with arms and players over 60 can only be touched and the age of the players are indicated by the shorts they wear.

The local team is also thrilled to have Minister of Sport Mark Brown as their team standoff at the tournament.

Good luck to the touring team.