A small South Island football club is taking legal action against its local federation, alleging it is being charged excessive fees that are pushing rural clubs to the brink.

The move follows earlier RNZ reporting on rising participation costs in sport and the pressure on families and community clubs.

Oxford Football in North Canterbury, a club of just 145 members, is challenging Mainland Football through the Disputes Tribunal, arguing its $15,000 in annual levies are unsustainable and deliver little value.

Keith Gilby, the club’s president, said 74 percent of Oxford’s fixed outgoings now go towards “upstream fees”.

What began as a ‘please explain’ has escalated to legal proceedings, with Oxford alleging the regional body is failing its obligations to its members.

“We don’t receive a cent from Mainland Football or any form of support. It’s a substantial chunk and on top of that we’re providing shirts, the equipment, all the balls, nets and goals, maintaining our own pitches,” said Gilby.

“We operate out of a container so to spend $15,000 each year to allow 150 players just to play in a competition is an incredible amount of money for a small club like Oxford.”

Mainland Football has said it gives equal treatment to the nearly 20,000 members of its clubs across the South Island.

Oxford formally requested a justification for the fees.

“We’re not saying that we shouldn’t have to pay fees. We’re saying those fees should be reasonable and based on value that each individual receives from the game,” Gilby said.

Mainland Football chief executive Martin Field-Dodgson said the federation rejects accusations of price gouging.

“I’m a big sport lover, so I want kids playing sport, and if they choose football, then hopefully they have a wicked time and that they’re getting access into the game is as easy as it can be,” he said.

“Fees are part of that service delivery from Mainland into clubs. Football is funded through a wide range of sources. What we’re trying to do is to keep things as reasonable as possible.”

Mainland said that charges to clubs are made up of two components that apply across all clubs – affiliation and competition fees.

“Affiliation fees are charged on a per player basis and support the core services that make the football system work. Competition fees cover the direct costs of administering and delivering the competitions a club participates in.”

After failing to get the answers they sought, Oxford lodged a formal complaint with the Disputes Tribunal and is now in mediation with Mainland.

“We made a decision back in September when the latest round of pricing was released,” said Gilby.

“We felt that Mainland Football are failing in delivering their objectives to us. Unfortunately it got to the stage where Mainland Football refused to talk to us any further, so we lodged a legal complaint with the Disputes Tribunal. We’re now in mediation with them to hopefully achieve an outcome outside of a court process.”

The mediation will take place on Friday.

Field-Dodgson welcomed the chance to discuss Oxford’s concerns.

“Ultimately it’s a good opportunity to get in a room and just have a chat about the situation we’re in, discuss where they’re coming from and then obviously where the federation is coming from.

“We really pride ourselves on our relationship with our clubs. We are in regular communication with the clubs, got four whole club meeting opportunities in the year plus an AGM. Having thriving sustainable clubs is one of our strategic pillars.”

‘Lone wolf’

Not all clubs share Oxford’s concerns.

Tim Kelly of Hurunui Rangers club in Amberley said Oxford did not have widespread support.

“He’s a lone wolf. He’s out there trying to nail Mainland because thinks that they’re charging too much. Nobody else I know thinks that. The money that we’re charged by Mainland is not the principal issue for rural clubs. Relative per head, it’s very reasonable.”

Hurunui has about 200 registered players for 2026, and Kelly said the club receives strong support from Mainland.

“Last weekend we had someone from Mainland spend the whole day with us coaching our coaches. They recognise the issues we have as a rural club and they help us out as best they can.”

He said Oxford emailed clubs about their concerns, but Hurunui stood by its federation.

“Our club emailed them back and said, ‘we don’t actually agree with you. We’ve told Mainland that we support them.’”

Kelly also suggest Oxford’s financial position was partly self-inflicted.

“They may have got into trouble by not charging fees for a few years to any kids. If there’s now a deficit, that’s of their own making.”

Hurunui said it benefited from hardship support, including Mainland’s Scorching Goal fund, set up after the 2011 earthquake, and NZ Football’s assistance schemes.

“We apply every year for support for certain kids to have their fees paid and we’ve never been turned down. So we certainly can’t see what the issue is in that regard.

“We recognise that these are challenging times financially, but you can’t expect to run a club and not have to charge.”

National funding model

Field-Dodgson said any changes to the funding model would require a nationwide conversation.

“The funding model is what happens up and down the country. So that’s a heck of a conversation to have. If we just say, ‘okay, we’re going to try reduce or remove player registration fees, where’s that funding going to come from?’ Otherwise, service delivery would be drastically reduced.”

He said the comparisons with rugby were misleading.

“Our game’s funded differently from rugby which I see getting used as a comparison. We don’t have a Silver Lake deal to help keep costs low.

“We’d love a whole lot of funding to come down or a whole lot more commercial partners but ultimately we don’t have that. We work with our clubs to keep the financial pressure on families as low as we can, whilst trying to deliver a really wicked experience for those that are involved in the game.

“In this instance, we’ve got a club potentially with a different viewpoint. We’ve got our funds that helps those that may have financial pressures and that’s eligible for anyone to come and apply for.”

For smaller clubs like Oxford, the core issue remains value.

Gilby insists there’s negligible return and input from the national body and regional body in return for their $15,000.

“We have to pay these fees. If we don’t pay these fees, Mainland Football have the obligation to end our membership, which means that we would cease to exist as a club,” he said.

“We actually pay competition entry fees as well as team fees as well as individual fees that the players pay for registration.”

He said when they approached Mainland informing the fees were becoming too much, they were told to look at their own costs.

“Most clubs out there that I know are already doing as much of that as possible.”

Gilby said there are simply no more costs to be cut without closing their doors.

Oxford understands the reality of rural clubs lack of financial pull.

“The the main streamlined competitions are the one that attracts the revenue, people, growth. It’s how the game has been developed and that’s how this pricing model has been developed.”

However, with football being bigger than it’s ever been in New Zealand, Gilby was questioning where their piece of the pie was.

“We haven’t seen any of that yet, and I don’t think it’s likely that we will see it.”

Free for kids, but at a cost

Oxford runs fee free football for its players up to the age of 10.

However, these players are not registered with the national body.

“We decided we’d approach Mainland Football, again and again they were unwilling to assist. So we made the decision that we were going to try fee free for kids. But this is an in- house programme and we do not register them into Mainland Football. We’ve had to make the really hard decision of actually stopping registering kids to be able to afford to allow them to keep playing.”

Gilby said while it may seem counterintuitive, the move was made to keep kids at the club.

“What we were actually doing was stopping the haemorrhaging of the money, we were stopping the parents having to pay fees, and us having to top up those fees to be able to afford the registrations.”

He said the move is saving about $5000 a year and has been support by local funding and sponsorship.

City bias?

Gilby believed that the football funding model was obsolete, and left rural communities behind.

“Football has always been a bottom up funded model, but it’s now getting to the stage where the small clubs like ours can no longer afford to sustain the required payments. We’re looking to understand how the pricing is put together. We believe that there is little connection with the rural clubs, little connection between the strategy of and the objectives of the constitution. We have no visibility or transparency over that.”

The rural community faced financial barriers not experienced in the cities, Gilby said.

“For us to be able to compete in Mainland Football leagues, our players are travelling 100km round trips to play in Christchurch. With fuel prices, it’s just getting far more expensive.”

He argues larger urban clubs are better place to absorb costs and influence decision-making.

“Its principal benefit allows for big clubs to become richer because they get to put all of their costs across a much higher number of players to support the high performance teams, which attract really good sponsorship from mainstream companies.

“Then those clubs are then able to vote their members on as board members into Mainland Football. The opportunity for small clubs and rural clubs to be able to affect meaningful change within the organisation is limited.”

Mainland covers about 16,000 members across a wide region from Ashburton to Golden Bay.

Field-Dodgson said delivering consistent service across such a large area was challenging but a priority.

“Our goal is to ensure every player has a similar experience, wherever they are. If there are concerns, yeah, let’s have a chat about it and see where we can improve, we can always try and do better.”

He remains optimistic a resolution with Oxford can be reached.

“It is where it is and we can get opportunity to sit in a room with Oxford next week and hopefully we can find some common ground and move the discussions forward and then we can rip into delivering an awesome season.”

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Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila has been upgraded to a Category 4 system, as it hovers over the Solomon Sea and is forecast to track back towards Papua New Guinea’s mainland later this week.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology first announced the upgrade on Tuesday evening, closely followed by the two countries most affected by Maila so far, Solomon Islands and PNG.

Roads have been flooded and bridges taken out in provinces in PNG’s Niugini Islands region, while coastal communities have been inundated by storm surges in the west of Solomon Islands.

West New Britain governor Sasindran Muthuvel said his province experienced heavy rain for the past four days. He said roads had been badly affected in numerous parts of the province.

“All the roads within Gloucester-Kandrian (district) are very badly affected. In fact, in our New Britain Highway, one bridge is almost like washed away, or it’s in a very bad shape.”

He said photos shown by his MP colleagues in East New Britain and Bougainville indicate other parts of the Niugini Islands region have been hit hard too.

“I can see very similar damage, like, it’s just just high, I mean, high level of rain or heavy downpour that caused, because our drainage is already poor,” Muthuvel said.

“So most of our drainage has been filled and water is on the road, flowing on the road, and some water is like flowing on top of the bridge, and that’s when some of these main roads have been cut off.”

Loop back

After forming at the weekend, and shrouding parts of PNG in rain and wind, Maila moved out of PNG waters into Solomon Islands waters by Tuesday, but was forecast to loop back towards PNG from Thursday.

Milne Bay province could be directly affacted, again, by the cyclone, with the PNG Weather Service urging people in Milne Bay to take any lull in the weather as an opportunity to get prepared.

RNZ Pacific understands the PNGDF is readying to deploy defence enginners out of Lae to be on standby for rescue and recovery work as required.

It comes as several people, including a critically injured patient, have been missing at sea since last week after embarking from Woodlark Island as part of an emergency medical evacuation to Milne Bay’s Alotau General Hospital in a 23-foot dinghy.

It is likely that PNG’s government will be asked to help fix damages in numerous provinces, with Muthuvel saying the national cabinet stood ready to help once it received damage assessments from each province.

“The PM (Prime Minister) also mentioned that once they receive all the reports, then cabinet can deliberate on it and see how they can they can support.

“Actually, the Department of Works has more of a role to play in terms of trying to help with fixing those roads or fixing those affected bridges and all those things, because most of these roads have hardly any maintenance – that’s one of the reason why some of these roads are badly affected,” Muthuvel said.

Inundated

People in Solomon Islands’ Choiseul Province are being urged to seek shelter on higher ground until Cyclone Maile moves away from the country.

Maila has been causing tidal surges across Western and Choiseul provinces with multiple videos of the ocean flooding being posted on social media.

The Provincial Police Commander for Choiseul Berry Pogesopa, who is also chair of the provincial disaster response, said whole villages including schools and a hospital had been impacted by ocean inundation.

Warning people against going to sea, he also said people should take shelter, including on higher ground.

Earlier, a resort owner in Western Province, said his main concern was for the thatched rooves of their bungalows. Joe Entrikin of Zipolo Resort in Munda said so far they’d had strong winds and heavy rains.

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An Auckland mum has been picking up parcels from a foodbank with an e-scooter amidst the fuel crisis as charities see more people unable to afford travel to get help, and volunteers reducing their hours.

Gigi Joyce, who lives with her partner and three children in Mount Albert – including a 15-months old daughter- said she’s sold her car after the spike in fuel costs made it unaffordable for her family.

She’s been picking up food parcels from a social food pantry in Mount Roskill on an e-scooter, and uses a metal chain to secure multiple bags of groceries onto the scooter, while hanging additional bags onto the handles.

It’s a precarious balance, but Joyce said it’s more efficient than carrying the many bags while transferring buses.

Louise Garbett, coordinator at Communities feeding Communities – a social pantry run by Presbyterian Support Northern in Mount Roskill – said they’re seeing higher demand, with food requests also coming from people who are working, and families where both parents are working.

She said more people are unable to travel to their hub.

“I’m getting called all day long from people asking if we can deliver food parcels, which is unfortunately something we can offer, but it’s problematic for people to drive here because they have to pay for fuel to pick up food, so we are worried about people,” she said.

Garbett said public transport can be challenging for people carrying a large load.

“We have had more people coming on the bus to pick up their food parcels, which is all very well, but it’s very difficult to carry a week’s worth of groceries on the bus, particularly if you have a disability or you’re pregnant, or you have a bunch of kids with you,” she said.

Garbett said two volunteers haven’t been coming for the past two weeks due to the cost of fuel.

She’s also worried that companies would start to put up the cost on their food orders if the conflict in the Middle East continues, and that they won’t be able to help as many people.

Garbett said she hopes the government can consider extending the $50 per week fuel subsidy, currently only for low-to-middle-income workers who have children, to more groups in society – particularly people with disabilities who may not be able to take public transport.

Agnes Magele from Auckland Action Against Poverty said people on benefits who were previously barely able to afford petrol to get to their office, are now unable to come.

Magele is also calling on the government to provide the $50 fuel subsidy to beneficiaries and working people who may not fit the current criteria.

Tyla Nasmith, who runs Nurturing Families in West Auckland, said they’ve been seeing more referrals and longer lists of requested items.

“In the past weeks or months, we might’ve been providing a couple of things for families – but now they’re in such crisis that we’re providing everything for a newborn, or clothing, and school supplies for older kids as well,

Nasmith said some of their volunteers are reducing the number of times they come each week due to the petrol costs.

“If we can’t get volunteers here, because the cost of gas is so expensive, we aren’t gonna be able to get the support out to families as quick as possible, it’s kind of like a really big knock on effect, and I guess there’s so much uncertainty over this time period,” she said.

Mount Roskill woman Safiya used to volunteer with the NZ Ethnic Women’s Trust to drive migrant women and refugees to their appointments and errands.

She said she’s stopped doing that for a month now due to the high cost of petrol.

Safiya, who’s disabled and has been on crutches since the age of 14, said rising fuel prices have restricted her everyday activities.

“It’s very hard for me, the only thing I can do is drop off and pick up the kids from school, and I’m much more stuck at home now because the petrol fee is very high,

“I used to go socialization, the community places to chat and all that, but now I’m stuck and that’s not good for my health and my memory, so I hope the things get sorted and the war stops, and we can just get our normal petrol budget,” she said.

Willis stands firm on current fuel subsidy

Asked whether the government would consider extending $50 per week fuel subsidy to more groups, the finance minister Nicola Willis said in a statement that the government has acted to support those most impacted by the conflict in the Middle East with the subsidy to the low-to-middle income working families with children.

“People experiencing particular difficulties should talk to the Ministry of Social Development to check what they may be eligible for,

“However, the Government is not in the position of being able to mitigate the impact on all New Zealanders of a conflict that is making people all over the world poorer,” she said.

Willis said New Zealand’s fiscal buffers were eroded in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, and any additional funding has to come from savings elsewhere, or be borrowed.

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A controversial entrepreneur is under fire for an April Fool’s joke.

Toby Thomas-Smith, founder of subletting platform Kiki, posted on LinkedIn on April Fool’s Day that he had made the “hardest decision of my life” to shut down Kiki Club in London. The post noted that it was not an April Fool’s joke.

But it was later followed by another that said it actually was a joke.

Both have since been deleted.

The business launched as EasyRent in New Zealand.

Kiki has also previously opened, and closed, in Sydney and New York. It controversially rebranded as a “girls-only” social club in New York in 2024.

Phil Thomson, chief executive at Auror, posted on LinkedIn that the stunt exploited the goodwill of a community that “showed up for founders in their hardest moments” and belittled those who did have to shut down companies.

A number of New Zealand businesspeople responded, agreeing with him and expressing displeasure.

Lou O’Reilly, of PR firm Draper Cormack, said the post was in bad taste.

“He won’t be the first founder to learn that attention and trust are not the same thing, and he definitely won’t be the last. A genuine apology can usually fix a fair bit, and this one is definitely better than the original rollout, but when people feel like you’ve really misread the room, you don’t just get to reset because you’ve explained yourself better the second time around. He’ll need to earn some of that trust back.”

Marketing expert Bodo Lang, at Massey University, said for humour to be effective in marketing, it needed to be clearly signalled.

“The message by the Kiki Club owner fails this first condition, particularly it explicitly states that is it not a April Fool’s joke. Second, the humour needs to be aligned with the brand’s personality…Kiki Club had to recently settle out of court in a case after admitting to breaking the New York’s short-term rental laws. Using humour after sustaining financial and reputational damage is not a wise move.

“Lastly, but most importantly, the humour should be low in perceived consequences. Unfortunately, making a joke about the company’s viability is extremely high in perceived consequences. Financial backers would be extremely worried and customers as well as fans of the brand would also be asking themselves if using the platform is sensible.”

He said humour online could be dangerous.

“Digital platforms fundamentally change how humour is received by the audience. First, consumers encounter posts hours or days later, outside the April 1 context. The ‘joke frame’ may be lost.

Second, content may be shown to people who may not follow the brand closely and lack contextual knowledge.

Third, posts are reshared, screenshotted, or seen in isolation, so often without clarifications or comments. Lastly, online content can have a long half-life, so messages can continue circulating well beyond the date when they were posted.”

“In today’s online environment, where context is easily lost, brands need to be especially cautious. One rule of thumb is: If the joke could plausibly be believed, and would matter if it were true, it is probably not worth the risk.”

In 2018, Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla has gone “completely and totally bankrupt. So bankrupt you can’t believe it.” It was not well received by some investors, coming days after a downgrade in the company’s credit rating.

Last year, a marketing stunt claiming Lynx Africa was being discontinued was described as an early April Fool’s prank, as was the announcement that Lipton was to stop production of peach iced tea.

Consumer NZ spokesperson Abby Damen said the Fair Trading Act (FTA) made it illegal for businesses to mislead consumers, give false information and make misrepresentations, including in advertising.

Kiki Club has been approached for comment.

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New Zealand is in a better position than Australia to weather the inflation effects of war in the Middle East, HSBC’s chief economist says.

Paul Bloxham is the economist who described New Zealand as a “rockstar economy” in 2024.

But he says the fact that we are far from that position now may actually make the looming disruption easier.

He said the Reserve Bank, updating the official cash rate on Wednesday, was better placed than the Reserve Bank of Australia was two weeks ago, or was likely to be at its next meeting.

New Zealand inflation was already close to its target band and the economy had spare capacity, making it less likely that the oil-driven spike in inflation would become embedded in inflation expectations.

After the pandemic, the Reserve Bank took a much tougher line on inflation than Australia’s central bank did.

“Lifting rates earlier and by more, driving the economy into a recession to get inflation to come down. In contrast, the RBA took a more softly softly approach, seeking to maintain full employment and accepting that inflation would fall more slowly.”

New Zealand’s economy had barely grown in the past three years and inflation had risen.

Australia’s economy had kept growing and unemployment has stayed low but core inflation had remained well above target.

“Given the nature of the shock that’s now arriving to the global economy, which is one which is going to push inflation higher, New Zealand’s in a bit of a better spot than Australia is because inflation’s already lower in New Zealand,” Bloxham said.

“It’s closer to the RBNZ target. I think the other thing is the economy itself has got excess capacity, which means that it’s less likely that the higher inflation is going to get through to higher inflation expectations if the labour market has got more spare capacity, which New Zealand has.

Then workers will have less bargaining power to be able to demand higher wages in the face of the higher inflation and businesses aren’t able to pass on their cost rises quite as easily into their prices and so those are at least two mechanisms that you can point to where having an economy that’s got lower inflation and more spare capacity puts the country in a bit better, a bit of a better spot given the nature of the shock that’s just arrived.”

He said the risk for Australia was that workers would demand higher wages and might be more successful.

“In an economy that’s in an upswing as Australia’s have been, businesses might be able to pass on more of their cost rises through to their final prices.”

He said it might be cold comfort for New Zealand households that having had three years of a weaker economy meant the shock was easier to deal with but it should still be some comfort.

“It’s been a tough time for New Zealand to try and to get inflation down but now the challenge is that in Australia …the economy has to have a downturn.

“The question is only really how big is that downturn going to be and whether and how that downturn comes about.

“The global economy is facing this huge negative supply shock and that’s as a consequence of what’s going on in the Middle East so it’s a question of how do you manage your way through it …New Zealand’s in a slightly better spot for managing it way through it, it turns out because a lot of the tougher times have already happened.”

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A small South Island football club is taking legal action against its local federation, alleging it is being charged excessive fees that are pushing rural clubs to the brink.

The move follows earlier RNZ reporting on rising participation costs in sport and the pressure on families and community clubs.

Oxford Football in North Canterbury, a club of just 145 members, is challenging Mainland Football through the Disputes Tribunal, arguing its $15,000 in annual levies are unsustainable and deliver little value.

Keith Gilby, the club’s president, said 74 percent of Oxford’s fixed outgoings now go towards “upstream fees”.

What began as a ‘please explain’ has escalated to legal proceedings, with Oxford alleging the regional body is failing its obligations to its members.

“We don’t receive a cent from Mainland Football or any form of support. It’s a substantial chunk and on top of that we’re providing shirts, the equipment, all the balls, nets and goals, maintaining our own pitches,” said Gilby.

“We operate out of a container so to spend $15,000 each year to allow 150 players just to play in a competition is an incredible amount of money for a small club like Oxford.”

Mainland Football has said it gives equal treatment to the nearly 20,000 members of its clubs across the South Island.

Oxford formally requested a justification for the fees.

“We’re not saying that we shouldn’t have to pay fees. We’re saying those fees should be reasonable and based on value that each individual receives from the game,” Gilby said.

Mainland Football chief executive Martin Field-Dodgson said the federation rejects accusations of price gouging.

“I’m a big sport lover, so I want kids playing sport, and if they choose football, then hopefully they have a wicked time and that they’re getting access into the game is as easy as it can be,” he said.

“Fees are part of that service delivery from Mainland into clubs. Football is funded through a wide range of sources. What we’re trying to do is to keep things as reasonable as possible.”

Mainland said that charges to clubs are made up of two components that apply across all clubs – affiliation and competition fees.

“Affiliation fees are charged on a per player basis and support the core services that make the football system work. Competition fees cover the direct costs of administering and delivering the competitions a club participates in.”

After failing to get the answers they sought, Oxford lodged a formal complaint with the Disputes Tribunal and is now in mediation with Mainland.

“We made a decision back in September when the latest round of pricing was released,” said Gilby.

“We felt that Mainland Football are failing in delivering their objectives to us. Unfortunately it got to the stage where Mainland Football refused to talk to us any further, so we lodged a legal complaint with the Disputes Tribunal. We’re now in mediation with them to hopefully achieve an outcome outside of a court process.”

The mediation will take place on Friday.

Field-Dodgson welcomed the chance to discuss Oxford’s concerns.

“Ultimately it’s a good opportunity to get in a room and just have a chat about the situation we’re in, discuss where they’re coming from and then obviously where the federation is coming from.

“We really pride ourselves on our relationship with our clubs. We are in regular communication with the clubs, got four whole club meeting opportunities in the year plus an AGM. Having thriving sustainable clubs is one of our strategic pillars.”

‘Lone wolf’

Not all clubs share Oxford’s concerns.

Tim Kelly of Hurunui Rangers club in Amberley said Oxford did not have widespread support.

“He’s a lone wolf. He’s out there trying to nail Mainland because thinks that they’re charging too much. Nobody else I know thinks that. The money that we’re charged by Mainland is not the principal issue for rural clubs. Relative per head, it’s very reasonable.”

Hurunui has about 200 registered players for 2026, and Kelly said the club receives strong support from Mainland.

“Last weekend we had someone from Mainland spend the whole day with us coaching our coaches. They recognise the issues we have as a rural club and they help us out as best they can.”

He said Oxford emailed clubs about their concerns, but Hurunui stood by its federation.

“Our club emailed them back and said, ‘we don’t actually agree with you. We’ve told Mainland that we support them.’”

Kelly also suggest Oxford’s financial position was partly self-inflicted.

“They may have got into trouble by not charging fees for a few years to any kids. If there’s now a deficit, that’s of their own making.”

Hurunui said it benefited from hardship support, including Mainland’s Scorching Goal fund, set up after the 2011 earthquake, and NZ Football’s assistance schemes.

“We apply every year for support for certain kids to have their fees paid and we’ve never been turned down. So we certainly can’t see what the issue is in that regard.

“We recognise that these are challenging times financially, but you can’t expect to run a club and not have to charge.”

National funding model

Field-Dodgson said any changes to the funding model would require a nationwide conversation.

“The funding model is what happens up and down the country. So that’s a heck of a conversation to have. If we just say, ‘okay, we’re going to try reduce or remove player registration fees, where’s that funding going to come from?’ Otherwise, service delivery would be drastically reduced.”

He said the comparisons with rugby were misleading.

“Our game’s funded differently from rugby which I see getting used as a comparison. We don’t have a Silver Lake deal to help keep costs low.

“We’d love a whole lot of funding to come down or a whole lot more commercial partners but ultimately we don’t have that. We work with our clubs to keep the financial pressure on families as low as we can, whilst trying to deliver a really wicked experience for those that are involved in the game.

“In this instance, we’ve got a club potentially with a different viewpoint. We’ve got our funds that helps those that may have financial pressures and that’s eligible for anyone to come and apply for.”

For smaller clubs like Oxford, the core issue remains value.

Gilby insists there’s negligible return and input from the national body and regional body in return for their $15,000.

“We have to pay these fees. If we don’t pay these fees, Mainland Football have the obligation to end our membership, which means that we would cease to exist as a club,” he said.

“We actually pay competition entry fees as well as team fees as well as individual fees that the players pay for registration.”

He said when they approached Mainland informing the fees were becoming too much, they were told to look at their own costs.

“Most clubs out there that I know are already doing as much of that as possible.”

Gilby said there are simply no more costs to be cut without closing their doors.

Oxford understands the reality of rural clubs lack of financial pull.

“The the main streamlined competitions are the one that attracts the revenue, people, growth. It’s how the game has been developed and that’s how this pricing model has been developed.”

However, with football being bigger than it’s ever been in New Zealand, Gilby was questioning where their piece of the pie was.

“We haven’t seen any of that yet, and I don’t think it’s likely that we will see it.”

Free for kids, but at a cost

Oxford runs fee free football for its players up to the age of 10.

However, these players are not registered with the national body.

“We decided we’d approach Mainland Football, again and again they were unwilling to assist. So we made the decision that we were going to try fee free for kids. But this is an in- house programme and we do not register them into Mainland Football. We’ve had to make the really hard decision of actually stopping registering kids to be able to afford to allow them to keep playing.”

Gilby said while it may seem counterintuitive, the move was made to keep kids at the club.

“What we were actually doing was stopping the haemorrhaging of the money, we were stopping the parents having to pay fees, and us having to top up those fees to be able to afford the registrations.”

He said the move is saving about $5000 a year and has been support by local funding and sponsorship.

City bias?

Gilby believed that the football funding model was obsolete, and left rural communities behind.

“Football has always been a bottom up funded model, but it’s now getting to the stage where the small clubs like ours can no longer afford to sustain the required payments. We’re looking to understand how the pricing is put together. We believe that there is little connection with the rural clubs, little connection between the strategy of and the objectives of the constitution. We have no visibility or transparency over that.”

The rural community faced financial barriers not experienced in the cities, Gilby said.

“For us to be able to compete in Mainland Football leagues, our players are travelling 100km round trips to play in Christchurch. With fuel prices, it’s just getting far more expensive.”

He argues larger urban clubs are better place to absorb costs and influence decision-making.

“Its principal benefit allows for big clubs to become richer because they get to put all of their costs across a much higher number of players to support the high performance teams, which attract really good sponsorship from mainstream companies.

“Then those clubs are then able to vote their members on as board members into Mainland Football. The opportunity for small clubs and rural clubs to be able to affect meaningful change within the organisation is limited.”

Mainland covers about 16,000 members across a wide region from Ashburton to Golden Bay.

Field-Dodgson said delivering consistent service across such a large area was challenging but a priority.

“Our goal is to ensure every player has a similar experience, wherever they are. If there are concerns, yeah, let’s have a chat about it and see where we can improve, we can always try and do better.”

He remains optimistic a resolution with Oxford can be reached.

“It is where it is and we can get opportunity to sit in a room with Oxford next week and hopefully we can find some common ground and move the discussions forward and then we can rip into delivering an awesome season.”

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Foreign Minister Winston Peters has outlined the significant negative economic impacts the conflict in the Middle East is having on New Zealand, and Pacific neighbours, during his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Peters met with his United States counterpart on Wednesday morning in Washington DC, where he expressed New Zealand’s desire to see dialogue and de-escalation.

Rubio outlined US progress towards ending the war with Iran.

On the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, they both stressed the importance countries around the world attach to international law in regards to freedom of navigation.

The Minister was invited to visit Washington DC this week by US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.

They met on Tuesday morning (US time), and discussed:

– US/NZ bilateral relations. The Secretary and the Minister traversed the warm, wide-ranging, and longstanding relationship… pic.twitter.com/tEUFs460Tb

— Winston Peters (@NewZealandMFA) April 7, 2026

Before the trip, said the current global context was the most challenging New Zealand had faced in the past 80 years.

Waikato University Professor Al Gillespie told RNZ ahead of the meeting that Peters would be trying improve a relationship with the US that had been challenged in recent times, “because of the unpredictability” of the US President. But he also acknowledged the countries were good friends.

During the meeting, Rubio and Peters discussed the longstanding relationship between the US and New Zealand, including on defence and security and trade and economic matters. They talked about the issue of tariffs and continued discussions on critical minerals cooperation.

Peters pointed to the Pacific Islands Forum next year, which New Zealand’s is hosting, and invited Rubio to attend. He encouraged the US to continue playing a fulsome role in the region.

They discussed matters in the Pacific, including energy supply chain issues and transnational organised crime. They also discussed shared strategic interests of the two nations in the Indo-Pacific region.

Ahead of the meeting, Rubio was asked for a message to other nations like New Zealand impacted by the war.

He responded by saying the whole world had been impacted “unfortunately” because Iran was violating “every law known” by striking commercial vessels in the Straits of Hormuz, “and it’s a big problem for the world.”

Peters also met with Rubio early last year, ahead of the Liberation Day tariffs. After that meeting, Peters said the pair had made “serious arrangements” to keep dialogue going in a meaningful way.

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Auckland drivers are being hit with record parking fines, even as the number of tickets being issued has dropped.

New figures obtained by RNZ via the Official Information Act show nearly $49 million worth of infringements were issued by Auckland Transport (AT) in 2025 – a sharp increase from just over $18 million in 2020.

But the rise was not driven by more enforcement. Instead, it was largely the result of higher fines set by central government, alongside a shift in how tickets were issued.

The data showed infringement numbers peaked in 2024 at more than 640,000, before dropping to 581,638 in 2025. Despite that, the total value of fines increased significantly.

According to AT, the jump reflected the first full year of higher nationally set fees, which were introduced in late 2024.

AT said it had no modelling or analysis breaking down how much of the increase was due to higher fees versus changes in behaviour or detection.

“The number of infringements issued declined from 2024 to 2025,” an AT spokesperson said.

“As a result, the increase in the total dollar value of infringements issued in 2025 is attributable to the higher nationally set infringement fees rather than increased issuance or detection,” an AT spokesperson said.

The rise of automated enforcement

There was also a clear shift in how fines were issued.

AT operated a fleet of 25 camera-equipped vehicles, following a major expansion in 2023, when it added an extra 9 vehicles to the fleet.

By 2024, camera cars had issued the majority of tickets, with 385,887 infringements compared to 254,268 from on-foot officers.

That trend continued into 2025. Automated enforcement allowed more vehicles to be checked more quickly, without the need for an officer to be physically present.

Shift in driver behaviour

The type of parking offences Aucklanders commit has also shifted.

Overstaying time limits was historically the most common infringement. But since 2023, paid parking breaches – including not paying or paying incorrectly – had taken over.

Those offences had more than tripled since 2020, becoming the most common type of fine with 154,037 issued last year alone.

Where did the money go?

AT said the nearly $49 million figure represented the value of fines issued, not profit.

The agency collected infringement payments and used that revenue to help fund its work maintaining and improving Auckland’s transport network.

“While Auckland Transport administers the infringement process and collects payments on behalf of the Council, infringement payments are not retained by AT as operational income.

“Once collected, infringement funds are transferred to Auckland Council in accordance with statutory and funding arrangements,” the spokesperson said.

Despite earlier suggestions that some money was passed directly to council, Auckland Transport later clarified that no fixed proportion was directly transferred.

Instead, the income was used to offset the cost of its responsibilities as the city’s road controlling authority.

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[s ]Rising oil costs have put pressure on prices across New Zealand including food and grocery essentials.

Coffee isn’t going to get cheaper, but there is currently no risk of supply shortage to Kiwis.

Rising oil costs have put pressure on prices across New Zealand including food and grocery essentials.

Carl Sara president for the New Zealand Speciality Coffee Association said there were a few factors playing into how we get and how much we pay for our morning cup of joe.

“There’s lots of complications and it’s a very complicated supply line.”

The first hurdle is the price of coffee beans.

He said the price was initially dropping after record highs for the past 18 months, but the uncertainty caused by the war in the Middle East pushed it right back up.

“When the Iran crisis came on and we saw a small rally back up, but it sort of flatlined at what is still very high historical records.”

He said the prices remained high because the market was worried about supply, that’s pushed some international buyers to go straight to the stored reserves or ‘certified inventories’ at commodity exchanges to ensure they get what they need when they need it.

That kind of buying impacts the ‘futures pricing’ but doesn’t represent an actual shortage of coffee supply.

The second component adding to your flat white is war surcharges.

“War surcharges are being placed on containers coming out of the regions which are most impacted, so sort of around the top of Africa and some of those places, especially coffee beans coming out of Ethiopia.”

That comes at a cost of about $2000 per container. Sara said that’s not going to hugely impact roasters in New Zealand, but it adds up.

“Alongside of that, we’re seeing containers that aren’t in the right place in the right time and shipping lines that are struggling to keep up with the demands of shipping.”

The third part of the problem which New Zealand has largely avoided he said was a “just-in-time” supply method, something that hurt roasters during Covid.

“Everyone learned their lessons… So we have a little more inventory in the pipeline at the moment.

“Roasters aren’t quite so hand to mouth as they were before.”

The final component is fuel.

As anything roasted in Aotearoa first has to come from the port after it arrives.

It needs natural gas for the roasting process and more diesel to get it distributed to supermarkets and cafes.

“That cost has risen very quickly and it’s really the silent shock.”

Sara said roasters and freight were absorbing that cost because the stock had been priced before the crisis.

“That can’t always be immediately changed or altered.”

And consumers might not want or even be able to meet those costs when they are passed on to the purchase price.

He said even if the war ended tomorrow, the impact would flow for some time.

“I don’t think coffee is on it’s own either… anything that’s being sourced from overseas will be subject to the same.

“I can’t see a situation where anything is getting cheaper at the moment.”

Sara said fuel shortages or a change in fuel phases in Aotearoa would be the toughest part of ensuring supply.

“The potential for fuel tightness in New Zealand and the ongoing implications of distribution of the green [beans] to get it roasted, and then once it’s roasted to take it to those points of sale is more likely to be the challenging point for us.

“That’s not a coffee specific problem.”

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‘Deeply regrettable’

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Former Silver Ferns captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio says she has not had any contact with the national side’s management since making herself unavailable for selection last year.

The 35-year-old revealed she has not spoken with head coach Dame Noeline Taurua since stepping away from the Ferns, a decision she made midway through 2025 in order to prioritise her physical and mental wellbeing.

Weeks after Ekenasio’s sudden withdrawal, Taurua and her coaching team were stood down after player complaints prompted an independent review into the team environment.

Taurua was later reinstated in October after a bruising affair that dominated the headlines for weeks.

Ekenasio, who is getting ready for another ANZ Premiership campaign, told RNZ she has not had any contact with Taurua or any of the Silver Ferns’ high performance team.

“No, since making myself unavailable, I think initially it was because I needed some space from everything and just needed time to just be a mum again you know so everybody really respected that. But you know since then I think the sport, it just moves on and I’m just not really a piece of that puzzle anymore so nah I haven’t really needed any contact,” said Ekenasio, who has returned to the Central Pulse for the 2026 season.

The 79-test Silver Fern played a key role in New Zealand’s 2019 Netball World Cup triumph and captained the team to victory in the 2021 and 2024 Constellation Cup series, under Taurua.

Taurua was stood down days out from the Taini Jamison series in September last year after being unable to come to an agreement with Netball NZ over proposed changes to the Silver Ferns high performance programme. The veteran coach was reinstated in October, after nearly two months of mediation.

Ekenasio, who had already made herself unavailable for the Silver Ferns by then, said it was difficult to watch the drama unfold around the team.

“It was definitely really tough because we all love the black dress and we give so much. I think it was 10 years I represented New Zealand and everybody gives so so much, you give your heart and soul to it so it was really hard to see.”

RNZ sought clarification from Netball NZ on whether Silver Ferns management had been in contact with Ekenasio and if not, whether there were any plans to do so.

The organisation did not directly address the questions, but in a statement said “NNZ does not comment on the details of private player conversations”.

The national body did confirm that Taurua and members of the Silver Ferns high performance team recently travelled to Australia for meetings with players plying their trade in the Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) league.

“This is part of standard HP planning activity, which has also been taking place with athletes across New Zealand.”

Ekenasio, who is widely regarded as the strongest goal attack in New Zealand, said the likelihood she will make herself available for Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games in July are very slim.

“I honestly don’t think so, I mean I don’t want to make a call super early you know but the reality is, it’s a real tournament style and I just don’t think my body can kind of last that kind of back to back games, especially when some of our young girls are coming through, they definitely will be able to. I don’t think my body can do those back to back games as well as the training that’s needed, so that’s kind of where I think at the moment.”

After four seasons at the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, Ekenasio has returned to the Pulse this season, who she first played for in 2015.

Players are heading into another season of ANZ Premiership netball under a cloud of uncertainty as to what the future holds for the competition.

Last year Netball NZ struggled to secure a broadcast deal for the sport’s domestic showpiece. There is no broadcast plan in place for the league beyond this year’s agreement with TVNZ for free to air coverage.

With less money in the system, players had to take a 20 percent pay cut for 2026, which Ekenasio describes as devastating.

“When you think about the pay cuts that we’re taking and I have been in this competition for such a long time and when I look at it in comparison to what we’re getting now, we’ve gone backwards so so much, it’s really hard.

“Netball I believe is such a great product but something’s just missing the mark. I know it’s not just players, it’s really tough out there for management, for our franchise, we’re scrambling to find money everywhere but the reality is the product is just going to be less because our girls have less time to be able to commit to the sport. We want to be able to commit more, more time is needed to go professional but we have still to pay our bills, it’s disheartening and just a really tough place for us as players.”

Ekenasio said the growing pay gap between the New Zealand league and Australia’s competition was also a big concern.

“It’s devastating to see the pay increase over there, it’s really hard to see. The flipside is that some of our Ferns have gone over there and been able to take those opportunities so it’s great for them but it’s hard here in New Zealand.”

The Pulse lost a seven players in the off-season, including Silver Ferns Kelly Jackson and Maddy Gordon, who took advantage of Netball NZ’s u-turn on eligibility criteria.

They were granted exemptions to play in Australia’s SSN league, while still being able to play for the Silver Ferns. In total nine current and former Silver Ferns are playing in Australia’s competition this year.

Ekenasio said working from a blank canvas was challenging but invigorating.

“It is a brand new team so there’s been a lot of work and there still will be a lot of hard work put into building and strengthening connections because the reality is they’re all pretty much brand new.

“It has been a bit of a breath of fresh air for me as well, I enjoy that real connection piece with players, it has brought a bit of life back to me I guess.”

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The prime minister is reluctant to say whether there will be any further support for New Zealanders during the fuel crisis, but believes New Zealanders will “understand.”

Ministers will meet with major businesses later in the week to get their perspectives on what may be required, should fuel supply become disrupted further.

The government has so far temporarily boosted the in-work tax credit to $50 a week for around 143,000 lower-income families, while also expanding eligibility to a further 14,000 families, to receive the credit at a reduced rate.

It has also temporarily increased mileage rates by 30 percent for home and community support workers.

Over the last few weeks, the government has repeated that any support would be “timely, temporary, and targeted”.

On Monday, Christopher Luxon would not commit to expanding support, saying while it “will look” for support for those that are “most vulnerable,” the government could not afford to do “everything for everyone,” and that most New Zealanders would understand.

“We cannot alleviate the pressure for everybody, but we do have a framework around timely, targeted, temporary support, which I think most New Zealanders would understand and appreciate. And they also appreciate and understand that we have a job to do to protect their long-term interests and that of the economy too.”

Luxon said the support offered so far was about protecting the the most vulnerable, without driving up inflation.

“I have to protect the long-term future of New Zealanders as well, and actually making sure that we actually aren’t running up inflation and interest rates.”

The government is unlikely to take measures similar to Australia, and cut the fuel excise tax or road user charges for heavy vehicles.

While saying diesel was the “lifeblood” of the economy, and sectors like farming and construction relied on it, Luxon stopped short of saying whether there would be any support, but pointed to meetings the government was having and would be having with high diesel users.

“It is understandable that diesel users want relief from rising prices, and we are acutely aware of the pressure that all Kiwis are feeling. But seeking to alleviate that pressure for everyone would be unaffordable and irresponsible.”

One thing the government is likely to do is abandon plans to raise the fuel excise tax. A 12 cent increase is due to come in January, but the transport minister, finance minister, and prime minister are signalling it will be postponed, or dropped altogether.

Luxon said while legislation would need to be passed, Cabinet had not made a decision.

“We recognise that there’s going to be elevated fuel prices for some time, and it just seems like stalling that or deferring that will be probably the wisest course of action,” he said, while acknowledging a deferral would cause challenges to the National Land Transport Fund.

“If there is a fall-off in revenue that’s being raised, the reality is we have to be straight with New Zealanders and say we might have to make some choices and trade-offs, and I think that’s OK to do that.”

Sectors such as farming, construction, and aviation have been warning of the impacts of the fuel crisis on their businesses.

Asked whether there would be support for businesses affected by the crisis, particularly any that were facing going under, Luxon said many businesses and households were doing it tough, but the government would not be spraying around money “in a cash bazooka.”

Ministers to meet with major businesses this week

Luxon said there had already been lots of industry engagement, and there would be more over the coming week.

The government had been talking to the aviation sector over jet fuel, as well as high diesel users, and the finance minister has spoken to banking chief executives with an expectation they “stand by” companies that may be high consumers of diesel in the short term.

Ministers would also be talking to the Major Companies Group (MCG), which RNZ understands will happen on Thursday.

The Major Companies Group is an advocacy group, under the BusinessNZ umbrella.

It represents over 170 companies, including the likes of Spark, Foodstuffs, Vector, Zespri, and Fonterra, as well as ports, airports, construction firms, fuel companies, and major banks and insurance companies.

“We don’t want to repeat the mistake where we happen to industry. We want to work with industry, because in many ways we see them being quite critical for actually solving some of the challenges we may incur should we get a fuel disruption in the future,” Luxon said.

“It’s just about making sure that we all have a common understanding of what’s required. We know it’s incredibly difficult, particularly for our diesel users, in particular. That means that many of them, frankly, are having to put fuel surcharges in place and pass those costs on to their customers.”

BusinessNZ’s chief executive Katherine Rich said the “situation update” between ministers and the MCG would provide an opportunity to ask questions and share direct business perspectives.

Rich said businesses wanted to see a level playing field when it came to timely and accurate information from the government.

“It has been positive to see early planning, strong consultation with relevant firms, clear phases, and a continued reliance on market settings and supply chain expertise before intervention. That discipline matters, particularly for business continuity and economic stability,” she said.

BusinessNZ’s fuel company members were working closely with suppliers, and Rich said they currently did not see it as a supply problem, but a price issue.

“Many have been reluctant to pass on higher costs in the short term, in the expectation that the situation may stabilise,” she said.

Under Phase Three of the government’s National Fuel Plan, critical transport services like road freight for supermarket and grocery supply chains sit in Band B of the priority bands.

Phases Three and Four are still under consultation, with the finance minister on Monday saying she would make further announcements in the next few weeks.

Rich suggested the fuel plan would be strengthened further if the food and grocery sector was elevated to the ‘life-supporting’ Band A, recognising its “critical role in maintaining continuity of supply for households.”

BusinessNZ’s director of advocacy Catherine Beard has also been seconded into the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment’s response team, which Rich said would “contribute real-time business insight and supply chain expertise” to ensure operational realities were well understood as decisions were made.

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Renters across the country are being asked to pay less for their properties, Realestate.co.nz says, and some regions have had sharper drops than others.

It said the average asking price for rental properties on the site was down 2 percent in March, to $632 a week. Auckland was down 2.3 percent, year-on-year, Wellington was down 6.3 percent but Canterbury was up 0.6 percent.

There were some bigger falls elsewhere in the country: Hawke’s Bay was down 8.1 percent, Coromandel was down 11.3 percent and Taranaki was down 4.9 percent.

The cheapest average asking rent in the country was $433 a week on the West Coast.

The declines were offset by a sharp increase in Central Otago Lakes, up 12.3 percent to an average $903 a week.

Southland was up 8.6 percent, but only to an average $497.

The number of properties for rent dropped 2.8 percent across the country.

Spokesperson Vanessa Williams said if that were to continue, it could change the market.

“The market is relatively stable for now, but in regions like Central Otago Lakes District, where demand continues to outstrip supply, renters continue to pay well over the national average,” Williams said.

Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the drop in rents was a combination of the pressure on people’s incomes and the increased housing supply in places like Auckland, relative to demand.

“When we had no immigration, it turns out we didn’t have a lot of population growth.”

Data released by Stats NZ on Tuesday showed that there were 680,000 rented dwellings in the March quarter, or about 32 percent of all the private housing stock.

Stats NZ’s “stock” measure of rents, which includes properties that had not been re-let, was down 0.1 percent in the month, and the “flow” measure, which is only newly relet properties, was down 7.8 percent and down 2.1 percent over the year.

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