In 1983, a group of rugby enthusiasts comprising administrators, coaches and players of club, provincial and All Black Rugby, came together and established a Rugby Club with its principal objective being to “promote and foster schoolboy and junior Rugby in New Zealand”.
The Condor Rugby Football Club, affectionately called the ‘Condors’ is a constituted Incorporated Society, with an active membership of approximately one hundred fulfilling this objective.
The Condor Rugby Football Club is a professional organization, with elected officers, well qualified to ensure all activities are of a high standard. Condors is grateful for the generosity of sponsors and charitable trusts who fund the annual national tournament. Over the years, with endeavours to generate maximum interest, tournament venues have ranged from Christchurch, Wellington, Palmerston North, Taupo, Rotorua, Hamilton and in most recent times, due to logistical considerations, in Auckland.
Early on, Condors committed to Secondary School Sevens, with the reason being many young men were initially involved in rugby at school, but then opted out of the game before they left school. Condors perceived this was to either follow other options or were removed from the game by parents concerned at the perceived, growing physicality of the 15-a-side game. A key objective of the Condors was to retain players within the Rugby fraternity by offering sevens as an alternative to the 15-aside game. In more recent years, Condors has embraced the growth and opportunity in the women’s game with equal opportunity to play provided to schoolgirls.
With the approval of the School Sport NZ and New Zealand Rugby, Condors annually hosts the Condor Sevens National Secondary School Finals. A boys and girls tournament team is selected with players gaining an automatic nomination for the NZ Condors Teams that compete at the World Schools Tournament in December. Players receive an official Condors team photograph as confirmation of selection into the Condors Tournament Team and NZ Condors Sevens Teams.
The Condors ultimate objective is to have this Condor NZ Sevens team play an overseas Secondary Schools Sevens representative team, ideally as a curtain raiser to a Test Match.
Recent estimates indicate Condors tournaments have had over 30,000 young men and women compete. This creates opportunities for participants to further their rugby careers through the game of Sevens and has provided a pathway for many into the 15-a-side game also.
With Sevens featured at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and New Zealand’s continuing success on the IRB Sevens circuit, the Condor Rugby Football Club continues to provide an outlet for further growth in the future.
The Competition
The National Secondary Schools Rugby Sevens Finals Competition has been running for over 30 years and has grown from 16 teams in 2013 to 112 teams in 2020. Traditionally held in Auckland although has been held throughout NZ, the tournament is held over four days across four divisions (Open and U15, boys and girls). The U15 tournament is invitational and the Opens is a qualification based to ensure national-wide representation. The Opens event is broadcast live on Sky Sport over two days and 291 games streamed live over the four days. The Condors was established in 1986.
The annual rugby sevens tournament for New Zealand boy’s and girls secondary schools teams. The CONDOR National Secondary Schools Sevens sees the best teams in the country compete over two days for the respective boy’s and girl’s championship titles. The journey to the CONDOR Sevens begins as early as March each year when the Secondary Schools Sevens Qualification Series kick-off. Top nine boy's and top seven girl's teams from the Blues, 10 boy's and 8 girl's from the Chiefs region, 8 boy's and 5 girl's from the Hurricanes Region make up the teams from the North Island. The South Island will see the top two boy's and top two girl's from the Highlanders region and from the Crusaders Qualification Tournament, 3 boy's and 2 girl's teams. There are 17 Regional Qualification Tournaments which makes the pathway to the Condors a truely national tournament and highly sought after Secondary Schools NZ Title.
