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Mid Canterbury province (New Zealand)

Last modified: 2013-06-15 by ian macdonald
Keywords: mid canterbury | rugby |
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Presentation of Mid Canterbury province

The former province of Canterbury (still usually described as a province, but correctly a region - provincial government has not existed in New Zealand for about 140 years) is divided in three for the purposes of many sports, especially ones like rugby, which operates on a regional basis. South Canterbury is centred on the city of Timaru, and stretches from the border with Otago in the south (approximately the Waitaki River) as far north as approximately the Rangitata River. Mid-Canterbury extends north from there to about the Rakaia River - one of the country's widest - and is centred on the large town of Ashburton. The remainder of the province competes under the name Canterbury and - given that it contains the bulk of the population, including the large city of Christchurch - tends to be far higher ranked in most sports.

Mid Canterbury's major economy is based on agriculture, specifically sheep, as well as light industry. Tourism is also important, especially around Mount Hutt skifield. I'm not sure how far inland it stretches (the inner borders of the three subregions are fairly vague, but other important towns in the area include the skiing and agricultural service town of Methven, and the smaller township of Rakaia.

As far as the rugby team is concerned, it is one of the more prominent sides in the Heartland Competition, the second flight of New Zealand's provincial rugby championship.
James Dignan, 23 October 2008

The Mid-Canterbury Rugby Football Union seceded in 1904 from the Canterbury Rugby Football Union in 1904, as Ashburton Country, and adopted its current name in 1927.
Ivan Sache, 23 October 2008


Rugby uniform colours and flag

If I recall correctly their colours are green and yellow.
James Dignan, 6 May 1999

A photograph of the flag of the province, taken by Kirstie Graham on 22 October 2008, is shown in "The Ashburton Guardian", 24 October 2008. The flag has a green background and yellow elements, maybe a few stars, not really visible on the photograph.
Ivan Sache, 23 October 2008

today I turned on the TV and caught the last few minutes of the final of the Heartland Championship (the second flight on NZ provincial rugby), competed between Mid-Canterbury and Wanganui (Wanganui won). There were quite a few flags of different designs, and it seems unlikely that any one of the is the official design of either the Mid-Canterbury provincial rugby team or the Wanganui provincial rugby team. Several of those on display were typical of NZ rugby flags, simply quartered in the two colours of each team.
James Dignan, 25 October 2008