The sun was shining in Lower Hutt where over 140 people took part in the annual Tui Hurricanes Alumni golf tournament, held at Shandon Golf Course on 21 March.
 
Rugby greats and current stars including Christian Cullen, Cory Jane, Beauden Barrett, Brad Shields and Dane Coles took part in the event, which featured a sneak preview of Packaworld’s newest innovation – the world’s first full size, truly portable rugby post.

The Rugby Packapost was on display in front of the 18th hole, a par 3 hole which featured a ‘nearest the pin competition’, with the added challenge for players to fire tee shots through the uprights.

Hurricanes Alumni Board Member, and former Hurricane and Mike Russell says the idea for portable full-sized rugby posts that can be set up in minutes is ‘pretty cool’.
 
“I’m impressed someone has been able to create a full-size rugby post that you can transport around so easily,” Mr Russell says. “I can definitely see the potential for a product like this one to take off, especially in emerging rugby nations without established facilities.”

New Zealand signage and visual solutions company OneSource has been announced as a distributor for Packasign in New Zealand.

Produced by Packaworld, Packasign is an innovative signage solution which can double as a field surround. It protects sportspeople from injury, providing a soft surface that springs back into shape. It has featured at events such as the launch of Blind Football New Zealand.

OneSource Director Bernard Riley said Packasign provides a new, cost-effective advertising solution for events ranging from high-performance sport to school sports days and community events.

Friday's launch of New Zealand Blind Football in Auckland was the first event of its kind internationally to use inflatable advertising hoardings and goals.

These rigid inflatable products, Packasign and Packagoal, are produced by New Zealand sporting products supplier Packaworld as safe, portable alternatives to conventional goals and advertising hoardings composed from wood and steel.

Blind football is played in an enclosed arena, with a ball that emits an audible noise so blindfolded low-vision footballers can locate it. 

An inflatable advertising hoarding designed in New Zealand could significantly reduce the risk of injury at sports matches, says Peter Roberts, CEO of inflatable sporting products company Packaworld International Limited.

Mr Roberts said the risks posed by rigid wood and steel advertising hoardings were brought into the spotlight once more during the Warriors win over the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in Wellington on the weekend.

Kerrod Holland and Tui Lolohea collided with rigid signage placed metres from the scoring zone. Holland landed awkwardly after a backflip, and was lucky to escape injury despite showing some tenderness to his ankle.

High winds caused a section of the advertising boards to blow onto the KC Stadium pitch during Hull City's Premier League clash against Arsenal on Sunday afternoon. 

The boards floated onto the pitch leaving the likes of Santi Cazorla and George Boyd to quickly drag them off the pitch in order to get the game back underway.

Hull manager Steve Bruce managed to see the funny side despite almost being swept away by one of the boards just five minutes into the game.

For more photo's and see video of the event visit facebook page and you tube.

It was congratulations to competitive team 'KBT' and social team 'Rewa's Finest' for winning the Beach Soccer Championships held at Mission Bay. 

The crowds were out in their hundreds to see over 40 teams, soak up the sun and admire the skills on display.  Also on display, for the first time at the tournament, were Packasigns.  An innovative inflatable advertising hoarding from the Packaworld stable.

"Whilst we've used Packagoals for our tournaments it was the first time I'd seen the sign system. They're pretty good and just like the goals are easy to pack away and transport." said tournament organiser Damien Hochberg.

Utilisation of an inflatable advertising hoarding developed by New Zealand company Packaworld would prevent any recurrence of the sickening injuries suffered by Australian Rugby League player Luke Lewis in the weekend.

Lewis was knocked unconscious and dislocated his shoulder -- the latter requiring 20 minutes to reset -- when sliding over the dead-ball line and into a traditional solid advertising hoarding in the Kangaroos’ World Cup fixture against Fiji at Langtree Park (St Helens, England).

Citing Lewis’ own comments -- “I probably should have thought about it more ... you don't really think about it, you are sort of in the zone at the time” -- Packaworld director Pete Roberts is calling for sports administrators to address an obvious danger to player safety.

It took 20 minutes to put Luke Lewis' dislocated left shoulder back in place after a horrific collision with an advertising hoarding cruelly ended his World Cup dreams.

In the wake of the sickening injury that ended Luke Lewis' campaign, concerns have been raised over the safety standards of some of the grounds being used in the tournament because of the short in-goal areas and how close they are to the boundary fences.

Lewis is still waiting to finalise exactly when he will be returning to Australia after scans revealed he had suffered tendon damage that would require surgery.

It was sunshine and smiles in Tauranga as one of NZ's  premier sign manufacturers, Textiles Alive Printing NZ, joined forces with Packaworld to be their exclusive manufacturer of Packasign 'Skins'.

Packasign, an inflatable advertising hoarding, is a new concept to meet the ever increasing demand for professional looking advertising space and is revolutionising the way that hoardings are transported and set up.

"We've spent a number of months co-developing the signage system and we're really pleased with the results" said John Heyworth, Textiles Alive's Managing Director. 

It was all fun and frolics down at Wellington waterfront where avid Phoenix fans practised their shooting skills from the banks of the lagoon. The target, a floating Packagoal, proved difficult to hit but those that did scored a ticket for the Phoenixs' opening game of the season v The Brisbane Roar.

The event, run by the ZM Black Thunder team and supported by Phoenix players Jeremy Brockie and Glen Moss , was a great opportunity to test the latest product from the Packaworld stable. 

"This [Packasign] is a pretty cool product," said Cam Bisley, ZM.   

BLOW UP: Packaworld sold 25 of inflatable bocce courts to be used at Asia Pacific Special Olympics.

A Wellington businessman is hoping his revolutionary product for the sport of bocce, world sport's third most participated game, will get the ball rolling on his range of inflatable sports equipment.

Packaworld, a provider of a range of blow-up sporting goods, has recently secured a contract which will see its specially designed inflatable bocce courts used at this year's Asia Pacific Special Olympics.

Bocce is an Italian sport similar to bowls or petanque, and in 2011 about 217,000 Special Olympics athletes participated in bocce events around the world.

"This is one of the best ideas I've seen for a while," said David Le Pelley, manager of the Yacht Research Unit at The University of Auckland, "and we see and test a lot of products here at the facility."

"We wanted to put the Packasigns through their paces," said Packaworld head, Pete Roberts, "and what better place to do it than at one of world's leading research centres for yacht design. We're happy with the results and collected some valuable data which will go into enhancing the design of the product."