Air New Zealand Cup
The ITM Cup is the highest level of New Zealand domestic professional rugby union competition, contested annually from late August to early November. It was founded in 2006 with 14 teams, after the National Provincial Championship (NPC) was split into this professional competition and the amateur Heartland Championship competition. Managed by the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU), the ITM Cup was named in 2010 for lead sponsor ITM, the trading name of Independent Timber Merchants Co-operative Ltd., a New Zealand building supplies retailer. The competition was originally sponsored by Air New Zealand, and from 2006 to 2009 was called the "Air New Zealand Cup".
Read more about Air New Zealand Cup: History, Current Teams, Champions, Ranfurly Shield, Squads, Broadcasting Rights, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words air, zealand and/or cup:
“Hast not thy share? On winged feet,
Lo! it rushes thee to meet;
And all that Nature made thy own,
Floating in air or pent in stone,
Will rive the hills and swim the sea,
And, like thy shadow, follow thee.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Teasing is universal. Anthropologists have found the same fundamental patterns of teasing among New Zealand aborigine children and inner-city kids on the playgrounds of Philadelphia.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“If you desire to drain to the dregs the fullest cup of scorn and hatred that a fellow human being can pour out for you, let a young mother hear you call dear baby “it.””
—Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927)