Clubs getting tough on alcohol 

Northland referees say drink driving is ripping the heart out of heartland rugby.

"One still hears blokes say 'we've gotta have the bar because that's what the club exists on.' It's costing everyone way too much both in lives accidents," Marty Albrecht of Northland Referees' Association says.

Northland's rate of alcohol related accidents is double the national average.

Referee Malcolm Langdon is also a firefighter and says he sometimes spends the afternoon on the pitch and the night cutting players out of car smashes.

"It is a problem. The police, fire service and ambulance see it all the time. It's one of the things that hit us badly when we go to these things."

This season, the referees and Northland Health decided to take the safe drinking message to post match functions

Rungomau Bristowe, one of the Pipiwai club's guardian angels, is in charge of getting everyone home safely.

He asks players if they have a sober driver to get them back home.

This weekend, four clubs involved in the pilot project were awarded certificates for achieving goals and Pipiwai celebrated by reopening their bar. It is a 45 minute drive to another team's clubrooms.

The referees hope to expand the scheme to up to 20 Northland sports clubs next season.