News The long game: why we back Canterbury school sport 02/09/26 Four school finals, two big crowds, and the reason a community-owned electricity infrastructure company puts its name on Canterbury secondary school sport. That simple fact is the reason our name has been on Canterbury’s secondary school hockey and football for years now. Long after the crews who built today’s network have hung up their tools, it’ll be this generation keeping the region connected. Yes, the signage helps a little bit. But backing them while they’re young is backing the people who’ll do our job next. Every winter that support comes down to a handful of nights under lights, when four 1st XIs who’ve played since April get one game to settle it. The nights themselves This year those finals packed out. More than 800 people filled each hockey final at Ngā Puna Wai. English Park drew over 1,200 for the football under lights, and by all accounts one of the most engaged crowds Mainland Football has seen this year. For the Year 13s playing their last game in a school shirt, it was the send-off they’ll still talk about in ten years. Congratulations to the 2026 champions: Christchurch Girls’ High School and Cashmere High School on the football, St Margaret’s College and Timaru Boys’ High School on the hockey. Every side earned their place on the big ground. We don’t make this magic ourselves. Sport Canterbury, Canterbury Hockey and Mainland Football do the mahi behind the scenes that lets us back these teams properly, and the schools and coaches get the kids there ready to play. Why it matters Here’s the part we’re happy to be upfront about. There’s a motive, and it’s a good one. We’ve been keeping the lights on in Canterbury in one form or another since 1903. The names have changed over the decades, but the job hasn’t: build and maintain the infrastructure this region runs on. That work only continues if the next generation of line mechanics, engineers, project managers, and technicians comes through behind us. Some of the players on the turf this year will be the ones keeping Canterbury connected in 2050. There’s a second reason, and it matters just as much. Connetics is community-owned. Through the Orion Group, we belong to the people of Canterbury. Our crews live in these suburbs. Their kids go to these schools. When we put something back into local sport, we’re returning value to the community that owns us, in the place our people call home. That’s the thinking: a community-owned business investing in the community that owns it. “Connetics plays a significant role in helping Canterbury Hockey deliver a high-quality Premier secondary school competition. Their sponsorship helps create opportunities for schools and players to compete at the highest level, while providing an environment where young athletes can experience quality competition, perform in front of large crowds and build memories that will stay with them long after the season finishes.” – Sam Grimshaw, Canterbury Hockey Part of something bigger Backing school sport is one thread of how we try to be a good business to have in the neighbourhood. It sits alongside the apprenticeships and training we run, our work getting young women onto the tools through Girls with Hi-Vis, and the local partnerships we back across Canterbury. We build critical infrastructure, and the responsibility that comes with that doesn’t stop at the edge of the worksite. Not every kid who played their heart out this year will end up in our industry. But some will. And hopefully, the ones who don’t will remember that the company powering their city showed up for them when it counted. See yourself in this work? We’re always after good people, from apprentices learning the trade to engineers designing the network. Take a look at where you could fit. Connetics Careers
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