New Zealand Rugby League boss Greg Peters has joined the chorus of those urging the Government to ease crowd restrictions.
He says it'll be crucial to see the Kiwis and Kiwi Ferns back in action on home soil, after more than two years without any internationals on New Zealand soil.
"It's been a pretty tough couple of years," Peters tells Newshub.
The tough times are almost over, with international tourists allowed to enter the country from next month.
But according to New Zealand Rugby League, that only solves half the problem.
"We're determined the Kiwis and Kiwi Ferns will be playing, one way or another, in June," Peters adds.
"But the locality of that by the ability to have full crowds."
Because without full crowds it becomes an expensive exercise.
Under the current COVID protection framework, Cricket Women's World Cup matches are at 20 percent capacity, while Super Rugby Pacific are making do with pods of 100.
And the Government's not giving too much away as to when we can see these scenes again.
"We'll be making our announcements about that just as soon as we can," says Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson.
But soon can't come soon enough.
"I feel for the fans back home that haven't been able to watch us or watch a live game for a while," says NZ Warriors utility Jazz Tevaga.
"Especially for our kids coming through."
"We want the Kiwis and the Kiwi Ferns in front of their home fans in New Zealand - not offshore," adds Peters.
And offshore is exactly where they'll end up if we can't have seas of fans filling out our stadiums again.
