Bay of Plenty Rugby Union and new sub-unions were formed, the union achieved its first national representation when A.L. McLean was selected for the All Blacks in 1921. McLean was the first of 22 men who have represented New Zealand while wearing the blue and gold hoops, in addition to the many players who received their rugby education in the Bay of Plenty before achieving higher honours elsewhere. As the heartland of Maori rugby the region has produced a large number of Māori All Blacks, while age group and secondary school teams from throughout the union have also established a long and successful heritage that
Radio Bay of Plenty is also a Saturday Morning Sports Preview programme with Tony Kirby. The network carries and contributes to national news bulletins produced by NZME Radio through Newstalk ZB. 1XX still operates as a completely local radio station today. One Double X is the emergency broadcaster for much of the Bay of Plenty, with sirens and civil defence services encouraging people to tune into the station for emergency information. In 2013, the station had to respond to a false alarm that prompted several people to listen to station or contact the studio for more information. Bayrock is an album rock format radio