The Bay of Plenty's number one rugby fan, Hori BOP, is ditching his allegiance to the Chiefs Super Rugby franchise in favour of the Highlanders.

The shift comes with a catch though – Hori wants the Highlanders to ditch their plan for a jersey colour change to green, and he is preparing to march in Dunedin in support of this.

'I am going to contact all Bay of Plenty based students in the city and organise a protest march from the Octagon to the stadium,” says Hori.

This coincides with a Bay of Plenty Steamers supporters' trip on a chartered flight to Dunedin and Southland for the final round of the ITM Cup.

Along with the about 85 supporters from the Bay on this trip, Hori, leader of the BOP Mafia rugby supporters club, expects to gain support from Highlanders faithful and a large number of students.

'We are a champion team and students' allegiance is to the brown bottle and any team that is winning rugby,” says Hori, referring to the table topping, undefeated Steamers.

'I reckon we will get 5000 students along to the stadium protesting to get the colours back.”

The protest is also expected to involve a rally in Dunedin's Octagon.

'We are having a rally in the middle of town, which will rival the Wizard's rallies in Cathedral Square (Christchurch), to turn the Highlanders jerseys from puke green to its original colour of blue and yellow with a splash of maroon.”

Hori's motivation for a switch to the Highlanders stems from what he perceives is mistreatment by the Chiefs franchise management of Bay of Plenty rugby.

The Chiefs franchise encompasses the three provincial unions: Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Counties-Manukau.

'The whole reason why we want the colours of the Highlanders turned back to what they should be is because the Chiefs have once again shafted us,” says Hori.

'They have gone outside the region to find the new coach of the Chiefs – but Kevin Schuler, what was wrong with Kevin Schuler – a good Bay of Plenty man.

'What was wrong with him as coach?”

This criticism is in reference to the Chiefs appointing Manawatu coach Dave Rennie as the franchise's head coach for 2012-13.

He is to be supported by All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith, who joins the franchise as assistant coach.

'The rejection of Kevin Schuler as the coach for next year is just the last straw,” says Hori.

'We were unhappy with the number of Bay of Plenty players they have used this year and it happens to us year-after-year-Fozzy-Bear.

'How many players did we have on the field this year?

'Two would start and two on the bench, so four players, but what did we do to the Chiefs last week – we showed Waikato where they sit on the ladder in context to us.

'Absolutely thrashed them, and yet the Chiefs franchise keeps shafting us, and so Hori's had enough.

'Hori is now Hori the Highlander – he is off to the Highlanders and the first thing he is going to do is get rid of the puke green.”

Chiefs management did not return calls to SunLive for comment on their treatment of Bay rugby.

Hori's southern mission on the weekend of August 27-28 is about establishing a southern chapter of the BOP Mafia and also to watch the Steamers win the Ranfurly Shield.

The chartered flight is in need of a sponsor and is seeking 85 Steamers supporters to fly down to Dunedin for the march, to watch Canterbury play Otago at the new stadium, and then head to Invercargill the next day to watch the Steamers play Southland.

Southland holds the Ranfurly Shield at this stage, but must win two defences of it before the Steamers have a turn.

The first of these is on August 13 against North Harbour and the second is against Taranaki on August 24.

Hori is confident the Steamers will win the shield.

'It's like the Crown Jewels of rugby – there's nothing like it in the world,” says Hori.

'You can win the NPC, but if you haven't got the shield, well that's everything.

'It's coming home soon.”

The South Island Steamers supporters trip is a not-for-profit event and is being organised by Shane Kennedy at House of Travel Tauranga.

People interested in going can phone Debra (07) 577 0235 or email: debral@hot.co.nz