Where Is The Love?

This is a Special Report!

Lets just get this off our chests now shall we, OTAGO OTAGO OTAGO ( said with a disappointed shaking of the head for effect.  How on earth did it come to this? I mean, really?

Let’s make it nice and simple for all of us who didn’t make above 7 year olds Math.  You can’t spend more than you earn!  Oh but you can I hear you say, and yes this is true, for a few months at least, or until what you have saved is gone.  Otherwise forget it, it’s not sustainable.  It doesn’t work.  You become broke.  You owe people, in this case a lot.  It’s doesn’t work, did I say that one already?  Is that clear enough for everyone, including those members and a lot of former members of the Otago Rugby Football Union Board?

I can appreciate they lost money on the sale of Carisbrook (to the tune of $1.2 NZD), their former home ground for those of you who don’t know, and yes sometimes our spending can get away on us a little.  But really, $2.35m????  For example, how did the person who figured out that the floodlights that were being leased over a 30-year term and not actually used not manage to say anything so that some kind of an arrangement could be met?

Waikato, Southland, Tasman, Canterbury (predominantly due to the devastating earthquakes), have all found themselves in financial hot water over the last couple of years and had to borrow money from the NZRU in order to pay off their reckless expenditure, and Otago seems to be the latest, albeit to a much greater degree.  This is where it also gets a bit tricky as the NZRU has said that it will refuse to stump up the cash, a decision which I find staggering.  But more on that later.

How is it that smaller unions such as Manawatu, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay, even Northland and North Harbour have managed to keep their heads above water while everyone else goes on spending like everyday there is a Boxing day Sale? 

Now this little issue of the NZRU suggesting they aren’t in the mood to pay.  I am very confused about; I mean I can kind of see their point.  Yes they hand cash out to every union every year to help build, maintain and grow community rugby and part of this goes towards the local ITM Cup and Heartland Championship teams, and yes they have loaned the ORFU over $200 000 in the last two months which they don’t believe they will see back so they keep telling us.  Good on you NZRU I say.  But hang on; are you trying to tell me that the NZRU doesn’t have $2.5m NZD by which they could completely clear Otago’s debt with?  I mean they have loaned Waikato $1.5m over the last two years.  Once they have cleared Otago’s debt they could then appoint their own independent directors, CEO, CFO and appoint an entirely new board, one with some fiscal aptitude would be a start.  They could impose all sorts of rules about player expenditure, board salaries, what gets spent on community rugby, and have monthly reviews if that is what it takes to get the province back on track.  Now I am not suggesting a loan type situation such as the deal between the NZRU and the Waikato Rugby Union, as in this case I don’t believe Otago would be able to realistically pay it back in the anywhere near future.  But why doesn’t the NZRU put together a package to clear the debt.  The ORFU is under the guidance and guardianship of the NZRU is it not?  If nothing else by the fact that the NZRU represents the best governance of the game for all us who care about rugby in New Zealand.  I see the NZRU in this situation as the parent and the ORFU as the snot nosed little brat that has gone astray.  Now as the parent in this situation would you not want to make amends for your child, even if it does come at a financial cost if it was within your means to do so?  Then, send the little shit Military school for a kick up the arse to sort himself out, lets say in this case, appointing new management.  Tough love yes, but some love is better than no love.  C’mon NZRU, in the words of the Black Eyed Peas, Where is the Love??!!

I can’t understand the NZRU’s burying of their head in the sand on this one.  For the good of the game, rugby needs to have representation in the Otago region, and the NZRU is in a position to ensure that continues to be the case.  It’s time to pull finger and spend some of those precious dollars that have been earned by the All Blacks being the most commanding team in world rugby and then invested in offshore money market accounts.  After all isn’t this why we save?  So that when something goes wrong we have the means by which to cover ourselves?

I do have one more issue here, and that is with Laurie Mains.  This is a man that I have always held in very high regard and someone that I felt was very harshly treated by the NZRU, when, having built an incredible team had it taken away from him by his bosses and replaced by John Hart.  He seems to talk a great deal of sense normally on matters rugby does old mate Laurie.  However he resigned from the ORFU board two weeks ago.  Now I’m no rocket scientist but I’d be very surprised if the ORFU has gotten itself so heavily debt laden in the last two weeks.  Now dear old Laurie has offered his services to help raise the funds to ensure that Otago remains on the field, not only this year but in the future also.  This is a noble and commendable gesture indeed.  However if he was part of the board that has helped run the ORFU into liquidation during a tenure of God only knows how many years, how on earth does he now see himself as one of the right men to bring Otago back to the light?

You might be able to tell I’m a touch frustrated by this issue, lets wait and see what happens come Friday 4pm NZ Time to see if a resolution can be found.

Lets hope so and remember, Keep going balls to the wall!