ORFU

The cash-strapped Otago Rugby Football Union intends to slash its future player wage bill - which was $1.1 million last year - by $400,000, chairman Wayne Graham revealed yesterday.

Doom and gloom in sport used to refer to Rugby World Cup droughts, or being bowled out for 26. Now it is more likely to refer to balance sheets and bad debts. Beginning our series examining the state of professional sport, sports editor Hayden Meikle gives an overview of the issues to debate.

The professional rugby era has not been kind to New Zealand.

Jeremy Curragh says the Otago Rugby Football Union needs to raise revenue and get the professional side of the game to turn a profit.

The Otago Rugby Football Union has been bailed out of its financial crisis by the New Zealand Rugby Union, with a loan and the appointment of a change manager.

As the Otago Rugby Football Union continues to struggle to balance its books, rugby writer Steve Hepburn looks at how it got there and finds it is not alone.

The $1.2 million debt incurred by the Otago Rugby Football Union when it sold Carisbrook more than two years ago is now weighing heavily on union finances, board deputy chairman Laurie Mains says.

Otago Rugby Football Union chairman Wayne Graham admits the union's financial situation is "tender" but a full picture will not be known for another couple of weeks.

A "premature" press release from the Otago Rugby Football Union is behind controversy and "conspiracy theories" about Dunedin Venues Management Ltd's dalliance with the business of running rugby, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull says.

The Otago Rugby Football Union will drop from a high of 36 staff in 2006 to a small core group next year, and move from Carisbrook to an office at Forsyth Barr Stadium, as its non-rugby responsibilities go to Dunedin Venues Management Ltd.