In a statement released yesterday, Rugby Southland said a $480,000 blow-out was unacceptable but was caused by a reduction in grants and an inability to cut costs.
It was revealed last last month Southland was set to record an annual loss of more than $400,000.
Clark, the chief executive of Rugby Southland for 12 years until May last year, said he worked as hard as possible for the union.
"I have done as much as I can to help them and to help generate revenue. People can read into it what they want to but I can put my hand on my heart and say I did all I could for that organisation," Clark said.
He said the Rugby Southland budget was not overly optimistic and a lot of people had agreed to it, so they must have been confident of meeting targets.
As with any sporting organisation, budgeting was difficult, as the budget was set well before the revenue came in.
The Highlanders had set a conservative budget and had two sources of income - sponsorship and ticket sales.
Southland set last year's budget shortly after winning the Ranfurly Shield late in 2009 and chairman Owen Shaw said in the end, it probably was too optimistic.
The union had a players' budget of $2 million but when revenue came up short it did not have the ability to reduce player payments.
Gates were not as high as anticipated and grants and donations were $432,000 less than budgeted. The $480,000 deficit was unacceptable but reports of a $100,000 alcohol bill for the team was wrong because the figure included sales of alcohol at Rugby Park during games.
The union had hoped to hold the Ranfurly Shield through the season and host an ITM Cup semifinal but neither eventuated and the losses mounted.
Shaw said player costs should come down but it was a challenging environment.
Southland was the smallest province in the ITM Cup and the alternative to not funding the team was to consign the Stags to Heartland rugby, Shaw said.
Criticism of Clark was unfair and Clark had always acted with total professionalism, he said.
The board had been encouraged by support received since the union's financial woes were made public.
If the union dropped down to the Heartland Championship, it would have a massive impact.
"Valuable pathways for our aspiring young Southlanders would cease and force them to leave this great province to achieve their dreams," he said.
"The Stags are as iconic as oysters when it comes to Southland and I believe that's worth protecting."
