The controversial decision to play club rugby on the Thursdays before Easter and Anzac Day was approved by the majority of Dunedin clubs.
Metropolitan Rugby Council match committee chairman Mike Reggett told the Otago Daily Times it was a club decision.
Four clubs - Southern, Pirates, Alhambra-Union and Harbour - voted against the proposal but the majority of clubs backed the request by Otago coaches Tony Brown and Phil Young to start club rugby early and end it on July 26.
Since 2011, clubs have played two full rounds of home and away games before the semifinals and final, and clubs wanted the same this year.
''The clubs want two full rounds of club rugby,'' Reggett said.
When club delegates met at the end of last year, they agreed to start the premier competition on March 29, ending on August 2.
''But when Tony Brown came back from Japan, he and Phil Young said that if this was the case, representative players would not be able to play in the final,'' Reggett said.
Brown wanted representative players to play in warm-up games before the ITM Cup started.
The club delegates met again and agreed to start the premier competition a week earlier, on March 22, play the two Thursday rounds, and end the competition on July 26.
''We played games on the Thursday before Anzac Day to give players a three-day recovery before the Sunday game,'' Reggett said.
The changes met the needs of the Otago coach and selectors and were approved by the clubs.
The original club draw was made in November, using the matrix system developed by the New Zealand Rugby Union.
Reggett, who has been chairman of the match committee for the last three years, said the Saturday draw used to be decided each week.
''But clubs wanted to know the whole draw in advance, to plan their year,'' he said.
The decision to play major trophy games like the Cavanagh Trophy and the Scoles Memorial on the Thursday before Easter was not popular.
''We looked at switching it to the second round, but this would have meant that University A would only have one home game in five rounds during the first round, and Southern one home game in five rounds in the second round,'' Reggett said.
The match committee looked at playing the Cavanagh Trophy at the University Oval but it was not ready after the cricket season and Forsyth Barr Stadium was not available.
''Clubs should be indebted to Tony Brown and Phil Young for making rep players available for the grass roots of the game, which is club rugby,'' Reggett said.
