As fewer players play the game after high school, the pressure to get players to come and play for a club is increasing.
This is leading to players shifting from club to club in the Dunedin competition, but new protocols are set to be put in place to try to make it more transparent and end players playing clubs off against each other and clubs poaching players.
Metropolitan council of rugby clubs chairman Paul Dwyer said he was concerned to hear of players moving from club to club — not always for the right reason.
"We want to get to a situation that when a player is changing clubs they are changing for the right reasons," he said.
"If a player is changing clubs so he can see a pathway to the premier side, then he should be able to change. But that is not always the case."
He hoped to get protocols put in place around what clubs could and could not do by the start of next season. The protocols were being worked on by the council over the next couple of months.
It was hard to prove the poaching of players and players could still do what they wanted, but clubs needed to stick together and abide by a set of rules.
Most clubs want to have a strong side in the premier colts team which feeds into the top premier teams. With tertiary students coming from out of town providing the bulk of the players, there was fierce competition between clubs to get the players from outside Dunedin to come to play for them.
Dwyer said he had heard unsubstantiated reports of what some players were being promised by some clubs, which was out of control, and throwing money at players never ended in success.
Clubs should be bringing players to clubs to improve their rugby, enjoy the game and play to their full potential.
Many clubs had connections with schools in the North Island and relied on word of mouth to get players to the clubs.
Competition between clubs had increased over the past few years and appeared to be continuing for next season.
