ORFU staff coming and going but numbers steady

Richard Kinley
Richard Kinley
The Otago Rugby Football Union is not boosting its numbers and has one of the smaller staff of provinces around the country.

The union has had a turnover of staff over the past few months with a new coach for the Mitre 10 Cup team, a new player development manager and a new referee education officer.

It is also advertising for a manager for the Mitre 10 Cup team with Grant Hubbard moving on after six years.

Otago Rugby Football Union general manager Richard Kinley said people had just left for other roles and simply been replaced.

The referee education officer role had been temporarily filled by Jim Thompson for about a year as the national union was reviewing the structure of its refereeing programme.

James Doleman had come into the role while Paul Galland had become the player development manager replacing Tim Colling.

Ben Herring was appointed the Mitre 10 coach just before Christmas replacing Cory Brown who has moved to the Highlanders.

A new administrator has also come on board.

Kinley said the union was very mindful of staffing levels and kept a close eye on them.

``We have not added any roles at all. We have one of the smaller staffs of unions of our size who have a similar player base,'' he said.

``We have no plans of hiring more people. We would like to have more roles in supporting community development but that depends on a lot of factors, including funding.''

The union is also seeking nominations for people to sit on its board with the rotation of three members.

Board members Garry Chronican, John Latta and chairman Keith Cooper are all up for re-election. All three have indicated they are keen to stand again.

Cooper has been a board member since 2012 when the union got into financial trouble and almost went into liquidation.

The union is also seeking nominations for the board appointments panel, which interviews aspiring board directors.

Kinley said Herring was likely to name his assistant coaches in the next week or two as he settles in Dunedin and begins his role as Otago coach. He is also the director of rugby at the union.

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