The executive summary of a report into Rugby Southland written by change manager Stuart Heal, assisted by former Bay of Plenty chief executive Jeremy Curragh, was released yesterday.
The report looked into the financial situation of Rugby Southland and options for clearing its debts. Only the executive summary was released by Rugby Southland.
Clark was the chief executive at the organisation for more than 10 years before leaving in May last year for a three month posting as projects manager at the Highlanders.
He was then appointed general manager of the Highlanders in October.
Clark declined to comment yesterday, saying he had not seen the report.
The summary said all reports to date highlighted the poor fiscal management and systems in place in the organisation.
There was a generous level of payment to players and the board was not fully aware of what was being spent on players.
Rugby Southland reported an unaudited loss of $477,000 for last year and was forecasting a loss of $359,000 for this year. Current player contracts would be met.
Budgets needed to be tightened, the report said, and previous budgets had been overly optimistic. Financial reporting to the board had been inconsistent and often incomplete.
The Southland rugby board admitted its governance was unsatisfactory.
Other issues highlighted included. -
• Spending 54% of revenue in supporting the professional team, where the national average was 40-45%.
• The player recruitment process was too loose.
• The salary cap for the ITM Cup had to come down.
When asked for comment, Highlanders chairman Ross Laidlaw said he had not had any contact with Rugby Southland or the change managers.
"So I can't comment on any of that. All I know is what everyone else knows and what has been in the newspapers," he said.
Laidlaw confirmed he had talked to Clark about the Rugby Southland situation but he was not going to divulge what was discussed.
"But I have every confidence in the performance of Roger Clark in the Highlanders. The Highlanders have no concerns over what Roger is doing," Laidlaw said.
He declined further comment.
Southland coach David Henderson has been appointed to the new position of director of rugby for Rugby Southland.
The change managers also believed the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin would make it increasingly difficult to attract Highlanders' games to Invercargill without some commitment from Invercargill City Council to assist in hosting such events.
The Invercargill City Council was also criticised for not giving Rugby Southland support for three World Cup games in the city in September.
