Taradale RSA: Change or die, it's simple

Taradale RSA (pictured) is onto its third president in less than two months.

Down at the Taradale RSA the battle lines have been drawn.

In one camp, the progressives who believe survival is only possible if a merger with the Taradale Club goes ahead.

Except in the other camp, are those who find the idea unpalatable, and won't even entertain the idea of the RSA looking into it.

You'd be forgiven for thinking the Taradale Club was the enemy, but the merge proposal came from the RSA.

It's turned the RSA executive on its head - the RSA now has its third president in just over a month.

In December, president Peter Grant resigned after the first meeting held to discuss the merge.

Mike Perreau took over - he quit this week after a month in the hot seat.

Perreau had been unimpressed with what he described as "orchestrated raucous behaviour" at a second meeting.

The executive was hopeful members might vote to explore due diligence over the merge. They didn't.

Perreau declined to elaborate on the behaviour observation, but he was clearly unimpressed with the inability of RSA members to look outside their own bubbles and consider the RSA's future.

New president Brayden Coldicutt is keen to stress the fact he is "acting", the vice-president who has stepped up after Perreau's resignation.

He is 23 - if a 23-year-old can't bring a fresh perspective to an organisation whose core membership is declining because they are dying, then who can?

What now then?

One of the first things that the RSA might like to consider, is that the ructions around its future and merger proposal are normal.

Merging two clubs is a fraught business. Some people just don't like change. Others will have an emotional attachment that they will doggedly remain loyal to.

Some will be suspicious, what does one club stand to gain over the other? There are power games - what does one person stand to gain over the other?

With that comes personality clashes, communication mix-ups, baseless, false, silly accusations.

And lots of emotion. Lots. Because some will see a merger as a funeral, not the birth of something new.

And that means exasperation from those who see themselves as visionaries who know the future is bleak.

And the irony of people on both sides of the debate walking away from the very club they love and want to survive.

None of these observations, by the way, come from the Taradale skirmish. They come from sitting on a negotiating committee set up to merge two sports clubs.

At one point the merger was under threat because the ladies toilet was too small. Real, valid concerns that had to be worked through.

Within the change process there is something called a "burning platform". The reality is the RSA is standing on one.

Unless they step off and move forward, they will die. It is that simple.