Ultimate insult for rugby fans

By CHRIS DANIELS consumer reporter

The fulltime whistle has blown for Ultimate Rugby, leaving hundreds of fans on the losing team.

Liquidators of Ultimate Rugby, a game in which Super 12 fans were able to pick their dream teams and win big money in the process, have had no luck selling the business, which collapsed in June owing more than $1 million.

More than 500 angry rugby fans across New Zealand have been left out of pocket and frustrated in their attempts to get prizemoney.

One player is owned $35,000 in winnings and another, $15,000 by the defunct game, fully owned by Hong Kong-based E-New Media.

KPMG liquidator Kerryn Downey said attempts to sell the business had failed, and apart from legal action that may be taken against an unnamed business, players stood little chance of getting their winnings.

Ultimate Rugby was heavily promoted in the weeks leading up to the start of rugby's Super 12 competition.

Rugby Union lawyers are also chasing money from Ultimate Rugby, which owes a "significant amount" in royalties.

Ultimate Rugby was a licensee of the Rugby Union, which meant it was allowed to use official Super 12 logos in its advertising.

Auckland man Robert Bruce, who, with two friends is owed $3800 from Ultimate Rugby, is investigating what legal action can be taken against E-New Media.

"The game was good, the concept was brilliant," he said.

He hoped the game could be relaunched, but any new company would have to "go to extraordinary lengths" to guarantee winnings, by keeping prizemoney in a fund managed by a third party.

Mr Bruce said E-New Media had between $3 million and $4 million invested in other New Zealand companies, so attempts could be made to recoup their losses through these organisations.

A Waikato man, who spent more than $400 transferring players during the final stages of the game and is owed $7000 in winnings, said the use of Rugby Union logos encouraged him to assume it was legitimate.

"That made it all kosher to me," he said. "I would not have entered it if it didn't have those logos.

A union spokeswoman said Ultimate Rugby had slipped through its "rigorous checks" of all licensees.

E-New Media specialises in telecommunications and internet business and had sales of $64 million last year.

A developer of the game, Simon Spence, a former Ultimate Rugby director, has been scathing about the failure of E-New Media to fulfil its commitments.

In the days leading up to the liquidation of Ultimate Rugby, Mr Spence said he feared E-New Media would just close it down and leave winners without their money.

It had been continuously promising to send the money for prizes, but had never intended to keep the game going.