Rugby: Southland gets financial bailout

The funding deal is subject to Rugby Southland fulfilling certain conditions deemed necessary to ensure the Union is viable in the future. Photo / Getty Images

Southland rugby has been propped up by a $1.5 million rescue package put together by the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU), the Invercargill Licensing Trust and Community Trust of Southland.

The NZRU has extended a $500,000 loan while the licensing trust and community trust will also each put in the same amount over and above their usual annual grants to Rugby Southland.

The package will clear Rugby Southland's debt and also provide some everyday working capital for the organisation.

The union owes creditors $600,000 which it hopes to clear next month.

"We acknowledge we have made mistakes and are now ensuring we get things right so that Rugby Southland is on a good footing for the future," union chairman Owen Shaw told the Southland Times.

The rescue package wasn't just about bailing out the Stags but was just as much about propping up the amateur game, something that had been probably neglected in the past.

- NZPA