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The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union could shed up to 11 staff jobs in the face of a bleak economic forecast and the crisis consuming the sport nationally.
BOPRU chairman Bruce Cameron presented a restructuring proposal to all union staff this week, although he's adamant his board
will look at every alternative. But with rugby unions haemorrhaging money around the country, Cameron and his new board have spent the past month looking at ways of cutting costs, and redundancies appear near the top of the list.
"The board is determined to meet our financial objectives of balancing the books and also meet the obligations to outstanding creditors from 2007," Cameron said. "We've got a restructuring proposal that has been discussed with the staff and should it be established, there will be a number of positions that will be affected, but it's important to stress it's only one of a few options the board is looking at to reduce its overheads.
"It's just commercial reality of running rugby in the Bay of Plenty and I'd suspect there are a lot of employers out there looking at similar options to us."
The union lists 25 staff on its website, although that includes several part-time positions, coaches and rugby development officers.
Staffing numbers soared after the Ranfurly Shield win four years ago, amid buoyant economic times.
A number of positions have been partially funded by the NZRU and gaming funding, but Cameron explained the union was at the mercy of increasing costs.
"In these times of high overheads, particularly interest rates and fuel, the union is having to subsidise a lot of the overheads out of cash reserves."
Cameron has taken a hands-on role since taking over as chairman a month ago, and his board appointed Tauranga accountant Jeremy Curragh as interim chief executive for three months starting this week.
Curragh follows on from NZRU-appointed statutory manager Dennis Pickup, who took over the day-to-day running in February after the union announced a $760,000 loss. Pickup subsequently uncovered another $156,000 deficit that should have been included in that figure.
Operating expenses for the union last year skyrocketed to nearly $4.4 million.
Several sources close to the union feared the Steamers wouldn't be able to meet all of its Air New Zealand Cup commitments this year without immediate belt-tightening.
Bay of Plenty isn't alone: Tasman faced debts of nearly $4 million and had to pull out of a pre-season match with Southland because they couldn't afford to travel, while Otago posted a $1.5 million loss and Northland was $350,000 in the red.
Even Auckland, who secured the Air New Zealand Cup and the Ranfurly Shield, has forecast a $1 million shortfall. That suggests to Cameron that Bay of Plenty must not base their solution on other unions.
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES