KEY POINTS:
Marlborough, once a powerhouse union, are in danger of becoming the unwanted child of New Zealand rugby.
Their demise is a sad tale of petulance, pettiness and short-sightedness. By all accounts, a few of the sub-union board members started simmering with resentment at the way their marriage with Nelson Bays was heading.
The Tasman alliance, as seen through their eyes, was all fine and dandy for Nelson Bays but failed to tick the right boxes for Marlborough. Their biggest gripe was that Marlborough players were not getting a fair go at Tasman - the Makos were too reliant on Nelson Bays clubs.
Tasman coach Todd Blackadder is indeed from Nelson and played for the province before joining Canterbury. But to suggest he was favouring Nelson players ahead of Marlborough's is playground stuff.
Blackadder is the consummate professional. He's paid to win games and simply picked the players he felt would best achieve that goal.
The other, more legitimate concern in Marlborough, was the sustainability of the Tasman business model. The alliance has not prospered financially and this year, Lansdowne Park in Blenheim had to be sold to the Marlborough District Council to offset interest payments on debt.
Tasman also had to take a $340,000 loan from the New Zealand Rugby Union last month to meet their operational costs for the remainder of this season.
The point has been reached where Marlborough have said they want to terminate the marriage. The sub-union has given the Makos a month to come up with a compelling and credible business plan.
If the Makos fail to do that, Marlborough will dissolve the marriage and Tasman will lose their place in the Air New Zealand Cup. Nelson Bays and Marlborough will both have to be placed back into the Heartland Championship and that is when tension will rise to boiling point.
The thing is, the Heartland Championship is a happy place right now and not one of the unions in that competition wants to see Marlborough and Nelson Bays come down. They really don't want change.
Wairarapa Bush chief executive Phil Taylor, says: "The old saying is that if something ain't broke, don't fix it. It [the demotion of Marlborough] would change things completely.
"There is a very big difference between an amateur team and a professional team. We have 12 teams in a good competition. Until we are told that is no longer going to be the case we will take a very pragmatic approach."
What troubles the Heartland unions is that it has taken some time to arrive at the point of contentment and now they are there, why should they give it up?
Pre-2006, when the provincial championship was in three divisions, the middle tier could have saved a whole lot of time and trouble if they had just cut straight to the chase each year and invited Hawke's Bay and Nelson Bays into the final.
Those two unions were semi-professional and far too strong for the rest of the competition.
Now the Heartland has drama. Now it is unpredictable. Now every union feels they have a fair chance of winning games. Most importantly, now there is greater community engagement in both club and provincial rugby.
Taylor says that the club finals day in Wairarapa was watched by almost 4000 people - well up on previous years - and South Canterbury's chief executive Ian Hegarty says a similar surge in interest has been noted in Timaru.
Playing numbers are up across the country and Heartland rugby is in good health. The arrival of heavyweights will ruin everything.
"To give some perspective," says West Coast chief executive Mike Connors, "we played Nelson Bays in a pre-season game and we lost by a 40-point margin. I'm sure that if either of Marlborough or Nelson Bays came down, they would be able to beat most teams by at least a 25-point margin.
"The other thing is we have a 12-team competition now so how would we operate with 14 teams? I don't think the players would be keen to see another two weeks added as it is already hard enough for them to get time off work.
"We just have to accept our fate, though."
The dilemma for the NZRU is that they didn't force unpopular decisions upon the Air New Zealand Cup unions. The recommendation to demote Northland and Tasman was rejected after both unions made passionate appeals.
So what if Tasman is split - what fate then awaits Marlborough and Nelson Bays? Will the Heartland unions just have to accept their fate as Connors expects? Or will the NZRU intervene and find a solution that protects the hard-earned integrity of the competition?
Either way, right now, Marlborough officials are unlikely to win any popularity contests. Even their own players have written an open letter pleading for the board to resolve their differences and persevere with the Tasman alliance.
The board might have their concerns about staying in the marriage, but it looks a far easier route than divorce.
