Rugby: Air NZ Cup under the spotlight once again

NZRU chief executive Steve Tew is meeting with all the provincial unions to discuss the structure of the Air NZ Cup. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Winds of change are expected to sweep through provincial rugby, with the top 14 unions holding a workshop next week to consider the structure of the Air New Zealand Cup from 2010.

The meeting, at the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) offices in Wellington on May 21 and 22, was aimed at ensuring the future of the competition.

The meeting would consider the format, number of teams, promotion/relegation and the salary cap and the impacts of any change to the number of teams.

Costs and the level of funding required to support the competition and participating provincial unions would be considered as well as the consequence of poor financial performance.

The structure of the competition for 2011, when the World Cup would be staged in New Zealand during the domestic competition window, would also be discussed.

The chairmen and chief executives of all 14 unions have been invited, along with the chief executive of the players' association, representatives of the Heartland Championship unions, and the chairman and NZRU chief executive, Steve Tew.

The meeting was about building on the consensus reached at the provincial union forum held in March last year, Tew said.

It also reflected the increasing financial pressure that the existing competition structure and the wider economic environment was placing on provincial unions.

"There has been a growing realisation that the current competition structure is not financially sustainable and is having an adverse effect on our provincial unions," Tew said.

"Resolving these challenges will be difficult, but it is vital that we address them."

It was timely to bring discussion forward to find a structure that would last longer than the two or three years "we have had in recent times".

Costs for the unions were beginning to show on balance sheets.

"It is a money issue - the economic climate is certainly not helping and maybe it's brought it to a head quicker than otherwise," Tew said.

Bay of Plenty chairman Bruce Cameron said the meeting was a step closer to resolving the competition's structure.

"Once the competition format is agreed upon we will then be able to address other critical issues facing provincial rugby."

Tew said a shorter Air NZ Cup season was one of the things to be discussed and whether or not it should be reduced from the current 14 teams would be "upfront on the agenda".

"We might well end up with a different format and number of teams but we are not pre-empting any of possible outcomes.

"This season will go ahead. Whether we can make any changes for 2010 is another discussion point for next week."

Any recommendations from the workshop will be considered by the NZRU board, which will make the final decisions.

Change to the Air NZ Cup could also have an impact on the Heartland championship but those would be discussed with Heartland unions before any decisions are taken.

The two-tier national competitions of Air NZ Cup and Heartland championship started in 2006.

- NZPA