Rugby Southland board to resign

The Rugby Southland board are set to step down. Photo / Getty Images

The Rugby Southland board will step down at next month's annual general meeting.

The board will resign after presiding over a financial crisis that needed a $1.5 million rescue programme involving the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU), the Invercargill Licensing Trust (ILT) and Community Trust of Southland (CTS).

At a meeting with stakeholders in Invercargill last night, change manager Stuart Heal announced a raft of changes that Rugby Southland has accepted, the Southland Times reported today.

Heal told the meeting the union had been guilty of "poor financial management" and financial reporting and a "generous level of payment to players".

The board would be replaced by a board of independents appointed by a selection committee made up of representatives of the Community Trust, Invercargill Licensing Trust, New Zealand Rugby Union and two club representatives.

The annual meeting is expected to be held in late May.

- NZPA