KEY POINTS:
The fight to keep Northland rugby in the top grade could end up going all the way to the international Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
But for now the battle to save the Taniwha from being cut from the professional ranks will focus on a critical meeting at the law offices of Wayne Peters and Associates in Whangarei, as early as tomorrow.
Bewildered Northland rugby administrators were still coming to terms with the decision, announced on Monday, to demote Northland from the professional Air NZ Cup to the amateur Heartland Cup competition.
But Northland Rugby Union chairman Wayne Peters said he was prepared to go all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to argue the Northland cause.
"I am using the phrase 'all possible avenues'. That could just mean staying within the NZRU appeals process and doing a submission, or it could mean taking the matter to another forum altogether," Peters said.
Peters was then asked if that could mean taking the case to the CAS. "Yes," was his reply.
Peters was informed by phone from New Zealand Rugby Union chairman Jock Hobbs on Monday that the team was to be cut from the Air NZ Cup provincial rugby competition at the end of the year. That decision was confirmed by letter from NZRU chief executive Steve Tew yesterday.
Details of the decision will not be released publicly, but sources say Northland failed miserably in the financial, player development and governance/administration criteria which accounted for more than half of the assessment formula used by the NZRU.
Peters is seeking a meeting at his law offices in Whangarei tomorrow to find out just where all the provinces ranked.
"The letter doesn't do two things. It does not give you a comparative position, and secondly it does not give you any detail as to why they reached their findings," Peters said.
NZRU spokesman Neil Sorenson said reaction from Northland and Tasman "had been expected", but he would not discuss the prospect of appeal. "Believe it or not there are a few rugby people working here at NZRU offices. "You know, we have a pretty good empathy for how Northland and Tasman are feeling right now," Sorenson said.
Peters said he was steeling the NRU for a bitter fight as they tried to stave off forced relegation.
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE
