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The new Tasman Rugby Union is heading for a bitter split as a financial crisis bites deep into the joint venture from Marlborough and Nelson.
It has prompted a suggestion from Nelson that they should join Buller to form a premier division team if Marlborough rugby continued with their threat to withdraw by the end of this year, the Nelson Mail reported today.
The row between the two previous lower division provincial unions, Marlborough and Nelson Bays, that formed Tasman in 2006, started when Tasman officials suggested Blenheim's Lansdowne Park should be sold to bail the new province out of debts.
A special meeting of the Tasman Rugby Union in Blenheim last night decided to sell the park to the Marlborough District Council for $3.45 million plus gst to help clear debts of about $4 million.
The prospect of losing the majority of the park to private developers, plus the union's precarious financial position, had caused a public uproar in Marlborough over the past two weeks.
Tasman Rugby Union past president John Goodman, of Nelson, is promoting the idea of Nelson joining with the Buller Rugby Union.
He said he was "pretty despondent" after last night's meeting because of animosity from Marlborough.
While he wanted the Tasman Rugby Union name and brand to continue, it seemed clear that Marlborough wanted to cut its ties with Nelson and pull out at the end of the year, he said.
Marlborough people seemed to believe they had been "sold a pup" in the Tasman deal, and he understood they had not wanted to lose Lansdowne Park.
Goodman said he believed the Tasman Makos would be able to see out this season in the Air New Zealand Cup.
Tasman Rugby Union chairman Max Spence said that without the sale of the park, the union would have been forced to hand over its assets, including Lansdowne Park, to its major creditor, the Bank of New Zealand, almost immediately.
More than 120 officials and supporters attended last night's meeting.
- NZPA
