Rugby Southland turned a small profit in 2018 and has become debt-free this year.
This emerged at the union’s annual meeting on Monday night when the union’s audited annual financial statements were presented.
‘‘It’s been an incredibly tough year, but we have managed to hold our own,’’ Ian Harrington, chairman of the union’s audit and risk committee, said.
The union recorded a $45,648 surplus for the 2018 year off total revenue of $3.639 million, a slight increase over the 2017 year.
Thee union last week paid off the final $45,666 instalment of a New Zealand Rugby loan.
Total expenses had also climbed slightly in 2018 over 2017, most of the increase related to employee costs, community rugby costs and high performance rugby cost increases.
Attendance for Southland Stags home matches remained relatively stable with an average of 10,075 in 2017 compared to 9925 in 2018.