Rugby: Plans for Otago amateur game unveiled

Andrew Rooney
Andrew Rooney
A series of meetings will take place around the province next month to explain proposed changes to the way the Otago union conducts amateur rugby.

The union has been through an internal review of amateur rugby and came up with some new structures.

Any constitutional changes will have to be voted on through a special general meeting, which will take place before the end of the year.

The main change comes from the establishment of a metropolitan rugby council, which will replace the rugby council and the metropolitan committee.

The metropolitan rugby council will be made up of seven elected representatives from clubs, representatives from referees, junior rugby and an Otago Rugby Football Union staff member.

The chairman of this new council, or an elected representative, will become an ORFU board member.

The new council will assume all the roles of the metropolitan committee and the governance role for metropolitan rugby, previously held by the rugby council.

It will also oversee much of the running of the game with governance issues going to the board of the ORFU and support issues to union staff.

ORFU board member and rugby council chairman Andrew Rooney said the changes were the result of feedback from the clubs.

The merging of the rugby council and metropolitan committee would hopefully allow the clubs a more direct feed into what was happening, he said.

Rooney said the union would begin presentations next week and would seek feedback from clubs.

If clubs felt positively about the moves then a special general meeting would be held. But if they did not support the changes, then nothing would happen.

Rooney said a possible drawback was that country clubs might think they had less input with the disbanding of the rugby council but that could be covered by governance issues being handled by the board and management issues by the union staff.

Union chief executive Richard Reid said the changes were not set in stone and had to be agreed at the special general meeting.

Under the changes the ORFU board will continue with nine members.

The Otago Country board will remain the same but, instead of referring matters to the defunct rugby council, will either refer to the union board, or staff, or handle issues internally.

On the field in Dunedin, clubs will only be able to have one premier team per club.

University had opposed this suggestion, wanting to have its B team able to play in the premier competition, but that was voted down by the other clubs.

To have a premier team, clubs must have two feeder teams, although they may be from premier 2, colts or senior grades.

There would be 10 teams maintained in the premier competition, with a promotion-relegation system to allow clubs to push up.

Clubs in the country will just require sufficient playing numbers to field a team.

A junior advisory group will be established and that will oversee rugby from secondary school age down.

The primary committee will be disbanded.

 

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