One of the harshest critics of the way the Otago Rugby Football Union has operated believes a big part of the problem for the union and others is that they are administered as incorporated societies rather than as companies.
Liquidation has been avoided - for now - but it has still been a sad week for Otago greats Tuppy Diack and Ray Bell.
One of the Otago Rugby Football Union's longest-serving former administrators says he was "amazed" at how slow the union's board was to learn of its impending financial trouble.
So much for greedy rugby players - Otago back Glenn Dickson's first thoughts were for the creditors when he heard his employer had delayed filing for liquidation.
Considering the Otago Rugby Football Union's $2.35 million debt, $1800 could seem a mere drop in a bucket.
All Black captain Richie McCaw is among a high-powered rugby delegation in Dunedin to negotiate a North-South fundraising match, as part of a final push to save the Otago Rugby Football Union.
Sponsors backing Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium have reacted to news of the Otago Rugby Football Union's looming liquidation with a mixture of caution and optimism.
Go into liquidation and start again. That emerged yesterday as the probable future for the Otago Rugby Football Union and for Otago rugby.
The Otago community will need to stump up with up to $1 million if they want to keep an Otago ITM Cup team - and there is no prospect of a Government bailout.
The Otago Rugby Football Union's looming liquidation comes after six years of deficits for the club as dwindling ticket sales and mounting debt squeezed the life out of the sports administrator.
COMMENT: The Otago Rugby Football Union will leave a long list of disgruntled creditors if it goes into liquidation tomorrow.
Brent Anderson hopes in about six months' time the ordinary club player in Otago will not have felt the impact of the demise of the Otago Rugby Football Union.
An Otago university academic, Rob Hamlin, has lamented the ORFU was not a 'Ltd' rather than an 'Inc' for if it had been people and boards could be held accountable and blame apportioned.
Otago rugby might be only the first victim in a solvency crisis affecting New Zealand's provincial rugby unions.
Otago Rugby Football Union chairman Wayne Graham has been heartened by the community's response but so far no-one has turned up with the million-dollar rescue package the union needs to avoid liquidation.
Taine Randell supports the New Zealand Rugby Union decision not to bail out the Otago Rugby Football Union.
Phil Young might soon be out of a job, and the blue jersey he wore with pride might be absent from the national championship this season.
The Otago Rugby Football Union's plight is not an isolated problem, Sport New Zealand chief executive Peter Miskimmin says.
New Zealand Herald columnist Chris Rattue has some forthright views on the collapse of Otago rugby, and the wider implications for New Zealand rugby. This is his column, printed in the Herald yesterday.
One of Otago's favourite rugby sons, Marc Ellis, says anyone who has had a relationship with the union would want to do their bit to help it out.
