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Up the creek and the paddle is long gone

Skinner

Coach
Messages
13,581
From :

http://news.leaguehq.com.au/nzrl-in-worse-financial-woes-than-feared/20080306-1xl9.html#

NZRL in worse financial woes than feared

Chairman Ray Haffenden has confirmed New Zealand Rugby League's (NZRL) 2007 financial result was worse than expected.

He said the final audit had established the NZRL had incurred an operational loss of $NZ1.7 million ($A1.46 million) for the year ending December 31, 2007.

"We were forecasting a $NZ1.25 million ($A1.08 million) loss so this is obviously considerably more than we had expected or wanted," he said in a statement.

"The fact is we find ourselves operating in a sporting landscape that is presenting enormous financial challenges not just for the NZRL but for a lot of organisations.

"We face an uphill battle to recover lost ground but we believe we have systems in place that will enable us to improve our performance."

Haffenden said there were several reasons for the scale of the operating loss.

"As we indicated in December, there was a significant shortfall in gaming grant revenue and in our expectations from the centenary Test in Wellington," he said.

"We can confirm we were $NZ800,000 ($A689,000) short in the funding area and $NZ400,000 ($A344,515) under budget for the centenary Test.

"The budgeted surplus of $NZ300,000 ($A258,386) from the tour to the United Kingdom wasn't realised, mainly due to poor support for the game between the All Golds and the Northern Union.

"There were also substantial one-off costs as a result of the reforms we have made constitutionally and commercially.

"The majority of these reforms were committed to in 2006 but the costs were paid in our 2007 financial year."

In addition to the operating loss, Haffenden said the NZRL had written off $NZ1.04 million ($A895,741) as the final balance owing from Rugby League NZ Limited (RLNZ), a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of NZRL.

The NZRL received a significant payment as part of the Super League settlement in the late 1990s.

This money was loaned to RLNZ to invest in activities that would generate independent revenue streams to underwrite NZRL operations.

This adjustment reflects the realisable value of the investments as at December 31, 2007.

Haffenden said more detail about the financial result would be made available to stakeholders at the NZRL's annual meeting in Auckland on March 29.
 
Messages
10,047
All sports seem to in trouble in NZ these days(including some of the rugby sides), don't know how we go about changing this around, in all codes
 

Te Kaha

First Grade
Messages
5,998
Vote national in November...

Get rid of the Arts loving, sport hating state of helengrad....

Probably wont be a quick fix... but cant do any worse...
 

Jesbass

First Grade
Messages
5,654
Oi! I happen to be an artist (of sorts) and a keen league fan...so some of us mix... :sarcasm:
 

mean

Juniors
Messages
560
Write off a million dollars in 2007. Add that to all the other recent written off amounts and no wonder the game is in the sh*t.
 

Micistm

Bench
Messages
4,470
Jesbass said:
Oi! I happen to be an artist (of sorts) and a keen league fan...so some of us mix... :sarcasm:

Ditto for me, I don't want arts ignored for sport, or the other way around! It's not lack of Govt funding, it's poor management, poor legal decisions, and so on. Most sports seem to struggle, but the NZRLs problems over the last few years are very well documented. It is no surprise they are in this much trouble. And in a country where Rugby is the be all end all (With the odd few months every few years for a bloody yacht race), other sports have to be smarter with the way they spend their cash. Let's interview Chalmers- When he was spending money like water last year did he know about this? BS if he says he didn't!:x

Where do we go from here? Where else IMO, back to the start, to build again from scratch. Revamp the whole thing. Let's see if they can, put the game ahead of themselves.
 

nadera78

Juniors
Messages
2,233
The NZRL needs an independent leadership.

The districts should send reps to the NZRL Council (one district, one vote), which elects a five man board of directors (one north island, one south island, three independents) who appoints an independent CEO, who in turn appoints independent staff.

The Council should meet once a year to ratify and plan for the future.

The Board should meet twice a year to set the general direction of the game in NZ. There is no need for more than this because the day to day stuff is done by the experts.

The CEO and staff run the game in NZ, free from interference from the Board, etc. They should appoint the coaching staff (with advice from a group of ex-players and coaches) for all NZ teams from U-16 upwards, and make plans and arrangements for tours, etc, etc. They control the purse strings, they organise the development programmes nationwide. In short, they run the game from top to bottom.
 

Jesbass

First Grade
Messages
5,654
nadera78 said:
The NZRL needs an independent leadership.

The districts should send reps to the NZRL Council (one district, one vote), which elects a five man board of directors (one north island, one south island, three independents) who appoints an independent CEO, who in turn appoints independent staff.

The Council should meet once a year to ratify and plan for the future.

The Board should meet twice a year to set the general direction of the game in NZ. There is no need for more than this because the day to day stuff is done by the experts.

The CEO and staff run the game in NZ, free from interference from the Board, etc. They should appoint the coaching staff (with advice from a group of ex-players and coaches) for all NZ teams from U-16 upwards, and make plans and arrangements for tours, etc, etc. They control the purse strings, they organise the development programmes nationwide. In short, they run the game from top to bottom.

That's brilliant. It won't happen, because certain power hungry individuals won't want to let go of what they have, but I love the idea.
 

Rich102

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,750
nadera78 said:
The NZRL needs an independent leadership.

The districts should send reps to the NZRL Council (one district, one vote), which elects a five man board of directors (one north island, one south island, three independents) who appoints an independent CEO, who in turn appoints independent staff.

The Council should meet once a year to ratify and plan for the future.

The Board should meet twice a year to set the general direction of the game in NZ. There is no need for more than this because the day to day stuff is done by the experts.

The CEO and staff run the game in NZ, free from interference from the Board, etc. They should appoint the coaching staff (with advice from a group of ex-players and coaches) for all NZ teams from U-16 upwards, and make plans and arrangements for tours, etc, etc. They control the purse strings, they organise the development programmes nationwide. In short, they run the game from top to bottom.

In principle I agree with you.
However the "one district one vote" principle is flawed in this situation. I believe the districts should have voting power in proportion to their player strength. Also the composition of the board of directors shouldn't be based on regions. This is where some of the current problems stem from.
I like your idea of an independant CEO who appoints his own staff.
In my opinion the NZRL should appoint an independant Employment Consultant to find the best CEO possible with the board presented a short list to pick the final appointee from.

As an adjunct what is Bill McGowan doing? I thought he did a good job and has a good track record.
 

nadera78

Juniors
Messages
2,233
Rich102 said:
In principle I agree with you.
However the "one district one vote" principle is flawed in this situation. I believe the districts should have voting power in proportion to their player strength. Also the composition of the board of directors shouldn't be based on regions. This is where some of the current problems stem from.
I like your idea of an independant CEO who appoints his own staff.
In my opinion the NZRL should appoint an independant Employment Consultant to find the best CEO possible with the board presented a short list to pick the final appointee from.

As an adjunct what is Bill McGowan doing? I thought he did a good job and has a good track record.

Maybe the voting system can be weighted slightly, but it shouldn't be too much. Maybe a slight amount so Auckland, for example, might get two votes, but it shouldn't go too far. It's the principle that matters, that all districts are important, not one or two but all of them.
 

Iafeta

Referee
Messages
24,357
I hear 54 people went on the tour to the UK (the Kiwis tour). 22 players.....32 add ons??????? Peter Jessup (I know, I know why rely on him) reckons $20K per person. So those 32 additional people total over $600,000.

And I also read in an article they were budgetting for a strong financial performance from the All Golds game, which then I read was also scheduled against the Rugby World Cup final. Fairly daft scheduling.

With the value of hindsight, and distance, surely those two minor points alone amount to some of the woes the NZRL are facing. They need a good financial manager with marketing acumen to come in along with someone experienced in business development to take control of them. With the amount of petty infighting that seems to go on, they aren't currently equipped to turn this around.
 

Lossy

Juniors
Messages
753
We need an outboard... and a rudder. Come to think of it: who has the lifejackets, the ones who already jumped ship? Musical chairs on the lifeboat NZRL.
 

LeagueNut

First Grade
Messages
6,980
Here's some bloody cheerful articles courtesy of Stuff:

-----------------------------------------------------------

Graham Lowe chasing $182,000

Graham Lowe is demanding $182,000 from the cash-strapped New Zealand Rugby League in unpaid wages.

A footnote to the NZRL's 2007 accounts obtained by the Sunday Star-Times reveals the former Kiwis coach's personal company, GK Consulting, has issued the claim. Lowe is due to finish as the league's director of football this month, only a year into a deal originally expected to last for three.

The claim could not come at a worse time for the league, which revealed a $1.7 million loss for the year last Thursday. The accounts shows the major reason for that is a huge drop in poker machine grants and spiralling staff, governance and consultancy costs.
The accounts do not name Lowe but the claim is said to relate to the "alleged early termination" of his consultancy.

However, the league says "in respect of the alleged early termination of a consultancy contract: This claim is rejected by the board who are of the opinion that no loss will beincurred."

-----------------------------------------------------------

Butcher mad about NZ rugby league debt

Rugby league stalwart Peter "The Mad Butcher" Leitch is demanding answers from the NZRL in the wake of revelations last week it has recorded a $1.7 million loss for the 2007 calendar year.

Last November Sunday News was first to reveal the NZRL was experiencing financial difficulties.

However, at the time the 2007 deficit was expected to be $1.3 million with tour profits from the UK widely tipped to reduce the amount.

In a press release last week, the NZRL admitted it had in fact lost $1.7 million in 2007 and blamed reduced funding and a poor turnout at the Centenary Test in Wellington for the blowout.

The organisation also said the Kiwis' tour to the UK had not generated as much profit as it had originally budgeted for.

But Leitch - the NZRL's honorary ambassador - last night told Sunday News enough is enough.

"I wasn't prepared for the shock I got when I picked up the newspaper on Friday and saw the headline - $1.7 million loss for New Zealand Rugby League," Leitch said.

"People have to be accountable for their actions and in the article it said that the centenary test in Wellington ran $400,000 under budget.

"I thought the New Zealand Rugby League paid people to organize the test. Those people must be held accountable."

Chairman Ray Haffenden, who took over from Andrew Chalmers in November, appears to have inherited a poisoned chalice.

Chalmers, who resigned when he returned from the Kiwis tour last year, was in control throughout 2007 and Leitch said he should be held accountable for some of the damage.

"I have to say I feel for the current chairman Ray Haffenden. Ray's a bloody good guy and has stepped up to the plate to take control when the ship was sinking," said Leitch.

The NZRL has been slammed in the press for months and although the organization is blaming external factors for its loss, expenditure must come under the spotlight.

Sunday News was the first to raise questions late last year when we revealed 54 people traveled to the UK for the ill-fated tour.

Among the personnel who boarded the plane alongside the Kiwis and Chalmers were directors Neville Kesha and Phil Campbell and a "cultural advisor" for the team.

Campbell resigned several weeks ago but Kesha is still on the NZRL board.

"It's all very well for a board member (Campbell) to resign the other week," said Leitch.
"Did he know what was coming and did he just want to desert the sinking ship?

"What about past chairman Andrew Chalmers? He resigned as well. Who is responsible for this debt?

"Questions have to be asked.

"We had a tour to England that was going to make us a lot of money apparently - we couldn't lose on it.

"Then, according to the press release, there was a shortfall."

Leitch said the NZRL's attempt to pass the buck again this week was sickening and bad for the game.

"This is not good for the game and the problem is no one is ever held accountable," he said.

"It's bloody time the gun was pointed at people and they should explain their actions.
"I feel gutted as a rugby league fan because we seem to be putting out one bushfire after another."

A successful business man in his own right, Leitch said it would be difficult for the NZRL to turn its latest financial troubles around.

"A $1.7 million loss - let me tell you as a man that's run a business for over forty years - is a bloody big hole to get out of," he said.

"In business you should only spend what you can afford and it's quite clear having 54 people on that tour was more than they could afford."

Both Ray Haffenden and NZRL general manager Peter Cordtz had their phones turned off when Sunday News tried to contact them yesterday.

-----------------------------------------------------------

:(
 

Micistm

Bench
Messages
4,470
That just makes the blood boil. The ****ing Chalmers brigade from last year have got a lot to answer for. And what did Lowe actually do for these 'unpaid wages?' Lost us the best Kiwi coach we had in ages and pulled the plug on the local comp!

What a winning team. Disgraceful. I hope these two will be exposed for the problems from last year, and particularly one that is trying to screw 'lost wages' out of an organisation he assisted in screwing...I hope he can't remain hiding behind a company name. And his mate Boyle who suddenly aquired some sort of job to go off with the team to the UK last year.

Yeah I'm petty, yeah I know ALL the probs don't stem from the clowns I mentioned. But I don't care. These morons IMO have hurt the game bad
 
Messages
10,047
Lowe is fully entitled to his unpaid wages.You cant blame the football manager or whatever he was for the financial state of the organisation, not his department
 

Micistm

Bench
Messages
4,470
Yeah, fair point it is part of a contract...if he was sacked. But he hasn't been. He's been made redundant technically. What unpaid wages there are, are within that contract, as in that situation it is all down to what is written within that contract. Redundancy payouts are not a given unless it's written in, in this day and age. And god knows the NZRL can prove that the financial situation is that bad his job has to be dissolved! But it does not surprise me he wants to hide the fact he's looking for the wages behind a company! ;-)
And of course, I'm looking from a purely emotional angle at this stage, rather than objective or logical. And to me, the guys has hurt the game in the past year, and IMHO is well past his use by date. Maybe a nice guy personally...maybe an excellent coach in the past...but a ****ing crap League Director. Mad Butcher subtlely suggested he go, as did Endacott...they guy just hung on until finally pushed (despite swearing he would go if wanted- there was never a chance of that happening).
And Chalmers! What a gutless wonder that guy was, and what a mess he left for the next guy. You gotta feel for Ray Haff, and happy for Bluey.

Let's hope we can get a great test performance next month, get back to on the field stuff
 

Archangel2

Juniors
Messages
168
From the Companies Office Site; Ya just gotta love this, talk about happy families!

GK CONSULTING LIMITED

Incorporated 02-MAY-2007

Current Status REGISTERED

Entity Type Company

Constitution Filed No

Annual Return Filing Month June


Address Details
Registered Office
C/-McGregor Bailey
Chartered Accountants
2 Crummer Road, Ponsonby
Auckland

Address for Service
C/-McGregor Bailey
Chartered Accountants
2 Crummer Road, Ponsonby
Auckland

Directors
Name Date Appointed:

LOWE, Graham Michael Date Appointed 02-MAY-2007

Share Parcels

Total Number of shares 100

Number of Shares 99
Shareholder(s) LOWE, Graham Michael

Number of Shares 1
Shareholder(s) LOWE, Karen

Is this the same firm that Cameron McGregor works in? So NZRL is being sued by a company set up by one ex Board Member of the ARL? And its accountancy firm is a family biz of another...This all just gets better! Any more in the family and the whole ARL, NZRL boards would be inbreeds...talk about eyes closely together.
Guess no one saw this as a conflict of interests either...
 

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