Bankrupt union loses SARU membership

NEWS: The South African Rugby Union has taken the drastic measure of suspending a union, because of its dire financial situation.

The Border Rugby Union has been suspended from membership of SARU as a consequence of its dire financial position and on-going administration issues.

The decision was taken by the Executive Council of SARU at a meeting in Cape Town earlier this week.

It allows SARU to appoint an administrator to take full control of the union’s affairs.

The Exco exercised its constitutionally mandated powers relating to the financial affairs of unions.

Border first invited SARU to assist in 2014, when an administrator was appointed to take limited financial oversight.

The administrator’s role was reduced as the union’s affairs were regularised.

However, in light of escalating issues, the Exco applied the full extent of its constitutional powers.

“This intervention is for the benefit of rugby in the Border region and has only been taken as a last resort,” said Mark Alexander, President of SARU.

“The union has critical financial problems and repeated attempts to engage with the union’s leadership on a turnaround strategy have met with no success.

“Other members with similar challenges have engaged with us but Border has repeatedly missed scheduled engagements both with the SARU Executive Council and Finance Committee. We were left with no alternative.”

Alexander said SARU would appoint an administrator in the short term to ensure that club and schools rugby would continue to function.

“The administrator will report back to the Executive Council by the end of the year with a clear picture of the state of the union’s indebtedness and what options we may have for the trading entity,” he said.

“The Border region is a very important pipeline for the emergence of black players and we could not stand by and watch it fall into complete disrepair. However, we are aware it faces significant financial challenges and SARU does not have a magic wand to fix it at a stroke.”

The application of the Exco’s constitutional powers has the effect of SARU suspending all funding to the BRU; suspending participation in all SARU competitions and suspending participation in all SARU meetings and governance structures.