Good profit for rugby union

Press, 9 February 1982, Page 18

Good profit for rugby union

The Canterbury rugby team may have had one of its worst seasons on record last year, but from a financial viewpoint the season was anything but a bleak one tor the Canterbury union.

The statement of accounts to be presented at the union's annual meeting later this month shows a profit of $29,387, which is the best result for many years. Of this total, $21,500 has been transferred to reserve accounts, leaving an untouched surplus of $7887. Last year a succession of losing years was broken with a profit of $2161, and this was without any transfers to reserve accounts.

In his report the treasurer of the union, Mr lan Allott, attributes the improved return to increased gates at club, representative and international level. The union certainly did well out of the two N.Z.R.F.U. games it staged, Canterbury v. Scotland and New Zealand v. South Africa. These netted $32,195, compared with the $157 that was made on the Canterbury v. Fiji

game, the only big match of the 1980 season.

Representative match receipts were up from $14,228 to $19,390, although this could, in part, be attributed to higher gate charges. Club football also brought in more revenue, with the C.S.B. Trophy final at Rugby Park ($5224) being the biggest club gate at this ground. Another big improvement was in programme sales. The profit here rose by slightly more than $lO,OOO to $11,628 and this, undoubtedly, was due largely to the two international fixtures.

The main items of expenditure all increased; administration from $21,456 to $24,929; representative team expenses from $15,631 to $22,797; and playing expenses from $22,493 to $28,274. Total expenditure was $105,468. While expressing satisfaction with the 1981 result, Mr Allott points out in his report that it reaffirmed the dependence of the union on international fixtures and a good representative programme, together with the continued support of sponsors.