The Otago Daily Times believes the two members from the old board will be Andrew Rooney and John Faulks.
### ODT Online Tue, 22 May 2012
2 ORFU members retained?
By Steve Hepburn
The new board of the Otago Rugby Football Union is expected to be named today and is likely to include two faces from the old board. The six-member board was to have been named last Tuesday but legal issues and a short period to interview applicants and make appointments forced an extension.
Read more
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[Eionland connections]
The six-member board?
● Andrew Rooney (Dunedin investment adviser, Forsyth Barr; Air Force Liaison Officer, Otago Region; former Engineering Officer, RNZAF; past chairman, Dunedin Rugby Football Club)
● John Faulks (Dunedin managing director S R M Realty Ltd – Southern Wide Real Estate; previously stock and station and banking industries; coached Otago junior age group teams)
● Simon Spark (Arrowtown self-employed contractor/linesman; co-owner of Dakins Waste Solutions Ltd; Arrowtown club president; news; Mr Nice Guy 2011)
● Keith Cooper (Dunedin chief executive, Silver Fern Farms)
● Doug Harvie (Dunedin chartered accountant, Harvie Green Wyatt)
● Kelvin Collins (Queenstown real estate agency owner, Harcourts; links with Wakatipu club)
Or simply ask ORFU change manager Jeremy Curragh about the trust monies that will need to be refunded as they weren’t spent on the authorised purpose; this “happened on a number of occasions due to ORFU facing cashflow problems”. He says “The money is not “missing” rather it was used to pay other creditors.” Link
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
Since the whole city is being run for the benefit of the ORFU I have to ask ….. where are the women on the board?
Haha. Good question, perhaps they are too wise to join the scout masters.
Cooking tha eaiggs an knowing nuthn bout no assets in them trusts, ma’am.
Damn. (and I nearly believed that)
I love the Change Manager’s comment: there’s nothing illegal here (other than the misappropriation of funds)
Interesting that in today’s ODT it reports that grants in the last financial year have been accounted for. Mr Curragh is quoted in that article, “”It is a concern, it was picked up relatively early and was indicative of an organisation that has serious liquidity problems.”
How far back in time did grants not reach their intended targets? How long standing were these serious liquidity problems? Were the ORFU trading while insolvent?
It seems Mr Curragh isn’t playing ball. A lot of ducking and diving certainly but hasn’t realised he’s running towards the wrong goal posts.
It is abundantly clear to any disinterested or neutral observer or reader of the ORFU annual reports that the organisation had been in severe financial difficulties for many years. For anyone closely associated with the ORFU in a management or governance role to assert that this wasn’t known until just before Christmas last year simply beggars belief. Either these people couldn’t read, couldn’t understand what they could read, or were knowingly trading while knowing they couldn’t pay creditors. It is vital to pass judgement in the much wider context of what other activities that the ORFU were involved in. If there is a climate of concealment, of use of allied entities, then the excuse of not knowing about insolvency becomes even less believable.
In many ways I can’t give a hoot about their insolvency and their dubious activities. Where it affects us all, and why all this stuff needs to be fully revealed is that it was ratepayers that were really meeting the shortfalls, and it was with some Councillor’s inabilities, stupidity or connivance that this was allowed to happen. Is it too much to ask for that these people are not only held responsible but accountable?
I love Curragh’s comment in the article in McPravda today in which he finally admits that pokie money awarded for specific purposes was misdirected by the ORFU:
“”There is nothing illegal other than [money didn’t go] where it should have.”
Didn’t Ronnie Biggs say something similar?
They chose to use for themselves money that was not theirs. They took a punt that the DCC would not punish clubs and schools for non-payment of rental of grounds. Not a difficult call, they knew that the DCC was well conditioned to give and give and forgive, ay, seventy seven times seven, when the word “rugby” was involved. If it was an individual the wording would be something like “He used funds collected by a charity he administered to fund a lavish lifestyle” and he would be punished accordingly.
If an organisation is scrambling for grants, to pay bills, they are trading while insolvent. It’s as simple as that.
To anyone who cared to look, it was apparent that the ORFU was officially financially insolvent as far back as the 2004 MWH report. It was on the basis of that report that the DCC decided to involve itself, and we all know how that panned out. When the DCC, as part of its ‘Good Samaritan’ act, paid $7ml to take Carisbrook off the ORFU’s hands it was on the understanding that this would absolve all of their debt. Now we find that was not the case, but “unbeknown” to their chairman (and the rest) there was other monies owed. Now we hear Mr Curragh (the fall guy) owning up to crimes committed by that ‘august’ body the ORFU in the misuse of trust monies. Sheesh!!! We should not have built the stadium, but rather a maximum security asylum and committed the whole “bloody lot”.
I do have a little factory on the West Coast that may be the solution to the problem…
Russell,
What has the West Coast done to you to deserve that?
A good bit of journalism in the odty on Saturday. Page 43. Sports comment by Brent Edwards.
Thanks Tomo – it’s pointed!
OPINION
“So, dotted around Otago and elsewhere are men whose errors and egos brought the game in the province to its knees, their sins of commission or omission still tightly under wraps.”
“…Bates acted with honour and integrity. It’s a pity we couldn’t say the same about the men who presided over the biggest financial disaster in New Zealand provincial rugby.”
No front page treatment in the ORT about corporate Rugby’s million dollar grab from Dunedin citizens. Funny that.
I note that McPravda has just announced the appointment of two new directors to the board of DCHL. According to the Companies Office register, these two appointments were made around a month ago, so it’s a ‘plebs in the loop’ timelapse roughly equivalent to that used by its namesake to announce the accession of new Soviet leaders. At least the previous DCHL incumbents can be thankful that they were not shot, frozen or stuffed as was the usual Soviet practice for the previous office holders.
I suppose that one explanation could be that the message announcing this happy event was written on a note and pasted to the shell of a snail outside DCCHQ in mid July, and said snail has now reached its destination a couple of blocks away – to the apparent astonishment of its recipients. However, these appointments have been public knowledge (at least on this website) for a couple of weeks now, so there’s not much excuse.
Yeah, thanks Rob!
Here’s the link for other What if? readers:
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/latest-news/august-2012/dchl-board-now-complete
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Dunedin City Council
Media Release
DCHL Board Now Complete
This item was published on 14 Aug 2012.
The Dunedin City Holdings Board has welcomed its two newest members, Kathy Grant and Graham Crombie, meaning it now has its full complement.
Two candidates were selected as the interview panel noted that although they had advertised for one position, there would be a need for a second appointment at a later date. Both Kathy and Graham presented valuable and complementary attributes and the Board decided to appoint both of them.
Mayor Dave Cull says, “I’m pleased that DCHL has attracted local directors with such solid governance experience and accomplishments.”
Kathy Grant has wide experience in corporate and education governance and is a practising lawyer with Gallaway Cook Allan. She has served on the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic Councils and the Boards of Trustees for St Hilda’s Collegiate, John McGlashan and Maori Hill Primary Schools. She is currently the chair of the Otago Polytechnic Council.
Graham Crombie is the Chief Executive and a partner at Polson Higgs. He has served as the chair of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Australia/New Zealand Chartered Accountants Board, and the Otago Polytechnic Council and is currently chair of the Otago Museum Board.
They join chairman Denham Shale and board member Bill Bayliss, both of whom were appointed last November.
Contact details
Contact Dave Cull, Mayor of Dunedin on 477 4000.
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[personally, I love that the DCC Fuckster Spooks got Bill Baylis’ surname wrong]
[ODT has repeated the error]
It’s about waiting till the right time, till the public is ready to be told these things – similar to the decisions parents have to make about what’s age-appropriate sex information to impart to small children. They CARE, and that’s so important.
The Otago Daily Times reproducing something manufactured by the Dunedin City Council? Accept without question it is correct and suitable for publication? That doesn’t sound like them at all. This council is corrupt and even a multi-million dollar propaganda department can’t make that right.