The Taranaki Rugby Football Union made a $576,981 profit in 2020, primarily thanks to the Ministry of Social Development's wage subsidy income.

The result was announced at the 135th Annual General Meeting of the TRFU held at the Kaponga Rugby Club last night.

If not for that significant injection of cash, the TRFU would have recorded a $134,599 loss primarily due to the impact of Covid-19.

TRFU Chief Executive Officer Laurence Corlett said the wage subsidy helped get the business to survive.

"Without the funding from the government and the support of our commercial partners and our community funding partners, we would have had a significant loss which would have had the Union close to being insolvent. I want to thank our staff and players who made a significant contribution to the surplus of the TRFU by taking a pay reduction during 2020.  We are mindful that without a functioning Yarrows Stadium, our year ahead in 2021 is still a difficult one, and the 2020 result will help us hugely."

Corlett was extremely thankful for those organisations and individuals who threw their support behind the organisation in such a fluid Covid environment.

“Thank you to all our commercial partners, especially principal partner Yarrows The Bakers for their continued involvement in supporting rugby in Taranaki. I would also like to thank the New Zealand Community Trust, TSB Community Trust, Taranaki Community Rugby Trust, Lion Foundation, Pelorus Trust, The Southern Trust and Sport Taranaki who help us to deliver our community based rugby programmes to participants around the Taranaki region.”

Mike Summerell was elected to the TRFU board to replace Noel Caskey, who stepped down after serving on the board since 1997. The Toko-based dairy farmer played for the Stratford Rugby Club before taking up administration, becoming chairman of the Stratford Rugby & Sports Club, where he was subsequently made a life member. Caskey was also elected a life member of the TRFU in 2015.

Article added: Thursday 29 April 2021