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 THE Zimbabwe Rugby Union's financial fortunes continued spiraling downwards after statements released by the treasurer revealed the union has suffered a loss for the second year in a row.According to the treasurer's report for 2009 released at the union's annual meeting on Sunday, the union had a deficit in excess of US$25 000, which is bigger than the 2008 loss of US$16 000.The treasurer Ngoni Mudzamiri presented the audited accounts for 2007 and 2008 in addition to the latest unaudited statement for 2009."One of our priorities for the year was to get the audit of the union's accounts up to date. Our auditors worked hard to carry out the audits for 2007 and 2008."It was noted that the economic environment prevailing during the years made it difficult to prepare a meaningful set of accounts in Zimbabwe dollars," read a statement from the treasurer's report.

Mudzamiri said the audited version of the 2009 accounts would be ready in the next two months.He attributed the losses to the economic environment in Zimbabwe and lack of sponsorship."This is a second year in a row that the union has posted a loss and this can be attributed to the general increase in costs resulting from the multiple currency environment in Zimbabwe."Secondly the union has relied largely on the IRB grant as the source of revenue. Such a situation cannot be sustained, as the cost of running the union and promoting rugby in Zimbabwe increases," read the treasurer's report.ZRU received a total of US$104 000 from the IRB for the year 2009.The union was given US$96 000 for its development programmes and a further subsidy of US7, 500 for the national teams' attendance at IRB tournaments.

But with the Sables, the Cheetahs, the Under-19 and the women's teams all involved in international assignments, the expenses outweighed the income.The Cheetahs gobbled the biggest chunk of the total allocations, as they required US$28 000 for the whole year.They had the busiest schedule for the year than any other team, though, beginning with the World Cup in March followed by the IRB Hong Kong Series.They also took part in tournaments in Zambia, Kenya, Namibia, Dubai and twice in South Africa.ZRU president Themba Sibanda said the union had to borrow from members and other creditors.Currently the union's coffers are empty, as they are yet to receive the grant for the 2010 season from IRB."The deficit was caused mainly by the ad hoc funding of the teams without proper budgeting."This year we want to encourage all our teams to submit their projected budgets for the year so that we will be in a position to minimise unplanned expenditure.

"The situation was compounded by the fact that we had no other source of revenue to supplement the IRB grants."This time we want to rebrand rugby and to convince the corporate sector to come to the support of the game."We have also lined up some fund-raising activities to cover some of the shortfalls."We want to appoint a general manager to drive these activities as one of our major priorities," said Sibanda.