The Western Province Rugby Football Union, a former bastion of excellence and prosperity on and off the field, announced yesterday that it had filed for provisional liquidation of its commercial arm.
It said: "President Thelo Wakefield and Group CEO Paul Zacks said that the Union had retained expert legal and accounting advice and had fully explored all options before applying for liquidation of its commercial trading entity."
The union also gave the assurance that all sponsorship agreements would be honoured, that WP (Pty) Limited had settled its liabilities last month and that players' contracts remain secure.
The players' representative body has responded to the crisis.
MyPlayers managing director, Eugene Henning, said: "We will now consider the relevant legal submissions and determine what impact the process will have on player interests from where we will then base our course of action."
Wakefield confirmed that the tipping point was their dispute with Aerios, a company that holds the commercial rights of the union, which sought immediate payment of an amount allegedly in excess of R70-million.
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