Bay of Plenty Rugby will announce a record operating loss at its annual meeting tomorrow in Rotorua.

The deficit of $759,058 dwarfs last year's loss of $166,422 and is nearly three times the previous worst loss recorded in 2003. It comes just two years after a near $500,000 profit.

The union's financial position and reports by its chairman and acting chief executive, Stuart Harvey, are likely to cause much discussion at tomorrow's meeting at Rotorua's Whakarewarewa Rugby Club.

Harvey's combined report is damning on the performance of the union, on and off the field, in the last 12 months.

"In fact, [2007] was disastrous," he states in the document, which was sent to clubs and other stakeholders this week.

Operating expenses of nearly $4.4 million in 2007 far outweighed the union's revenue of more than $3.6m - an increase of $737,109 on the previous year.

The big-ticket item was again the Bay of Plenty Steamers who sucked more than $1.6m, up $356,004 on 2006, from the financially strapped union. A lot of that went on extra player payments, with 39 footballers required for the Steamers last season. The New Zealand Rugby Union rules state NPC players must receive a minimum of $15,000 per season or a pro-rata equivalent as payment.

Projected match budgets were not met, with gate takings down 65 per cent on budgeted figures, despite match revenue being up more than $100,000 on 2006.

Both administration and match expenses rose, by a combined $282,342. An amount of $250,000, which the union is trying to recover, is disclosed as being owed by sponsor Blue Chip Finance Limited.

Harvey, who will stand down as chairman of the board before tomorrow's meeting, has fired a few shots in all directions at the state of the union.

The union's employees cop some of the blame, with poor business ethics and systems singled out as contributing to the massive shortfall.

The directors are given a "could have done better" mark, with Harvey, who was overseas during most of the NPC competition, stating there were a number of matters that should have been handled differently.

That included a better investigation into the ownership of another sporting team, the Tauranga-based CBL basketball franchise, by three of the union's senior management, Paul Abbott, Craig Morris and Mike Rogers.

Both Abbott and Morris have since resigned from their roles. There is also a reference in Harvey's report to an incident which required much of his attention late last year, although he did not elaborate ahead of the meeting on its origins and remedy.

* The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union's annual meeting is being held at the Whakarewarewa Rugby Club at 11am tomorrow.