When rugby went, as the administrators like to call it, "open" (for which, in essence, read professional) in August 1995, it was inevitable that it would be a tortuous and difficult process. Some clubs and rugby unions have obviously dealt with the pressures better than others. Last season, in the English first division, the shortfall among the 12 first-division clubs amounted to the astonishing figure of £15 million. That obviously cannot be sustained. And what is happening in England and elsewhere supplies an object lesson.

Perhaps nothing illustrates the problems some clubs have more than the plight of one of the most famous clubs in the world, Llanelli. Their financial position was so acute that they had to sell their ground, Stradey Park, to the Welsh Rugby Union in order to help pay their debts of £1.25 million and avoid bankruptcy. The hope is that one day Llanelli will be able to buy the ground back. They have raised a share issue among their members with a target of £430,000. "But for our members' support we would have folded before Christmas," said Llanelli chairman Ron Jones. "But even as it is, we just cannot look more than a year or two ahead." Llanelli today, what other club tomorrow?

Anyone who really cares about rugby cannot but be anxious in the current climate. There was a time, not so long ago, when rugby unions could pay their way with the gate receipts from their home internationals. That is no longer the case and sponsorship, advertising, the income from television and ancillary activities are now crucial elements. Professionalism has imposed a huge burden and now requires very hard work and ingenuity from those charged with running every strand of the game.

So how has the IRFU fared in the new climate? Last season, it took over £9 million to run the game in this country. So from what sources was this money raised and on what was the income spent?

Reference to the match accounts shows clearly why the union is now anxious to play more home matches than the two annual home fixtures in the Five Nations Championship. The total income from match receipts last season came to just under £7 million, and it is important to bear in mind that the income from television rights from the BBC for the championship is factored into that figure.

The receipts for the match against England amounted to £2,276,970. The match against France brought in £2,160,308, those figures include the television income for the Five Nations, and the match against Australia which yielded £852,111.

In contrast, the match against Italy had gate receipts of only £298,367 and that against Western Samoa, just over £250,000. It must be borne in mind that the visiting teams' expenses have to be paid out of these receipts. While net profit from the England and French matches came to nearly £4 million, that against Australia amounted to £626,961. The total profit from the two matches against Western Samoa and Italy amounted to only £250,000.

The All Ireland League sponsorship brought in £150,000. But the costs to the Union of the AIL amounted to £1,142,817. That money was made up of special grants to the clubs (and they cost around £700,000) as well as travelling expenses for the clubs and referees. The European Rugby Cup and provincial matches brought in £929,796. That money was crucial in enabling the union to give the grants to the clubs, thereby underlining the necessity of the Irish involvement in the ERC.

There are always very big deficits on the schools, A and under-21 internationals. For instance, the gate receipts for the under-21 matches came to just over £800. That meant a net loss of £122,000. But expenditure on the schools, youths, universities, colleges, students, A and under-21 teams is deemed money well spent.

While the total income from the match account was £6,910,530, the expenditure amounted to £5,471,910. The biggest item of expenditure was £1,998,634 for the payments to the Ireland squad and coaches. Second came the money paid to the AIL clubs as outlined above, while the Ireland squad sessions cost £184,490.

That left a balance on the match account of £1,438,620. So what other income did the union get?

In fact, other income amounted to £2,397,271. That came from such sources as advertising - £369,888, income from the letting of Lansdowne Road - £510,897, interest on deposits - £861,111, International Board development grant - £157,895, telerecording fees for matches outside the Five Nations Championship - £224,657 and £183,300 from the Committee of the Home Unions, which would come from such sources as Barbarians match receipts. Those were the main sources from which the total of £2,397,271 came.

Thus the total income for the year was £9,307,801. The total expenditure came to £9,043,312 and that left an operating surplus for the year of £264,489. That is the lowest figure for many years and compares with £1,349,074, the previous season and nearly £2 million in 199495.

Apart from the expenditure as outlined above in relation to the match account, what else did the IRFU spend money on last season? The breakdown is interesting. They spent £667,759 on rugby development. The cost of running the union office and general expenses for such items as salaries, pensions, rent, rates, and sundry other items came to £627,780.

Grants to Branches came to £162,565. Special grants to Branches and schools amounted to £463,597, with the schools getting almost £300,000 of that. Again money very well spent. The Universities got £51,000, the Irish Colleges £10,000, money spent on the floodlights of provincial grounds, grants to the Exiles of £60,000, subsidies to clubs on interest payable by them came to over £19,000 and all of those payments came, in total, to £1,054,559. The cost of running Lansdowne Road came to £484,412 and Ravenhill £52,379.

And what was the total cost to the union of the men who run the union, the general committee and all the sub-committees? It came to £286,660. That embraced everything. It includes the cost of the hotel and travelling expenses of the 24-man committee, the various subcommittees that include many who are not members of the general committee, the cost incurred by delegates to meetings - including club and branch representatives for All Ireland League meetings, the committee who run the AIL. It also embraces the costs for all who attend the annual general meeting and that could number up to 100. It is a minute expenditure in the overall financial scene of over £9 million. The services of all these people are given free.

The reality is that the finances and general management have been handled exceptionally well. The state of the union's management bears more than favourable comparison with that of any of their counterparts in any part of the world and infinitely better than the vast majority. Those are the figures and those are the facts.