THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS
Empty seats will cost SRU £1m, says McKie
DAVID FERGUSON CHIEF RUGBY WRITER
SCOTTISH rugby\'s debt is set to rise again this year as a result of the failure to fill Murrayfield for recent Test matches, frustrating the new regime which took control of the sport\'s governing body last summer.

The ground was well short of its 67,800 capacity for last month\'s RBS Six Nations match with France and the autumn 2005 internationals against Argentina, Samoa and New Zealand. The short-fall from the French game alone has cost the Scottish Rugby Union £500,000, according to chief executive Gordon McKie. The total loss from failing to fill the ground is £1million.

McKie was critical of his predecessors for \"wildy over-estimating budgets\" for the autumn Tests and delivered a damning verdict on unnamed employees, players, past players and committee members who, he said, were \"riddled with self-interest\".

He also expressed his frustration at the scheduling of Six Nations matches by the organisers, sponsors and television stations. Scotland\'s opening game, against France, took place on a Sunday and attracted only 50,060 spectators to Murrayfield. The traditional Saturday kick-offs are more popular with supporters.

Looking to the long term, McKie warned once again that the back pitches at Murrayfield would be sold for housing if the losses cannot be stemmed. The SRU\'s debt is currently £24million.

While much of his address at yesterday\'s special general meeting at Murrayfield was downbeat, McKie took time to praise the efforts of Frank Hadden, the national coach, and the Scotland players for the recent victories over France and England. But he made it clear that the financial well-being of the union was his chief concern and that he was still poring over nine different ledgers in an effort to determine exactly how much money would be lost this year.

He said: \"Winning the Calcutta Cup is only one event and we only play here five or six times a year. We are in the midst of a recovery process which will take some time. I have used the expression \'reality check\' on my travels [around the clubs] and the reality check for the union is that we have lost money in four out of the last five years and the likelihood is that we will lose money again this year, principally due to £1million of under-revenues from the autumn Tests, from wildly over-estimated budgets, and we were short for the France game.

\"Contrary to people\'s agitations, we don\'t set these games - they are set by the Six Nations Committee, in conjunction with the Royal Bank and the BBC - so we\'re very much stuck with what we get. But in January what we got was ten thousand tickets that came back [for the Scotland v France match] and, without going any deeper, that\'s half a million pounds worth we were unable to sell.

\"I can\'t say how much we will lose exactly because we have nine different ledgers in here to deal with when all we need is one. But I hope it will be less than a million. The consequence of failure? It\'s not for me to scare anybody here, but these pitches at the back will become flats or houses if we don\'t stop losing money. The Bank of Scotland or indeed any bank is not there to throw money at loss-making businesses. But, once we get the proper budgets in place over the coming year, hopefully that won\'t happen.\"

McKie has said many times that he was furious to discover the projected ticket sales for the autumn Test matches could not be supported by anyone within Murrayfield, and, worse, he could not alter the ticket prices by the time he was in the hotseat. The result was a scrapping of other expenditure, including television advertising and the giving away of free tickets. The attendance was badly hit and just 14,000 seats were occupied for each of the matches against Argentina and Samoa. Even the all-conquering All Blacks attracted less than 48,000 to Murrayfield.

The chief executive was angry also to find that clubs were able to return tickets they did not want just a fortnight before the opening RBS Six Nations Championship game with France, something he is keen to change.

Compared with last year, where a loss of over £2million was recorded by the SRU, taking the overall overdraft to £24million, it would seem McKie\'s trimming of budgets is having an effect, but, clearly, there was very little chance of him turning a profit in his first year in charge. McKie said, however, that he was not ruling out further investment, stating that he did not envisage either of the three professional teams being under threat again for another year at least, but remains reluctant to consider outside investment which moves a team, or starts another team outside the SRU\'s full control.

\"A small loss this year is not good,\" he admitted, \"but it is something we have to deal with. Why has it happened? There has been a serious lack of accountability here in recent years, serious lack of process and control; it\'s been riddled with self-interest, not just employees who used to work here, but players, past players, committee people past and present - it\'s a big issue.

\"The whole business has not been run particularly well. When I arrived there were 35 players here who did not have signed professional contracts, and that was scary, considering agents could just pick them up and take them away. That is moving forward - we\'re down to just three now - and we\'re moving forward with budgets designed to spend only what we earn, and so to make a profit next year.\"

Over 100 club members attended yesterday\'s sgm to formally pass the final piece of a new governance structure, a system of regions to replace the old district representatives at lower-league levels. In following with the new spirit of co-operation in the game shown since the radical overhaul of Scottish rugby\'s power base a year ago it was unanimously supported, with an amendment from Marr RFC.

Andy Irvine, the SRU president, spoke of it marking another positive step in the regeneration of Scottish rugby following the turmoil of 2005 when a coup led by the old general committee forced out David Mackay, the chairman of the Unitary Board, and Phil Anderton, his chief executive and ally. Several other key SRU executives also severed their links with the union.

However, McKie\'s words of warning will serve as a timely reminder that getting the game\'s governance right is just one part of regenerating the sport in Scotland.

Financially the game needs to show it can stand on its own two feet.

This article was posted on 6-Mar-2006, 08:27 by Hugh Barrow.