There follows a statement from London Scottish in relation to the amendment which has been put forward for consideration by member clubs at the SRU SGM this forthcoming Sunday proposing the establishment of a Scottish Exiles Association and for the position of Exiles Representative to be included in the constitution of the proposed SRU Council.

LSFC STATEMENT
London Scottish, as the only Exiles club, has historically provided the "weight" of the Exiles in England. It is customary for London Scottish to propose the Exiles rep each year at the SRU AGM.

London Scottish recognises and is deeply concerned about the turmoil currently reverberating around the game of rugby in Scotland which was precipitated by the decision of the SRU General Committee earlier this year to pass a vote of no confidence in David MacKay, the then chairman of the Executive Board.

Through the Premier Clubs forums and the National Clubs forums we have listened with great interest to the views of the Scottish clubs. LSFC does not believe it appropriate that our club, even with its history and ongoing resurgence, should be represented directly at Council level. The purpose behind the Council is, in our view and as stated in the Report of the Working Party chaired by Bill Dunlop, to review the performance of the proposed new Scottish Rugby board on behalf of various stakeholders in the game.

We agree that there should be Exiles representation and this should be inclusive of the interests of the many Scottish qualified players in England, irrespective of which club they are members of, but the correct place for this representation is at performance board level. Indeed the Dunlop Report expressly states:

" . . . . . we acknowledge the valuable contribution made by [the Exiles] in terms of a scouting network [but] we feel that the number of clubs to be represented by the Exiles does not justify a place on council.

It is understood that the role of the Exiles is to identify and monitor rugby players outwith Scotland who are eligible to play for Scotland. As part of this strategy, in respect of age-grade international rugby, a London based academy is to be set up in the near future. It is therefore considered that the role of an Exiles representative would be best served on a performance division or a sub-committee, for example, whose remit would include streaming elite players at various levels."

We do not oppose an Exiles Association in principle but this needs to be properly thought through and constituted before it can be considered by LSFC. What will be its constituent parts? What is its constitution and its objectives? How will it elect its representatives? To whom will it report ?

This cannot be done overnight and for LSFC to become involved in such a body there would have to be a full dialogue with all our members after the exercise set out above had been concluded and many more such questions were answered.

We note that the existing Exiles Committee, with the exception of the Exiles Rep who sits on the General Committee, is a self appointed and non elected group that can have no standing as an Exiles Association as it is currently made up.

The Motion to restructure the governance of the SRU, together with a number of the proposed amendments (including the so-called Boroughmuir proposal) is welcomed by LSFC, not least because it simplifies and separates out the components of the governing structure. At the end of the day it is up to the SRU member clubs to decide how they want the effort of those involved with the Exiles to be structured and channelled in the future. We think the the proposed amendment put forward by Irvine is an unnecessary complication and will not support it on the 10th April.

We would also like to place on record how much we appreciate and value the work that is done and hopefully will continue to be done by those (including the many London Scots) who are involved with the Exiles.

This article was posted on 4-Apr-2005, 14:29 by Hugh Barrow.