THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS

Rugby goes cup in hand to Holyrood
DAVID FERGUSON
CHIEF RUGBY WRITER
THE glittering presence of the Calcutta Cup in the Scottish Parliament will today kick-off a nationwide tour for the trophy, but more significantly, launch an appeal to make rugby a more attractive sport to Scots.

The winning feeling from this year's Six Nations triumph over England is what the SRU hopes will attract youngsters to rugby, with the Calcutta Cup appearing at myriad events from school sports days to hospital openings. It starts, fittingly, at the doorstep of Jack McConnell, the First Minister, because the most crucial area the Scottish Rugby Union is seeking to change is the role the government plays in developing sporting talent of the future.


The idea that sports can help eradicate Scotland's tag as one of the most unhealthy countries in Europe is an obvious one, but organisations have been pushing for some time for sport to become linked more clearly with the Scottish Executive's health and education policies.

It has become commonplace over the last couple of decades for a national coach in most sports, from football to rugby, athletics to cricket, tennis to swimming, to opine that they really should not be having to show elite sportsmen and women basic skills in the week leading up to major international matches or competitions. By that stage, other countries are fine-tuning tactical approaches, having mastered the basics.

For all the work put into sport by various governing bodies, there is no substitute for exposure to sport in schools. And yet the Scottish Executive is still to create a serious programme which restores sport to the heart of children's lives with proper and safe tuition.

Andy Nicol, the former Scotland and British and Irish Lions scrum-half, recalls vividly hoisting the Calcutta Cup at a packed Murrayfield in 2000. "We have to seize the chance to make the most of it," said Nicol yesterday.

"I don't think we did in 2000 as much as we might, but the plans for this year are terrific. It is fantastic to see the way people's eyes, especially children's, light up when you bring the Calcutta Cup into a room, or to a training session. It can also do a lot of good in a political sense so I'm glad the tour is starting at the Scottish Executive. There is no doubt that sport should be given much more importance than it has been up to now, and this success by the current team provides a focus for that.

"I am aware as anybody is of the importance of other issues in government, but the government across the UK could do more to recognise the value of sport.

"I have been through the system, from school to the top level, and see the difficulties we face in reaching the top in Scottish sport. You go to France and see the fantastic facilities the French rugby team train at, and that has been state-funded. It was the same when France won the football World Cup in 1998 - there had been a government- supported push for success."

Ian McGeechan, the then director of rugby at the SRU, told the Scottish Executive last year that seeds of success were being sown, but had to do so in defensive mode as Murrayfield was gripped by a bloody revolution. Frank Hadden, the Scotland coach, sits in McGeechan's shoes today, with an altogether different backdrop, that which provides proof of Scottish success with improving government investment.

Despite the union suffering under the burden of a £23million debt, rugby's government funding compares favourably with other sports in Scotland. In 2005-6, rugby received £803,000, up £150,000 on the previous year. Swimming received £670,000; football £653,850 (half of which went to women's football); hockey £639,000; athletics £705,783; cricket £317,000; and tennis £293,000. So this year, rugby received more than cricket and men's football put together, despite the fact many thousands more people play those sports than play rugby.

The essence of today's message to the cross-party meeting on sport will be that success is possible in Scotland, but sport's problems run deeper than mere finance. With international exposure and a sense of pride few sports can dream of, Scottish rugby has the ability to make a difference nationally and so deserves praise for striving to lead change.

This brings us back to the reason for taking the Calcutta Cup around the country over the next year - to help revive national pride and remind the nation that Scotland can be winners. The recent Commonwealth Games squad proved that in Melbourne, as has British tennis No 1 Andy Murray, and the rugby players are on the way back at international level.

Putting a price on the value of that is not easy to do, but what should be spelled out at Holyrood today is that without government commitment to making sport a central part of school life in Scotland, there is no guarantee that these successes will prove to be anything more than just a cyclical upturn.

This article was posted on 20-Apr-2006, 07:30 by Hugh Barrow.