The Scotsman reports

DAVID FERGUSON
SCOTT Hastings has hit back at suggestions BT will boycott Scottish rugby's national cup finals day tomorrow over a row about sponsorship.

Platinum One, Hastings' PR and marketing firm, represents the telecoms giant. The former Scotland and Lions centre distanced BT from a report which claimed that the company was feuding with the SRU over a new sponsorship deal and as a result BT officials were staying away from the Murrayfield showpiece.

"The comments in the article are simply inaccurate," said Hastings. "BT are supporting the cup final and have not even reached the stage of reviewing the current deal, which doesn't run out until next year.

"The facts are that we had hoped the head of BT Group Sponsorship in London, Paul Leonard, would be coming to the finals, as did he, but he is now leaving the company. He is actually going today, and it's nothing to do with rugby sponsorship - he's been there 30 years and is moving on. Unfortunately, at the same time, BT Scotland's head of communications, Alan Bonas, is on holiday and when we discovered Paul couldn't make it was too late for Alan to secure a flight home.

"But, for a change, BT had deliberately shifted their focus this year away from top officials and on to the BT employees involved in rugby. The BT ambassador scheme involves about 70 people, some of whom never stepped inside a rugby club before BT pulled this together and are now firm rugby fans and well-known faces at clubs across the country.

"These ambassadors travel all over Scotland making the presentations in the national leagues, and many are involved in mini rugby, youth and senior clubs, so BT invited some of them to sit in the royal box instead of BT dignitaries."

Like that of many sponsors, BT's relations with the SRU have been strained at times, notably over a perceived lack of marketing by the SRU of the BT league and cup competitions. In bidding to generate a profit, the Union is also looking to increase revenue from sponsorship deals, which may threaten a new deal with BT.

New plans were yesterday thrashed out in the latest Scottish Rugby Board meeting designed to pull the organisation of the game back within manageable budgets, thereby reducing the £23million debt, but also improve the development and performance levels across Scottish rugby. A press conference to explain the decisions taken is being held this morning at Murrayfield.

This article was posted on 28-Apr-2006, 06:27 by Hugh Barrow.