The Scotsman

United front in battle for national confidence

DAVID FERGUSON
CHIEF RUGBY WRITER

THE resounding applause which echoed around the President’s Suite at Murrayfield yesterday afternoon marked a major breakthrough in Scottish rugby’s battle to restore confidence to a sport ravaged by in-fighting over the past two months.

The decisions taken at the second special general meeting of the year went further to suggesting that the continual strife which had plagued Scottish rugby’s first decade as a professional sport could be settling. It would be naïve to believe great friendship and unanimity might continue to permeate every part of the game as it moves forward, but that was at least the picture over 200 people, many of whom have been bitter enemies, strove to present yesterday.

The main issue at stake was a proposal to radically streamline the sport’s governing body, clearly marking out who runs the game and, in the process, scrapping the general committee which had sacked David Mackay, the executive board chairman, and brought about a swift and ruthless coup of the old board. Mackay’s three fellow non-executive directors and Phil Anderton, the union’s chief executive, all resigned in that fall-out and were replaced within days, the committee having deemed them to be responsible for leading the game in the wrong direction.

Those departed figures deserve credit for igniting the process of change. But it must come as some relief that Scottish clubs yesterday accepted their responsibility to effect change and make it happen, a challenge which failed many in that first decade.

The motion before the 166 delegates yesterday had been harvested by an independent working party set up by the new SRU leadership and chaired by Sheriff Bill Dunlop. It advocated replacing the general committee with a new ‘Scottish Rugby Council’ and the current executive board with a ‘Scottish Rugby Board’. Dunlop, along with Gordon Dixon, the SRU president and chairman of the general committee, spoke passionately about why they felt the clubs must embrace the change wholeheartedly, and the clubs accepted their lead.

The first of the amendments to the working party proposals heard yesterday - the only one proposed by the general committee - was a straightforward proposal to upgrade the schools, womens, referees and new rep from a rugby players association to ‘associated body’ status which will now give them two votes each at meetings in line with clubs. That went through without a problem.

The other one to be passed was the more far-reaching \"Boroughmuir amendment\" on the make-up of the new council. Dunlop’s working party had proposed three club representatives, seven district reps and four from the ‘general’ group - womens, schools, refs and players - but Boroughmuir proposed an even split of five from each, the latter group taking in the president. This proved contentious with only 90 of the 166 delegates voting for it, but it was passed by a simple majority.

Hawick also challenged the working party’s proposal to leave the Borders with fewer reps than Edinburgh or Glasgow, but this amendment was effectively made void by the Boroughmuir one, and another from the Borders club, to let the council elect executive board directors, fell because Gala, who had seconded the amendment, withdrew their support. The amendments calling for the retention of an Exiles representative and for one of the two vice-president posts to be retained were both defeated on small majorities.

The future of the general committee members, who led the coup, remains of great interest, but it would seem some will not return after the agm in June as it emerged during the meeting that the council’s district rep roles are likely to become very different from those which existed in the days of the general committee. It was stated that each club in Premier One, Two, Three and the National Leagues would vote for their new council representatives. But the clubs will have only one vote each, and so could not also vote for a district representative. That leaves the non-league clubs to elect the district representatives. While strengthening the voice of the lower end of the game, the new arrangement also makes it tougher for the existing general committee members to return to power. The whole future of the districts, however, is to be examined by a working party.

That merely emphasises the fact that, for all the agreement achieved yesterday, there remains a great deal of work ahead. The periods of office for council members are to differ and the elections will be intriguing, but of perhaps greater significance to the game is the deliberations of another working party, that chaired by John Jeffrey on the future shape of domestic competitions.

That contentious area has arguably been the biggest single hindrance to Scotland’s professional teams and international side’s ability to compete, and already the party is understood to be moving away from the structure proposed by last year’s Genesis Review.

Gordon Dixon, president of the Scottish Rugby Union, concluded the meeting by stating: \"

\"I would ask everyone to take on board the fact that as a consequence of the democratic process decisions that have been reached and agreed and be accepted by all so we can move our game forward and ensuring that all with an interest in Scottish rugby, be it player, supporter, sponsor, media, administrator or politician can once again have confidence in our governance and confidence in Scottish rugby. The future is in our hands.\"

KEY CHANGES

The Scottish Rugby Union will be run by one autonomous decision-making board - the Scottish Rugby Board.

The Board will run the business of the SRU subject only to its accountability to the major stakeholders in the Scottish game - the clubs, whose representatives will be elected to a Scottish Rugby Council, replacing the existing General Committee.

The role of the Council will be to review and advise the Board.

Clubs supported an amendment from Boroughmuir to determine the make-up of the Scottish Rugby Council. It will comprise 15 representatives:

Five from the clubs in the leagues (one each from clubs in Premier 1, Premier 2 and Premier 3 and two to represent clubs in the National Leagues not organised on a regional basis)

Five from clubs outwith the national leagues to be selected on a district basis, ie one each from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Borders, North and Midlands.

Five comprising representatives of the Scottish Women’s Rugby Union; the Scottish Rugby Referees Association; the SRU Schools Division; the soon-to-be formalised Scottish Rugby Players’ Association; and the President of the Union (who will be elected by clubs).

This article was originally posted on 11-Apr-2005, 07:09 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 11-Apr-2005, 07:10.