BT confirms split from club rugby after 'challenging' sponsorship
DAVID FERGUSON
BT's sponsorship of Scottish rugby came to an acrimonious end yesterday when the communications giant confirmed that it would not renew its involvement in domestic rugby.

Gordon McKie, the SRU chief executive, had stated in a media briefing on Tuesday that he envisaged the sponsorship deal coming to an end this season.

He insisted that the union had wished to keep BT on board, and had offered an enhanced sponsorship package, but as The Scotsman reported last month, BT did not wish to pay more in return for the added benefits the SRU was offering.

McKie also revealed that, contrary to the statements made by BT last month, their contract ran until next summer, there was no written agreement and that other sponsors were lined up to replace BT this summer.

BT's head of communications Alan Bonas responded yesterday in a statement which confirmed the end of the sponsorship.

It said: "BT today confirms the termination of its sponsorship of Scottish club rugby with immediate affect. It will bring an end to the sponsorship of the BT Premier and National Leagues, the BT Cup, the BT Shield and the BT Bowl. BT has invested £3 million in the club game in Scotland during its seven years of support."

Bonas admitted that BT had found it difficult dealing with a succession of executive chairmen and board members in recent years, each one coming in with different ideas on how the sponsorship should operate, and recent regimes downscaling the marketing of the league and cup competitions to save the SRU money.

He added: "It was disappointing to read in this morning's papers that [the SRU] had publicly announced the termination of our sponsorship. It has been a good, but challenging association at times, and now we must move on.

"We wish Scottish rugby and any new sponsor every success and hope that our long association with the country's rugby clubs will leave a lasting mark on the game in Scotland."

This article was posted on 1-Jun-2006, 06:34 by Hugh Barrow.