ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2006 MOTIONS AND AMENDMENTS

I am writing at the request of the Council to give you its views on the Motions and Amendments.

1 Motion 1 - National League Championship – Whilst the Council fully believes that Championship Regulation 1.2 should be adhered to wherever possible i.e. that the structure of the Championship should not be changed without a full playing season's notice being given, the Council is also mindful that it is for the clubs to decide on how they wish to run their leagues in any given season. In an ideal situation, clubs should know at the start of the season what they are playing for at the end of the season and this rule was specifically introduced so as to ensure that this important concept was preserved within the rules and the spirit of the Championship.

The Council also feels that in an already crowded season it would be impractical to introduce 14 team leagues without some sort of radical change to the existing home and away format -one such example being the introduction of a 'Super 14' format with play offs etc. In the current fixture planning, it is already difficult enough to plan for 12 team leagues (22 games), the Cup/Shield/Bowl/Plate (9 rounds, before any possible restructuring thereof), the Leagues starting near the end of August and ending by the end of March, avoiding weekends on or near Christmas and New Year.

Furthermore, the Council is keen to reach an optimum position regarding club and country on international weekends and the Championship Secretary has written separately to clubs on this with the proposed structure for season 2006/07. 14 team leagues on a home and away basis with the present cup set-up would work against this.

On the proposal to introduce a 12-team League for Premiership Division 1, the Council feels that this is a matter for the clubs to debate. There are pros and cons for this of which all clubs will already be aware.

2 Motion 2 - Players attached to Professional Teams - The Council is most concerned about this Motion. Scottish Rugby is seeing its young international players, particularly at age levels, getting further and further behind the players in other Unions. This was seen in the IRB U19 World Championship in April, and in the results of the U19 international matches during the season; the U21 international players had a reasonable 6N Championship, but the squad is dependent on a very small base of players from which to select; hopefully they will do well in the IRB U21 World Championship this month. It is essential that the talented young players are gathered together to be developed to the same level as their counterparts in other Unions. This is particularly so for the development of younger, apprentice players for the pro teams and also in preparation for the senior international team, where as the President stated at the recent Special General Meeting it is important to have a successful international team as that is the best advertisement to encourage youngsters not only to take up the game but to remain in the game, with the victories against France and England a major boost to the game in Scotland.

At a very good meeting between the Premier 1 forum and SRU executives when the next season's academy structures were advised, the clubs felt that as the Motion says this was a positive step in the development, conditioning and strengthening of players. There will not be a bar on the professional players playing for clubs, but obviously it cannot be guaranteed that all players not playing for their pro teams will be available to play for their clubs - players require to be given rest, to be given time to recover from injury, while on the grounds of player welfare players should where possible only play a set number of games per season.

The Council supports the notion of closer working relationships between the pro teams and the 'elite' clubs in P1. To this end, the Council also supports the overdue establishment of a working group to examine performance issues, such a group to include suitable representation from within the P1 Forum.

The Council therefore opposes this Motion but has been advised that the pro team managements will liaise with the original (where appropriate) clubs of the professional and apprentice players on these players being available to play for their clubs, wherever possible.

3 Motion 3 - National Competition Rules - The Council feels that this is entirely a matter for the clubs to debate.

4 Motion 4 - National Cup Competitions - This Motion has been proposed by the Scottish Rugby Board, the Council supports the Motion and a member of the Board will speak to the Motion. The Amendment gives guidance to the Championship Committee in its considerations

Yours faithfully

Graham A Ireland Secretary

This article was posted on 8-Jun-2006, 14:12 by Hugh Barrow.