The Scotsman reports
Borders politicians voice support for Reivers
DAVID FERGUSON

LOCAL council leaders and MSPs are rallying behind the Border Reivers in a bid to persuade the SRU to retain the region's professional rugby team.

Gordon McKie, the SRU president, has stressed that scrapping one of Scotland's three professional teams is only one of several options being considered as the union seeks to stem its £6 million annual loss in professional rugby.

The Borders and Glasgow are the two teams most under threat, but local authorities in the former region have stepped in to throw their weight behind the Reivers and emphasised to the SRU this week how much support their is for pro rugby in the area.

The union's executive, the Scottish Rugby Board, meets at Murrayfield today to determine which, if any, of three proposals of private investment it will take on board. Graham Burgess, the Aberdeen oil businessman, and his partners Roy Carver, a US billionaire, and former Scotland winger Kenny Logan are leading the bids with plans to relocate Glasgow to Stirling's Forthbank Stadium. However, McKie revealed last night that he did not now expect any announcement to be made. He said "sensitive" dialogue with the remaining parties will take place over the next week.

McKie revealed in The Scotsman on Monday that there were no serious financial bidders aiming to take over the Borders. That proved the spark for local groups meet at Scottish Borders Council's HQ in Newtown St Boswells on Tuesday.

The meeting was called by Borders MSPs Jeremy Purvis and Euan Robson and revealed great strength of feeling for keeping a pro side in the region. The SRU was represented by Colin Thomson, the union's community game manager, and John Thorburn, the Borders business manager, and they were joined by Alan Elliot from Scottish Enterprise Borders, David Parker, SBC council leader, former Scotland coach Jim Telfer, Norman Douglas, a long-serving SRU committee member, senior Borders players and current Reivers sponsors Gordon Brown and Dave Kilshaw.

A source said: "This is not about a hard cash investment, unfortunately, but about bringing together as much expertise and support in other ways as is possible. We are talking about various aspects, like marketing, communications, help with ticketing and spreading the image of rugby and the Reivers through the community much better than has been the case.

"You could argue that this should have been done some time ago, but there is a realisation now that people in the Borders have to fight if they want to keep professional rugby here. And there now seems to be a determination to do that."

There was an indication of the feeling in a local newspaper on Tuesday, when Drew Tulley, the former Borders council leader, and veteran volunteer at Gala RFC, attacked McKie for suggesting that the Borders team may be under threat.

He stated: "Mr McKie should lead by example and shut up until he has something positive to say. He should wait until he has all the information. The decision should be taken on merit and not on political grounds.

"The Borders has a strong case, and with Scotland, Scotland A and the under-21s all losing at the weekend,
McKie yesterday denied that he was pre-empting anything, merely that he had highlighted there were no major investment proposals from the region. It could turn out very well for Borders rugby, however. If the board take the plunge and agree today to allow Burgess' group to invest in a team, most likely Glasgow, the SRU would then be able to invest more substantially in the Borders and Edinburgh, its two Heineken Cup teams for this season, but, significantly perhaps, with more support from the Borders area.

This article was posted on 22-Jun-2006, 09:51 by Hugh Barrow.