EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS REPORTS
Sponsor is vital for Premier clubs says rugby chief

NEW Premiership rugby chief Jock Millican today said a title sponsor for Scotland's top domestic competition should be the SRU's priority.

Ex-internationalist Millican, from Heriot's, has slipped quietly into the post after taking over the secretariat from Kenny Hamilton of Glasgow Hawks.


And Millican, speaking ahead of tonight's SRU annual general meeting, is adamant that the governing body must pull out all the stops to ensure rank and file needs are not overlooked.

He also stressed that compromises would have to be made over issues such as the release of aspiring players from clubs to professional academy set-ups.

The last rugby season ended on a low note with a split between the governing body and long-time domestic backers, BT.

But Millican, while acknowledging that plans for a revamped Premiership to be completed by Christmas supported by a new cup tournament might not be the most commercially attractive, is still optimistic there could soon be a new sponsor in place.

He said: "The SRU are putting out the feelers, including through some club contacts, and I would be hopeful of a sponsor soon."

The new fixture format is due to be voted on with opinion split on whether to effectively render reductions carried out over last season meaningless and reinstate a 12 or even 14-team competition instead.

Millican said: "The collective view of Premier One clubs is that it would be wrong to move the goal posts so quickly.

"In fact, I have never come across anything in my sporting life like that which would over-turn something already agreed before next season gets underway.

"There were good reasons then for moving towards a ten-team league. But, with fresh assurances coming from the SRU about the availability to clubs of up-and-coming academy players, there's no reason why we can't implement bigger leagues from 2007-08."

Calling for a speedy end to the uncertainty, Millican claimed that it also affects SRU dealings with the potential investors they are seeking for the pro teams.

And he reckons the success of the pro teams is vital to creating the feel-good factor at national level from which all parties could benefit.

He said: "The SRU will have to be very clear who is doing what and where accountability lies in any link-up.

"The only way this type of arrangement will work is if it is established in advance exactly what investors will get back if through, say, marketing nous they double or treble crowds at Edinburgh, Glasgow or Borders games.

"However, I don't expect investors to come in to make money so much as not lose any for that is the nature of professional sport."

Millican is a brewery executive and, as a businessman, makes it clear that the agreements the Premiership clubs are keen to establish with the governing body depend heavily on trust.

He said: "I believe there is scope to work to mutual advantage and without confrontation, though some compromises on both sides will be necessary.

"The best way forward for Scottish rugby is through a successful national team - a Grand Slam for Scotland in 2007 would top my wish list - but, at the same time, Premiership clubs attract a fair amount of limelight and, if we are neglected, then the game suffers through a reduction in players coming through.

"One bit needs the other and what is reassuring is that there has been much, much more meaningful dialogue such as was achieved when [performance director] Henry Edwards recently explained that clubs might only be required to give up leading prospects for academy matches on three occasions before the leagues end.

"There is recognition on our part that these lads need to play at a higher level, yet are not ready for Celtic League debuts so an accommodation based on back-up matches has been reached."

Where Millican is particularly decisive is in stating that season 2006-07 will be his friend Andy Irvine's last year as SRU President after becoming the sole nomination tomorrow in a situation which reflects satisfaction at a job so far well done.

"Andy will have done two stints which is all that is allowed under the new governance structure and I am confident that there are plenty of worthy successors emerging."

Millican was capped three times in 1973 out of Edinburgh University and, who knows, he might in future emerge as a strong leadership candidate himself.

This article was posted on 30-Jun-2006, 12:43 by Hugh Barrow.