THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS
DAVID FERGUSON RUGBY CORRESPONDANT

ANDY Irvine last night appealed to clubs throughout Scotland to halt the influx of foreign players to the Scottish game.

Speaking at the annual general meeting at Murrayfield, the president praised the SRU and clubs for "turning the corner" and providing a more optimistic future than was the case in the strife torn sport this time last year. However he warned that it was merely the start and more progress was needed to revive Scotland as a serious rugby nation.
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He said: "I would like clubs to go away and seriously consider whether we can finance the game at club level because I don't think we can. We cannot afford to pay players in this country. Some clubs are trying to buy success.

"Where Club A might have a sponsor and go and buy overseas players, Club B down the road might not be as wealthy but still tries to match Club A and we get into a vicious circle. We are losing tens of thousands of pounds to players who should not be paid. If they are good enough they will play professional rugby.

"So I would ask clubs to work with each other and ask themselves if allowing tens of thousands of pounds to drain out of our game is in the best interests of Scottish rugby. I am not knocking foreign players, as people like Sean Lineen and Todd Blackadder have been very good here. But a quarter of our club players were from overseas last season and in the cup final 50 per cent of the players who took the field were from the Southern Hemisphere. That could be 80 or 90 per cent in five or ten years' time."

Irvine insisted there would be no directive from the SRU executive or council and went on to praise the efforts clubs have made in changing the mood around the game.

He added: "I told you last year that the in-fighting and back-stabbing had stopped. That's true. Now go back and tell your clubs we have turned the corner and that Scotland will no longer be the whipping boys of world rugby."

The main business of the evening went as predicted in yesterday's Scotsman with a motion from Stirling County to return Division One to 12 teams passed, but not until season 2007/08. It was revealed by George Clark of Boroughmuir that a new "Super Cup" had been drawn up to fill the second half of the coming season - as the top league drops to ten teams - however that now seems likely to come under review once again next summer.

The only other motion left standing last night was for a relaxation of the number of substitutes required in games below Premier Two level which was also passed.

However, of interest to all clubs will be the revelations from Gordon McKie, the SRU chief executive, that a new development fund has been set up to distribute money to clubs and that talented young players will no longer be encouraged to leave their club for a Division One side. McKie, who admitted that he could say little on the ongoing discussions over selling one of the professional teams, while accepting that this was probably the major issue confronting his board at this moment in time, added that the SRU are to help create a new London Scottish academy in an effort to attract new talent from outside Scotland.

It was also enlightening to hear Irvine state that he felt last year's move to a new governance, while successful, had perhaps gone too far. He added that consideration should be given to restoring the position of vice-president and also to allowing members of the board to remain in office for longer terms.

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This article was posted on 1-Jul-2006, 07:21 by Hugh Barrow.