Rvine pleads with clubs to nurture their Scots
COLIN RENTON

SRU President Andy Irvine has urged clubs to resist the temptation to hire foreign players and concentrate their efforts on developing local talent.

Speaking to an audience containing representatives of all but four of the country's clubs at last night's AGM, the former Scotland and British Lions star reiterated the views expressed in yesterday's Evening News that the game in this country is on the up.
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And, after praising the progress made by the national side under Frank Hadden and insisting that the retention of all three professional teams remains a priority, Irvine switched his focus to the clubs.

"I would ask them to go away and consider if we can genuinely finance a professional game at club level. I don't think we can," he said.

"Clubs can't afford to pay players in this country but some are trying to buy success. You can end up with a situation where club A may have a generous sponsor, while club B is less wealthy but they try to match the other one and can't afford it. If a player is good enough, he should play at pro level, otherwise the money should be used to develop clubs."

Then, suggesting that rugby could draw on the example of cricket, he added, "It might work if we could restrict paid players to two per club and if they also have a development role."

Pointing to the potential problems of the current situation, Irvine cited the recent BT Cup final between Watsonians and Currie, a match in which half of the players who started were from the southern hemisphere.

On a separate issue, he suggested that the changes to the Murrayfield hierarchy have transformed the fortunes of the governing body. "We can now look forward with a degree of optimism," he said. "I think we have gone from having one of the worst constitutions in world rugby to one of the best."

Earlier in the meeting, the clubs had voted 99-57 in favour of league reconstruction, restoring the top flight to 12 teams with effect from season 2007/08.

Among the clubs who will welcome the vote are Currie. The Malleny Park outfit's spokesman Alan Douglas said: "We were against the introduction of a ten-team league and we believe it should have stayed at 12."

SRU Chief Executive Gordon McKie gave attendees a warts-and-all assessment of the poor performance of age group and sevens sides before referring to finances. The full financial picture will not be revealed until another meeting on August 27.

The results, said McKie, underlined the need for academies as a breeding ground for international players. He revealed plans to release academy players to their clubs of origin and was adamant the SRU will not apply pressure for players to move to a specific side, as has been the case in recent years.

However, he did issue a warning, saying: "If clubs don't play them they won't get them again. We do not want these players to be turning out for the thirds."

This article was posted on 1-Jul-2006, 19:56 by Hugh Barrow.