THE TIMES REPORTS

Sponsor rings off to leave clubs playing for points and pride
By Lewis Stuart





RUGBY clubs in Scotland have been told they are likely to be playing for pride instead of prize-money when their season kicks off on Saturday without a title sponsor. Instead of rewarding on-field success, the governing union intends to use its scanty resources to reward clubs for increasing the number of players.

Until the end of last season Scottish domestic rugby was sponsored by BT, which had another year to go on its contract when the sides accepted that relations had soured to the point where there was no point in continuing.

The union felt that the sponsorship had been sold too cheaply and the company felt the union were demanding too much for a product that gets almost no exposure on radio or television.

Colin Thomson, the SRU community rugby manager, confirmed yesterday that the season would start without a replacement sponsor, though talks are continuing with a number of companies in the hope that one can be persuaded to join after the season has started.

“The sponsors provided the prize-money but what we are looking at this season is investing the money we have — the money is tight, we are £23 million in debt and have to prioritise — in solving the root cause of our problems, which is lack of numbers. That investment is greater than last year.”

It is a novel approach, which will probably see a dynamic club in the lower divisions winning more from central coffers over the course of the season than the league winners who will have to make do with the pride and glory of capturing the title.

It will end the self-perpetuating elite who have in the past been able to reinvest their prize winnings in hiring players to make sure they can stay at the top and instead turn the focus on the clubs that are most active in their communities.

At least one of the coaches involved feels that resistance to this kind of innovation has been a problem in the past. Watsonians, his club, has come in for criticism for trying to professionalise its playing base with the help of generous sponsorship. “There is this tall-poppy syndrome in Scotland,” he said.

“As soon as you grow, people try to cut you back. There is no reason why all the other clubs cannot go out and win the sort of sponsorship we have. Get out into the local community and attract the sponsors and supporters into the club.”

This is scheduled to be a one-off season with the top division cut to ten teams in a format that will run to early January. A Super Cup will occupy the senior clubs during the spring, not to be confused with the ordinary cup, which will run in parallel, culminating in the finals day on May 5.

Even though this format has received widespread support from players and coaches, it will be scrapped at the end of the season, the league reverting to the same structure as it had last season.

This article was posted on 24-Aug-2006, 08:52 by Hugh Barrow.