The Herald reports


A little trust from SRU hierarchy could get best out of people
On a weekend of missed opportunities for Scottish rugby, the players were not alone in failing to capitalise on those presented to them.

In the end, the succession of near misses on the try-scoring front was not serious, such was the dominance over Wales on the pitch and the reliability of Chris Paterson's right boot. However, the failure to take an off-field opportunity presented by another squad member could prove something the Scottish Rugby Union lives to regret much more.

In a dreadful case of political correctness gone mad, the SRU chose to gag one of its leading players on the day of the game because the points he was making - extremely valid ones at that - were deemed likely to embarrass some guests.

It would be unfair to identify the individual in question or the newspaper for which he writes in the circumstances, but the subject matter was the need for greater state investment in facilities.

It arose because ground conditions meant Scotland had to switch venues to prepare for last week's game.

In his column, the player apparently made the point, quite forcefully, that, in France, each municipality is obliged to invest in community facilities.

We have often raised this subject in The Herald following visits to the continent since the absence of such facilities blights Scottish professional rugby.

The SRU claims to have been campaigning with both national and city politicians on this for several years, yet it would seem they only want others to do the dirty work for them.

The problem with that is that it is one thing responsible journalists campaigning on such issues and quite another leading sportsmen doing so.

The newspaper in question is a leading tabloid only likely to take an interest because a player raised the matter. Yet, to the player's bemusement, a red pen was put through the relevant comments because leading politicians were among the SRU's guests on Saturday.

The organisation has made a rod for its own back. Had its public relations team not insisted on approval of all columns written by players, they could have denied any knowledge of what had been written while capitalising on a great opportunity to discuss the problem.

Their insistence on that process, because they do not trust their own players to be responsible in their public utterances - they also attach minders to them at all international press conferences, incidentally - meant they could not do so and felt forced to interfere.

This matter became a major cause for concern last season when The Herald led the campaign to prevent editorial interference, refusing point blank to present columns written by Jason White, Scotland's captain, for approval by the spin doctors.

It became a matter of principle regarding editorial control as we refused to subject our readers to state- controlled propaganda.

Readers will note that White no longer writes for The Herald and no other Scotland player does either.

As with Saturday's PR blunder, that has denied the SRU a great promotional opportunity. The space previously allocated to the team captain is now available either to other sports or to rugby commentators who may or may not write things that the national management will see as helpful, before or after Test matches.

The SRU's administrators can learn a great deal from the relative success being enjoyed by the current team management.

As Frank Hadden, the head coach, has demonstrated, a little bit of trust can go a long way in terms of getting the best out of people.

9:48pm today



By KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer

This article was posted on 13-Feb-2007, 14:07 by Hugh Barrow.