THE HERALD REPORTS

Time has come for SRU to forget about Borders
Continued speculation about the SRU's strategy for professional rugby can be no more than that because the governing body is still looking for a coherent strategy. Edinburgh's transition to private hands last year was a short-term boost but it was no more than that. Pro rugby costs still hugely outweigh income and in the case of the Border Reivers shows no sign of improving any time soon.

In essence, what Murrayfield executives are examining is the cheapest way of maintaining sufficient competition for places in the national side - the one major source of income they currently possess. It is generally accepted that three teams are the minimum requirement in that regard.

Costs are much the same wherever those teams are based and problems remain with facilities at both SRU-owned clubs in Glasgow and the Borders. What is needed is partnerships with the public and private sectors in areas that are prepared to support and market pro teams to try, in the first instance, to mitigate losses.

Most objective observers now accept that the Borders have had their chance to prove they can defy the business norms and perform better in commercial terms than their tiny population suggests they should be able to. More conventional thinking is now required and bigger population centres like Aberdeen, Ayr, Falkirk, Fife, Stirling and Tayside must be examined.

In that regard, it seems another chance may be missed on Friday when Scotland A meet their Italian counterparts at McDiarmid Park. There have been mumblings among Midlands clubs about a perceived lack of advertising for the fixture and they blame Murrayfield for the lack of promotional work carried out. This is a familiar argument to those who have heard Borders' excuses for poor attendances.

But surely it is up to the community to seize the opportunity themselves, rather than waiting for the SRU to spoonfeed them. If it is genuinely the case, as is claimed, that Midlands clubs have not been told about this match then it is a major failure of the area's representatives on the SRU council.

Meantime, a flurry of excitement has been caused by the latest suggestion that a Scottish team might be based in London and play in the Magners League.

That idea of basing a Scottish pro team in London has been around since the earliest days of pro rugby, so the claim that the SRU is still open to the possibility was hardly a shock. Particularly in the terms suggested, since the claim was that this team would be self-financing. In other words the SRU is quite happy for there to be another team through which it could develop candidates for the Scotland team, as long as it will cost them nothing.

I think that's what they call a no-brainer. However what also seems inarguable is that England's RFU would be just as determined that this would not happen.

The Magners League is a better product than the English Premiership. With a London-based team involved it would also place a moral imperative on broadcasters to accept that it is of wider interest throughout the British Isles than an all-English competition.

Under IRB rules, the English Premiership can veto such a plan. Scotland only exists as a separate rugby country under IRB rules so it would be dangerous for the SRU to challenge that in the law courts and it follows, then, that the RFU would block a move to set up something that could damage its interests.

Perhaps the best chance of an SRU pro team existing in England is if London Scottish can continue their rise up the English leagues. Until then the SRU must concentrate on sorting out problems on this side of the border.

7:57pm today



By KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer

This article was posted on 20-Feb-2007, 09:02 by Hugh Barrow.