THE HERALD REPORTS

The scrapping of Border Reivers could have been a way to deflect attention from the Scottish Rugby Union's plans to sell off the organisation's prime assets, according to one of the main campaigners to save the professional team.

Bob Carruthers, the financial big-hitter in the Murrayfield Sport and Leisure Ltd (MSL) consortium that owns Edinburgh rugby, made the claim as he launched a renewed attack on the SRU for what he claims is a lack of vision.

"We are in danger of stripping assets out of SRU plc and in a rush," he said, referring to proposals to develop the back pitches at Murrayfield which include residential property. "This whole furore is pushing us towards that, but we need to calm down because there is a sense of hysteria."

Carruthers suggested the role of the SRU's bankers in promoting that course of action must be investigated and added that he believes there is a problem with the governance structure - it was overhauled and modernised less than two years ago - because individuals can be on both the SRU council and the executive board. "You are not going to have any checks and balances if people are on both," he said.

All of this must be set against the background of MSL's bid to take control of the Reivers franchise having been rejected on the basis of International Rugby Board rules. MSL believe a way could have been found around that but that the will was not there from the SRU, whose chief executive, Gordon McKie, apparently dismissed their proposal.

The SRU yesterday issued a statement refuting what it claimed were allegations in Sunday newspapers by Carruthers and Graham Burgess, a businessman who had investigated setting up a pro team in Stirling, questioning the integrity of McKie.

Carruthers blamed personalities for the communication problems between MSL and the SRU, which were strained long before the bid to buy the Reivers was made. "Gordon McKie is a thoroughly decent man but he has a completely different vision of how the professional game should progress," he said.

The MSL vision is very much based on views expressed by Andy Irvine, the SRU president, who said last year that he believed that efforts should be made to return to a four-team professional structure. While Irvine was party to a reversal of that view when the announcement was made to close the Reivers, MSL believe it remains achievable, with a Borders team maintained and a Caledonia team reinstated in a year.

Carruthers is naturally offering his full support to a plan launched by Graham Garvie, formerly a member of the same consortium, who has split from that group in a bid to lead the effort to save the Reivers.

That involves running the side at what they described as a similar level to fourth-ranked Irish province Connacht, which is regarded as very much a development side.

They believe that could be achieved at an annual cost of £1.2m, at zero cost to the SRU. Some money would come from ticket sales and sponsorship, though based on the past that would not amount to a great deal. But their arithmetic is heavily dependent on income from the Celtic and European tournaments and is based on the premise that one third of the money coming into Scottish rugby from these two tournaments - around £2.1m - will be lost if a third team goes. Therefore, by staying in existence the Reivers would be entitled to £700,000 from those funds at no cost to the SRU.

Since the mechanisms applied to each union's income from those tournaments has never been solely based on the number of teams participating from the respective countries, that may be a flawed, hypothetical argument.

That in itself frustrates Carruthers, since one of the major areas of conflict between MSL and the SRU has been the governing body's unwillingness to let Edinburgh's new owners see the details of their participation agreements for cross-border competitions. "They're saying we're not allowed to look at those contracts. If they do not allow us to do so then the only way to resolve that is by going to court," he said.

Carruthers claims the SRU has effectively serviced its debt this year thanks to the £1.5m he and his partners have invested, which he believes entitles them to see the documents.

The onus appears to be on the SRU to clarify that position publicly. They will doubtless be under additional pressure to do when full details of Garvie's plan is outlined at a meeting of Scottish rugby clubs to be held in Edinburgh's Caledonian Hotel on Thursday evening.

Allan Munro, the SRU chairman, McKie and Irvine, who together made last week's announcement that the Reivers were to be closed, have been invited to attend.

today



By KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer

This article was posted on 3-Apr-2007, 07:17 by Hugh Barrow.