THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS
DAVID FERGUSON CHIEF RUGBY WRITER ([email protected])
THE hive of rugby industry around Bridgehaugh on Saturday underlined why now is the time the SRU has to act to save professional rugby in Scotland.

On the pitch Kenny Logan's All Star team and some talented young sevens stars from his old club Wasps were giving the local sides a lesson in the abbreviated game. Enjoying the same sunshine, but at a more sedate pace, was Graham Burgess, the Aberdeen businessman who has been offering money to the Scottish Rugby Union for the past two years without yet having it taken up.

He was joined by other successful Scots businessmen, including Gerald Porter, a Scot who became a fanatical Wasps fan after his move into the London business environment but is still passionate about Scottish rugby. Porter is one of a handful of businessmen who were interested in buying Glasgow from the SRU, and met with Gordon McKie, the SRU chief executive, earlier this year, but of whom McKie said the relationship had gone quiet.

McKie, under further questioning, admitted that the SRU board did not want to hand over control of Glasgow, and that is the big crux as to why his regime is struggling to make a better fist of the pro game in Scotland than its predecessors. McKie, Allan Munro, executive board chairman, and president Andy Irvine can legitimately blame previous managements of the SRU for the mess they have been landed with, but after 21 months at the helm they appear to have taken the backwards step of cutting a professional team rather than selling it.

The talk in Stirling on Saturday, however, was of how Burgess could provide the SRU with a clear way out. He discussed his plans with Stirling County members, some of whom expressed concern at the possible conflicts of interest with his planned pro team based at nearby Forthbank. By the end of the discussions, they were more aware of his passion for the club game, his desire to work with County on the playing and commercial sides, and the new potential for rugby across the central belt such a move may create.

There is also the extra incentive of basing a team in Stirling of a major new sports facility which could be up and running as early as winter, 2008-9, based within a few hundred yards of Forthbank Stadium.

Stirling City Council, which owns Forthbank Stadium, has already met with Burgess and is enthusiastic about a link-up with a professional rugby team, which would allow access to the new facility.

Of course, this does little to alter the gloom around the Borders at the loss of their team, but there is not the current finance there that Burgess has. And it would at least help some of the 20 or so Borders staff not fixed up for next season - including coach Steve Bates and internationalists Ross Ford, Kelly Brown, Gavin Kerr and Bruce Douglas.

McKie admitted yesterday that talks are ongoing with Burgess. He said: "Discussions did take place with Graham Burgess last week and I anticipate further discussions will take place this week. We are assessing [Burgess' plan]. It would make sense for the process to be as short as possible, otherwise players still remaining will go elsewhere. You can't put a deadline on these things, but we appreciate the need to move quickly if it makes sense and it's viable."

There will be potential obstacles, notably the difficulty in starting a team from scratch with less than two months until pre-season training should begin. But money is the biggest factor for the debt-laden SRU. Burgess expects some funding from the SRU, much of which could be covered by handing over a third of the £2.7 million gained from participating in the ERC and Magners League and any prize-money earned by the team. The SRU's hopes of retaining all of that money with just two teams - and investing most of it in Glasgow - are likely to be slim.

Again dismissing the Borders' plan, which hinged on that share of money and more, McKie added: "That money belongs to the union. If [Burgess' plan] makes sense, is properly funded and is competitive then the board may consider the potential for a subsidy if it looks viable.

"Legally, the money belongs to the Union, and it's the same in England. They choose to share some, if not most of that with the clubs, but the money belongs to the union."

The dilemma is, however, very similar to that the SRU faced when Brian Kennedy first offered to take over Edinburgh and Burgess first approached McKie nearly two years ago - "do we hand over control?" The simple fact is the SRU has shown over the past 12 years that it cannot run professional rugby and has left the current board with no real options.

This article was posted on 1-May-2007, 06:45 by Hugh Barrow.