SCOTTISH RUGBY UNION

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2005

AMENDMENTS TO MOTIONS


1/2 Club League and Cup Competitions

Amendments each to be put separately proposed by Boroughmuir RFC and seconded by Watsonian FC:

"1 To insert, as a new paragraph, after 1(c) the following:
To effect the transition from a 12 Club to a 10 Club Premier 1 Division, the Clubs finishing in eleventh and twelfth places in Premier 1 Division at the end of Season 2005/06 will be relegated, with no promotion from Premier Division 2.

2 To insert, as a new paragraph, after 1(c) the following:
At the end of Season 2006/07 and subsequent Seasons, the Team finishing bottom in Premier Division 1 will be relegated and the Team finishing top in Premier Division 2 promoted, with the Team finishing ninth in Premier Division 1 and the Team finishing second in Premier Division 2 playing-off, by means of two games played on a home-and-away basis, with the overall winner competing in Premier Division 1 in the following Season and the overall loser competing in Premier Division 2.

3 To add, at the end of Motion 2, the following:
For Season 2005/06 Clubs that are in Premier Division 1 will enter the National Cup Competition at Round 4.""

The purpose of these amendments is to effect a transition from a 12-Team Premier 1 to 10-Team Premier 1 without the necessity of play-off matches at the end of Season 2005/06. The League Season is already seriously congested and play-offs will further exacerbate the problems.

In Season 2005/06, Premier 1 will still comprise 12 Clubs. With the likelihood of there being significant demands on Premier 1 players for professional and age-grade/Sevens representative rugby from January onwards, Premier 1 are keen to complete as much of the League as they can before the end of December, with all their players available, and to co-operate in releasing players for representative rugby in the second half of the season. As Premier 1 Clubs tend to record very large victories in Round 3 of the Cup, with little resultant benefit to the clubs in lower divisions, the purpose of the final amendment is to ease the congestion of fixtures in the coming Season by allowing one further round of league games in December.

Amendment proposed by Kinross RFC and seconded by Lenzie RFC.

"Motion 1(b) - Change the first word three to four. The proposed amended sentence would then read, 'Four National League Divisions of 12 clubs playing on a national basis.'"

If this Amendment is passed one of the implications will be that regionalised divisions will start at Division 5. The other implication is that if the top 4 from Division 4 next season go up to the new Division 3 there will be 6 vacancies. We would suggest that the top 2 from each of the 3 existing regional National Division 5 leagues could fill them. This would help to ensure that these divisions next season remain competitive.

Amendment proposed by Marr RFC and seconded by Dumfries RFC and North Berwick RFC.

"Change 1) to:
1) 'To introduce a new League structure from season 2006/07 so that there is:
§ One Premiership Division comprising of 10 clubs.
§ Three National League Divisions of 12 clubs playing on a national basis.
§ Three Regional leagues of 10 clubs not restricted to current district structures. A levelling process will be used to ensure best match of standards and geographical location.
§ Further regionalised leagues to be established along similar lines by the Championship Committee."

Amendment proposed by Glasgow Hutchesons' Aloysians RFC and seconded by Edinburgh Academical FC and Berwick RFC:

"Motion 1 be amended with the addition of the following immediately after sub-paragraph (c):
'And that the arrangements for promotion and relegation at the end of season 2005-06 adhere to the proposals in the SRU Club Competitions Working Party report dated 15 April 2005, specifically in defining that 3 clubs be relegated and 1 club promoted between Premiership Divisions and between Premier 3 and National League Division 1.'"

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that the Transitional Arrangements for promotion and relegation are implemented as defined by the SRU Club Competitions Working Party report.

3 Election of District Representative Members

Amendment proposed by Glasgow Hutchesons' Aloysians RFC and seconded by Garnock RFC.

"Motion 3 be deleted in its entirety and the following be substituted:
Amendment to bye-law 11 (b)(ii):
Delete the words "not eligible to elect any person under bye-law 11(b)(i), based".

Bye-law 11(b)(ii) currently states:
"five persons ("District Representative members") elected by clubs not eligible to elect any person under Bye-law 11(b)(i) based on a geographical basis such that there shall be one representative each from (a) Scottish Borders District, (b) Edinburgh and District, (c) Glasgow and District, (d) Midlands District and (e) North District."

If amended, bye-law 11(b)(ii) would state:
"five persons ("District Representative members") elected by clubs on a geographical basis such that there shall be one representative each from (a) Scottish Borders District, (b) Edinburgh and District, (c) Glasgow and District, (d) Midlands District and (e) North District.""

The purpose of this amendment is to allow all clubs the right to be represented on the Scottish Rugby Council by a District Representative Member.

This article was posted on 25-May-2005, 15:06 by Hugh Barrow.