THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS
PHIL JOHNSON
GLASGOW'S professional rugby team could be moved out of the city next season.

Gordon McKie, the chief executive of the Scottish Rugby Union, said yesterday a decision about the team's location is due "very soon", but refused to confirm that it will remain in Glasgow.

When it was announced in March that the Border Reivers would be disbanded this summer, the SRU pledged to use the savings made to invest more resources in Glasgow. McKie said then that the team could be based "in Glasgow, the west of Scotland or the central belt", and referred to Forthbank Stadium in Stirling as the type of venue that would be suitable for professional rugby in Scotland.

When asked yesterday if he could confirm that the team will remain in Glasgow next season, McKie said: "I can't say that because we are evaluating elsewhere, and until that process concludes I couldn't really specify one city against another. But hopefully we'll resolve it very soon."

The SRU's evaluation is likely to be complicated by the efforts of Graham Burgess to take control of the discarded Border Reivers team and re-launch the side in Stirling. The Union will have further discussions with Burgess this week, but McKie said yesterday that time is running out to have a new, privately-controlled team in place for next season. If an agreement can't be reached with Burgess soon, the SRU would have the option to move its own Glasgow team to Stirling instead.

McKie said: "The big issues in Glasgow are where we're playing next season - and that is getting to a closure - and, secondly, player signings, ensuring that the squad is strengthened and enlarged to cope with the rigours of the season. These are the main issues in Glasgow."

This article was posted on 8-May-2007, 06:51 by Hugh Barrow.