DAVID FERGUSON
KENNY Logan has launched a withering attack on the Scottish Rugby Union, claiming that the current leadership is "ruining the sport".

After analysing the Scotland A team's unimpressive win over the USA in the Churchill Cup for Sky TV, the former Scotland winger said in interviews with The Scotsman and the BBC that he feared for the future of rugby in Scotland and for Frank Hadden, the national coach.

"It's an absolute disgrace," said Logan of professional rugby in Scotland. "The SRU are ruining the sport. Why would a young child want to play rugby in Scotland now, with just two professional sides to get into?

"The SRU haven't got to grips with professional rugby; we're still years behind [England, Wales, Ireland and France] because I don't think the people running the game understand professional sport. They understand business, figures and accountancy, and, as Sir Alan Sugar says, they should stick to what they're good at.

"That means lose control of the professional game and let in private investors who want to do the job, and then concentrate on the grassroots, the future of our game, which is struggling. Professional rugby needs to be run by people who understand it.

"I work with good names in sports sponsorship, such

as Whyte & Mackay, Tag Heuer, Highland Spring and Bulldog, and Scottish rugby is not offering them anything they will get involved in. They don't seem to know how to; it's no surprise they've lost big names.

"The key for Scottish rugby is to get back the people who used to watch the game because all I hear now is people sick of the way they've been treated as fans, wasting of money and the shambles of the way the pro game is run."

Logan, whose marketing and events firm works with Guinness Premiership clubs and other London events, has been advising Graham Burgess, the Aberdeen oilman who has offered to take over a pro team.

Logan said: "It is time the union came clean on why they again refused private investment. There isn't money to be made in rugby, but there are a lot of people at home and abroad with a real passion for the Scottish game, and a lot of experience, who want to help us get better.

"But it needs the SRU to want it to work - and that is the problem."

He added: "Scottish clubs have to stand up and ask their union: why, when £23 million in debt, are you turning away money? Even if it was just a few hundred thousand pounds, why not work with these people, bring them into the game and develop a relationship?"

Logan may not have been Scotland's greatest player, but his passion was often highly visible and it remains as clear as when he retired from international rugby, at the end of the 2003 World Cup. The strength of his views have not weakened with time either.

When asked how Scotland are shaping up for the 2007 tournament, he replied: "If Frank Hadden doesn't beat Italy [in the World Cup pool match] he'll presumably have to walk away because it would be our worst World Cup ever.

"Frank came in two years ago and made a huge impact, but the first year is easier because people don't know you and your ideas. In the Six Nations we didn't look like scoring tries and the Scotland A team managed just one against the USA when England scored 51 points.

"It's a lot harder for him, to be fair, because he's now only got two teams and his top players are moving to England and France, though that might help them. But he's had his honeymoon period and he's got to start performing. The Italy game is huge for us because if we don't reach the quarter-finals it will be a disaster, but we do have good players and I'll be right behind them."

This article was posted on 25-May-2007, 06:58 by Hugh Barrow.