Scottish Rugby, in partnership with its new sponsor of the community game, Scottish Hydro Electric, today unveils a comprehensive funding package of some £281,700 for the club game for the forthcoming season.

The cash, to be available through a range of initiatives, is more than double the monies available to clubs last season and the highest investment in club rugby in the past three years.

SRU Head of Community Rugby, Colin Thomson, declared: “Increasing the number of young people, male and female, playing rugby, is absolutely core to the future of our sport and a key contributor to the well-being of communities throughout Scotland.

“Our strategy is very clear. We aim to reward clubs who are at the forefront of the drive to recruit more people to the game of rugby.

“Through our Regional Development Managers working in tandem with many volunteers attached to clubs, we are already seeing a welcome increase in player numbers in both the adult and youth games.

“Now that admirable work can be enhanced thanks to the support of our new sponsor, Scottish Hydro Electric, and Scottish Rugby’s determination to make rugby open and accessible to everyone.”

Thomson today reported a 7% increase in adult playing numbers year on year and a 19% increase in the same period of youths playing rugby. The figures are being subject to a detailed audit at present but there are now more than 9,000 adults playing the game in Scotland and almost 18,000 youths.

What monies will be available to clubs to improve on these encouraging figures over the course of next season?

• Clubs participating in the Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership; Scottish Hydro Electric National Leagues; Scottish Hydro Electric Regional Leagues and Scottish Hydro Electric Cup competitions will be eligible for the following payments

Premier 1-3 (36 clubs) - £1,000 per club
National Leagues 1-3 (36 clubs) - £800 per club
Regional leagues (94 clubs) - £600 per club

This amounts to £121,200.

• Scottish Rugby’s travel support scheme in association with Scottish Hydro Electric – which aims to give financial assistance to clubs and schools who travel the furthest to fulfil fixtures, including those clubs that travel to the islands – is being almost doubled.
This amounts to £110,000

• Scottish Rugby’s player reward scheme in conjunction with Scottish Hydro Electric, whereby clubs are recognised for the role they have played in helping to develop professional and apprentice professional players.

This amounts to £30,000

• Scottish Hydro Electric’s Club of the Month, where clubs who achieve results across performance, growth of the game and discipline, are recognised. Each honoured club wins £500.

Nine such awards are lined-up for season 2007-08, a total of £4,500.

• Minor works grants are also available to clubs out of a total budget of £16,000.

Thomson added: “Working in tandem with Scottish Hydro Electric we look forward to announcing other imaginative schemes before the start of the season that will assist clubs as they seek to grow the game.”

Kevin Greenhorn, Scottish Hydro Electric Head of Marketing, said: “We are pleased that we are able to launch the league fixtures for the new season today and we’re sure that these will be greeted with considerable enthusiasm by the clubs.

“Scottish Hydro Electric is happy to be supporting community rugby and, after most fruitful discussions with Scottish Rugby, to have come up with a mechanism for our investment in rugby to be distributed in a fair manner, which, we believe, will help both our brand and the game of rugby.”

Today also saw the full Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership, National League and Regional League fixtures announced for the forthcoming season.

The Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership Division 1 opens with a cracker on Saturday 1 September when reigning champions Currie welcome National Cup holders Glasgow Hawks to Malleny Park.

This article was posted on 13-Jun-2007, 22:05 by Hugh Barrow.