THE HERALD REPORTS

KEVIN FERRIE June 30 2007
George Jack was last night elected president of the Scottish Rugby Union, but not before a remarkable and completely unexpected drama unfolded at Murrayfield as Peter Brown, the former Scotland captain, withdrew from the race.

Towards the end of a three-hour meeting a peculiar sequence of events was sparked when Graham Ireland, the SRU secretary, explained that the first round of voting had seen Jack accrue 57 votes while Brown and Jim Stevenson had received 56 apiece.

With the candidate polling fewest votes supposed to drop out in this first-ever three-man poll, SRU by-laws state that in these circumstances, a cut of cards should decide who is eliminated.

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However, as officials prepared for that selection process, Brown announced to tell meeting that he had decided to pull out.

"It was clear that only a third of the clubs were prepared to support me," he explained afterwards. "I put my head above the parapet, but I hadn't got the support I was looking for. George will do a super job and while I don't know Jim as well I'm sure he will be a very strong candidate in the future."

Brown said, however, that he will not stand for the post again. In the ensuing vote Jack, who has rebuilt his reputation following his involvement as a member of the general committee which ousted the organisation's chairman and chief executive, received 95 and Stevenson 75.

He would not comment on whether this offered vindication of the old general committee's behaviour at the time, stressing instead the need to continue to develop unity within the Scottish game.

"I find this election quite a healthy thing for Scottish rugby," he added.

During the meeting it was also revealed that Jason White and Chris Paterson, the two men who captained Scotland last season, have been seeking to deal with one major unresolved issue regarding membership of the Scottish Rugby Council.

The Scottish Professional Rugby Association should be represented on that body but, to date, their seat has not been taken up because Jim Hay, their chief executive, felt unable to sign up to the council's code of conduct, citing conflict of interest.

Andy Irvine, the outgoing SRU president, told delegates White and Paterson had been approached and had accepted that the SPRA must draft a constitution with a proper electoral process, which would allow them to be represented.

A proposal to reintroduce a vice-president was rejected in spite of Irvine speaking out in support of it, while other decisions taken included the withdrawal of limits on non-European players participating in club championship matches and the regionalisation of the national cup competition.

On the latter, however, it was an amendment that was passed, with the competition only being regionalised until the Premiership clubs enter the draw; not, as the SRU had recommended, until the semi-final stage of the tournament.

The occasion was, meanwhile, something of a personal triumph for chief executive Gordon McKie. In his address he expressed full confidence that the SRU, after years of spiralling debt, was set to break even and that average debt in 2005/06 was £18.6m, down £1.6m on the previous year.

He added: "Two years ago, the Bank of Scotland couldn't see us far enough. The fact that they are now prepared to extend a sponsorship deal with us shows us how far we've come."

This article was posted on 30-Jun-2007, 06:51 by Hugh Barrow.