THE HERALD REPORTS

Mediation on agenda as civil war abatesNEIL DRYSDALE July 12 2007
It can hardly be described as peace in our time, but the on-going conflict between the SRU and Edinburgh yesterday reached the stage where both parties tip-toed towards the process of entering into mediation to resolve the areas of contention which have dragged Scottish rugby through the gutter in the last 72 hours.

Mercifully, Bob Carruthers, the co-owner of Edinburgh, chose not to lob another grenade at Murrayfield's officials, instead deciding to restrict himself to issuing a terse press release on behalf on his club, reiterating what he had demanded more volubly on Tuesday.

It read simply: "Edinburgh Rugby Ltd has formally offered to enter into mediation with SRU plc. Pending a response, Edinburgh Rugby will make no further statement."

advertisementBy late afternoon, the governing body, had shown signs of grasping the olive branch. Granted, in private, they still harbour considerable resentment at the manner in which Carruthers has repeatedly contradicted himself throughout the last week, whether calling for "adult" behaviour while lambasting his perceived opponents with hysterical abuse, or insisting that substantial redundancies would be required at Edinburgh and then denying his own words 24 hours later.

Perhaps recognising that the last-chance saloon ran out of drink three months ago, they gritted their teeth and responded with a message, remarkably conciliatory in tone given the criticism which has been showered on them.

"A process of mediation would not change the contractual obligations which currently exist but, if Mr Carruthers feels it would provide an environment to re-examine many of the areas of alleged dispute, Scottish Rugby is prepared to discuss the matter further with its legal advisors," said the union, before apparently handing Edinburgh a lifeline for re-entry to the Magners League and Heineken Cup.

"Scottish Rugby's statement of July 9, following Edinburgh's decision to resign as an associate member of the SRU, reflected the reality of the position as it then stood.

"However, Scottish Rugby can confirm that Edinburgh would be able to play rugby under the auspices of a professional team, providing they were to agree to abide by reasonable conditions, including full acceptance and compliance with the IRB regulations and appropriate SRU bye-laws and rules, such as those relating to discipline, doping and general ethical issues."

This piece of glasnost should not disguise the gulf which still exists between the two parties and, ultimately, one suspects that the argument will be resolved only if Carruthers signs up to the notion of confidentiality and accepts that the SRU has honoured the terms of the contract with Edinburgh.

We should discover soon enough whether he is a serious player in European rugby or is deserving of the monicker "Nine-Bob Carruthers".

This article was posted on 12-Jul-2007, 07:21 by Hugh Barrow.