THE HERALD REPORTS

Time to come out of shadows and say something, Mr PresidentNEIL DRYSDALE July 28 2007
Tomorrow, it will be exactly a month since George Jack was the surprising choice as the new president of the Scottish Rugby Union, but it would be straining credibility to suggest that the Borderer has made his presence felt.

Even as Scottish rugby indulges in one of its periodic bursts of rancour and recriminations, with officials at each other's throats, while players don the mantle of prisoners of war tunnelling out of Stalag Luft Murrayfield, George hasn't so much beaten about the bush as been posted absent without leave from his new role.

In the old days, of course, the presidency was a post acquired by Buggin's Turn, reserved for those who kept their noses clean and clung on to their perch long enough.


One might have supposed that someone such as Jack, who is following in the footsteps of Andy Irvine, might have recognised that it isn't good enough for him to remain mute while the sport is tearing itself to pieces in an orgy of negative publicity surpassed only by the Tour de France.

He was installed in the job by the clubs who voted - albeit narrowly - for him over Peter Brown and Jim Stevenson, and there is no doubt in my mind that both the latter pair would not have kept quiet amid the ongoing internecine warfare.

Granted, Jack has been on holiday and only returned to Scotland last Monday.

Yet, in the days since then, the relationship between the SRU and Edinburgh has deteriorated further; Chris Paterson and Marcus Di Rollo have made their exits to Gloucester and Toulouse respectively; Scott Murray, the consummate professional, was sacked/disciplined/ reprimanded (tick your preference) by his employers and will not play for the Scottish club again.

It should surely be incumbent on someone within domestic rugby to drag the warring factions together, stick them in a locked room, and refuse to let them out until some sort of sanity has prevailed.

Instead, there has been an ominous silence from the governing body's chief executive, Gordon McKie, who nonetheless admitted to me yesterday: "The events of the last three to four weeks - and especially the last week - have been extremely damaging for Edinburgh Rugby as well as the sport in general."

The last part is the most significant aspect of a tiresome affair, because even the most die-hard supporters and have begun to realise that their passion appears to have a death wish in Scotland. And once this constituency ceases to purchase their season tickets or decides to go and play golf on Saturdays rather than flock along to Murrayfield, Myreside or Anniesland, then it will not matter a damn whether McKie or the increasingly deflated Bob Carruthers eventually emerges from a lawyer's office able to boast: "I was right."

In this light, it will not do for the SRU to keep fending the media - and, by extension, the public - away with the excuse that they can't speak on the record about anything to do with the current imbroglio, for fear of it being "legally sensitive".

Yesterday, I sought an interview with George Jack, wherein I hoped that he might utter something along the lines of . . .

"I have spoken to Gordon and to Bob and reminded them that rugby is bigger than any individual and that the rest of the world is laughing at our serial cack-handedness in adapting to the demands of professionalism.

"I have also suggested that we resolve the contracts row without resorting to litigation and have intimated to Bob that he has two options. Namely, if he wishes to sell his stake in Edinburgh, we would be prepared to do business with him. But if he wants to retain control, he has, from now on, to run the club himself, with his investors' finance, without any union money."

Instead, I was informed by Murrayfield that Jack would not be made available, for the same reasons which explain McKie and Allan Munro's refusal to discuss the whole business openly for the last fortnight.

Frankly, as someone who has broadly backed the SRU throughout this morass, I find it unacceptable that a company which receives public money, is accountable to the Scottish Executive, and which is always blathering on about its "stakeholders" should be hiding in the shadows, feeding titbits to the press without having the gumption to name and shame.

As for George Jack, by the by, it can safely be concluded that he is no Andy Irvine.

This article was posted on 28-Jul-2007, 07:30 by Hugh Barrow.