THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS

SRU wins the battle but only at a heavy cost
DAVID FERGUSON
LESS than five months after declaring it did not have the money to run two professional teams in Scotland, the Scottish Rugby Union yesterday paid Edinburgh Rugby Ltd an undisclosed sum to regain control of the team and stated they would now operate two "credible and ambitious professional teams" in the capital and Glasgow.

The SRU did not admit its failure in attempts at a first foray into franchising, their partnership with a consortium headed by Bob Carruthers having hit an acrimonious and irretrievable breakdown within its first year. But it is clear in their decision to pay Carruthers what is believed to be close to £1million to terminate contracts to run the Edinburgh team and promote concerts at Murrayfield, and withdraw a clutch of court writs, they have suffered a costly and painful lesson.

Talks designed to end the summer-long soap opera had been held for most of the last week with both parties close to a pay-off figure, but with Carruthers holding out for an assurance his entire playing staff and backroom team would be taken back on board by the SRU.

By yesterday morning, they had reached a compromise whereby all the playing staff will be taken on by the SRU with the significant exception of Stephen Larkham, the Australia star, while only Lynn Howells, the head coach, and acting managing director Dean Lewis from the backroom team have not transferred.

Henry Edwards, the SRU's head of player development and former Edinburgh coach, will take over from Howells on a temporary basis with efforts beginning immediately to find a new coach.

Larkham was hailed as the biggest signing in Scottish rugby when unveiled by Carruthers in May, and he could still come to Edinburgh, but only if he agrees to a new contract drawn up by the SRU, which is likely to mean poorer money and conditions.

The union have also appointed a new chief executive from a short list of candidates interviewed for the Glasgow post last month. Nic Cartwright, known as a young and progressive character from rugby league, where he was chief executive with London Broncos and Harlequins RL, will take up his new role on Monday.

The sigh of relief was almost audible from the office of Gordon McKie, the SRU chief executive, who became embroiled in a bitter battle with Carruthers over the future of the Edinburgh team. He stated yesterday: "This has been a challenging period for all concerned and after many months of protracted and often difficult negotiations, we have arrived at a solution both parties can live with.

"From an [SRU] perspective, we have always sought to act in the best long-term interests of the game and our focus can now be switched fully to continuing to grow the game at all levels in Scotland.

"There is now the exciting prospect of two credible and ambitious professional teams based in Scotland, which will, of course, be very much at the heart of the national governing body's priorities.

"We have assured the Edinburgh players there will be minimal disruption to their training schedules and preparations for the new season. We also look forward to rebuilding the vitally important relationship with the team's many loyal supporters and we are seeking a meeting with them in the immediate future.

"We will be contacting all relevant Edinburgh sponsors as a priority, to reassure them the capital's pro team has a solid future."

The deal struck is not a buy-out of Edinburgh Rugby Ltd, McKie insisted, nor Carruthers' concerts arm, Murrayfield Sports and Leisure, but one whereby the players have been transferred, apparently with their whole-hearted agreement, back to SRU control. A new name for the team has still to be decided, but they will return to Murrayfield to train and play. The pre-season friendly with Tonga, scheduled for Inverleith on 24 August, is, however, now in doubt.

When asked how he could now afford to run a second team, when in March he insisted the board had scrapped the Border Reivers because the union had the finances only to run Glasgow, he said: "It's well known now that we were to spend over £2m a year on Edinburgh Rugby, so the cost to run it ourselves is not significantly more than the subsidising agreement we had with ERL; slightly more, but not significantly more - not as much as £1m.

"The journey [to create a successful Edinburgh team] will begin this season, but they will not jump from eighth to fourth in one season. We need to modify the squad, and strengthen it, and we'll need to find resource to do that."

The chief executive admitted that they would now look at moving some Glasgow players to Edinburgh, with Dougie Hall, the hooker due to leave the capital side for Glasgow after the World Cup, a likely contender. McKie is to hold meetings with Frank Hadden, the national coach, Sean Lineen, Glasgow coach, and Edwards next week to discuss this.

Edinburgh supporters are also high on McKie's list of priorities and, insisting that season tickets for 2007-8 would be honoured, he acknowledged that much work was now needed to gain their respect, particularly after the manner with which the union treated them before Carruthers took over and the recent criticism of an investor with whom many had developed an affinity.

With a poll on Edinburgh's website last night showing that 82 percent had wanted Edinburgh to stay within Carruthers' control, and only 18 percent backing the SRU, one would imagine the union has a lot of ground to make up before Edinburgh's first league match on 22 September. Carruthers, for once, was unavailable for comment.

Collision course: the day-by-day dismantling of a professional team
2 JULY

Edinburgh withdraw their 12 internationalists, including recent Scotland captain Chris Paterson, from the pre-World Cup summer training over long-running dispute with SRU, involving allegations of withholding funds by the union.

3 JULY

SRU complain to the IRB and invokes Regulation 9, insisting all players should be released for international duty when requested.

4 JULY

Alex Carruthers and Graeme Stirling resign as executive chairman and managing director of Edinburgh, respectively, Carruthers stating he has had enough of the politics and can no longer work with the SRU.

5 JULY

Edinburgh major shareholder Bob Carruthers says he will move player contracts to an offshore management company, Tamanoir Ltd, but this infuriates the players and is halted. The 12 are released back to international duty.

6 JULY

Edinburgh tender their resignation as associate members of the SRU.

7 JULY

Carruthers warns players' careers are on the line and tells Scotland On Sunday "with great regret I have to say that redundancies are inevitable".

8 JULY

Carruthers backtracks. "We will never announce redundancies," he tells this newspaper.

9 JULY

SRU stun Carruthers with statement saying Edinburgh no longer fall under SRU auspices, and cannot play rugby against any IRB-affiliated team.

10 JULY

Carruthers rejects SRU's statement, insisting his team do not need to be SRU members to play. Union rejects his call for independent mediation.

11 JULY

SRU confirms Edinburgh can still play in the Magners League and Heineken Cup competitions without being an associate member, and say they will speak to lawyers over issue of mediation.

This article was posted on 11-Aug-2007, 07:57 by Hugh Barrow.