THE SOTSMAN REPORTS

DUNCAN SMITH

SCOTLAND'S greatest ever rugby player Andy Irvine is expected to be comfortably elected as the new president of the Scottish Rugby Union tonight, but his sole opponent is refusing to give up the fight.

On the eve of the agm at Murrayfield, George Blackie, the union's current senior vice-president, said he had more experience, better contacts and less constraints on his time, meaning he is the best candidate for the post. He explained that while Irvine may be well known and have friendships with past players around the globe, these were not necessarily the contacts required in the world of rugby politics.

"I don't think Andy realises how time-consuming the job will be," said Blackie. If successful, Irvine will combine his SRU responsibilities with his full-time job as chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle, an Edinburgh-based global property consultants firm.

Blackie continued: "After ten years on the general committee and six years before that with Glasgow district, I feel I have the experience to do a good job. Over that time I have built up contacts with many politicians and members of rugby unions around the world.

"Andy obviously has contacts too, but these will mainly be with past players rather than people who are in the administrative roles."

Responding to the fact that the presidency is now more of an ambassadorial role, Blackie said: "If you look in the dictionary an ambassador is defined as both 'messenger' and 'servant'. As well as getting the message across you've also got to be able to give service and I feel I have the experience and the track record to do that."

Irvine has been labelled as the 'fresh-start' candidate, referring to the fact Blackie was a key member of the general committee coup which ousted unitary board chairman David Mackay and led to the resignation of chief executive Phil Anderton. However, Blackie claimed that 'fresh' could also be viewed as "coming in cold".

He argued: "A new man would need time to settle in and that might hold us back when we need to move forward."

Tonight's election will be decided by the SRU's member clubs and Blackie claims he has support. However, he declined to say he was confident of victory. "I wouldn't use the word confident," he said. "But I believe in democracy and as senior vice-president I, like anyone, have the right to stand for president."

Tonight's agm will also confirm the make-up of the new Scottish Rugby Council, the members of whom have been voted on in recent weeks.

This article was posted on 24-Jun-2005, 07:31 by Hugh Barrow.