EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS REVEALS



By BILL LOTHIAN
SCOTLAND'S top rugby clubs are ready to raise the stakes in a bid to achieve a more structured league season.

A meeting of Premiership Division One clubs in Edinburgh last night heard calls for their Scottish Hydro-Electric sponsored competition to run throughout the second half of each campaign. At present the programme is disrupted by Six Nations Championship weekends.

One source said: "The SRU are digging their heels in to keep international weekends clear of club fixtures. Increasingly it is likely there will be a motion put to this year's SRU annual meeting to bring about a change in that policy. Club rugby players want to turn out every weekend while the SRU think it is their duty to get along to Murrayfield and back Scotland. The reality is that while many would like to, ticket prices are set sufficiently high to deter young rugby players buying them in the first place."

It is understood that deliberations on the outcome of a protracted citing case involving two players, Kieran Cooney and John Dalziel, was restricted to a presentation on the issues involved by their Melrose club.

Similarly, anticipated calls for clubs to be allowed into the second tier of European competition failed to materialise. Instead, a lengthy meeting centre on how changes could be made to organise club fixtures so as to be able to play on the Friday evenings before internationals. Here again clubs could be challenged. Many already contribute heavily to the age-group international programme of matches and training sessions.

The source said: "Given the strength of feeling throughout clubs on continuity of fixtures in the second half of the season it must be possible for us to get a clear run. Of all the teams in Division One next season only a handful are without floodlights. With some imagination it must be possible to draft a plan where the teams without lights are scheduled to be playing away if Friday nights are used."

Of the Edinburgh contingent Boroughmuir, Currie and Watsonians all possess a floodlight stand pitch. And both Edinburgh Accies and Heriot's are able to call upon a subsidiary pitch if necessary.

Meanwhile, on the clubs-for-Europe issue the source said: "It's a nice idea but that's as far as it goes. The SRU are not prepared to fund any club in any European competition."

This article was posted on 24-Apr-2008, 11:56 by Hugh Barrow.