EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS REVEALS

LONDON Scottish rugby club may hold a forum in Edinburgh to press their case for SRU funding to pay players to get them closer to top flight professional rugby in England.

The proposed meeting, which would be open only to London Scottish members north of the border, has been unveiled on the club website where confirmation is given of on-going discussions with the SRU regarding funding.

Scottish want to regain the prADVERTISEMENTofessional status lost when the club ran into financial difficulties in 1999 and dropped nine divisions.

But any SRU input could well provoke a backlash from cash-starved home based clubs.

The exiles play in English National League Division Three (South) and are two promotions away from National League one which is expected to be combined with the Premiership from 2011. The website statement reads: "Two groups of London Scottish members have agreed to help finance our path back, and have so far committed £1million, some of which we have already received. In addition discussions have been held with the SRU on the possibility of their participation."

An SRU spokesman said: "Discussions are ongoing with London Scottish. Clearly these are sensitive so we would not comment other than to note that any investment would require to be in the best interests of Scottish Rugby as a whole.

"We are not aware of any London Scottish plans to stage a forum in Edinburgh."

Rod Lynch, president of London Scottish, says the possibility exists of another members' meeting in Edinburgh, four months after a February get-together. "We want to move the club back up the leagues," he said.

"Population-wise, London is the third biggest Scottish city and we want to tap into that. We believe there is huge potential to benefit Scottish rugby and would ideally like to add to our proud record of producing more internationalists (221) than any other Scottish club.

"The SRU already take a keen interest in London Scottish (through an Academy structure).

"The stronger we get, the more opportunities there will be to bring on promising young Scottish players."

Backing from the SRU would be controversial given the financial constraints placed on home-based clubs. Also, home-based outfits are denied the right to exercise their ambitions by entering cross-border competitions whereas clubs like London Scottish have the theoretical potential to win the Heineken European Cup with the SRU providing support denied to counterparts at home.

A further example of the type of help London Scottish may require is the farming out of fringe professionals from Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Mr Lynch said: "Any SRU financial involvement would be as minimal stakeholders. This is about London Scottish pulling ourselves back up."

This article was posted on 15-May-2008, 18:33 by Hugh Barrow.