EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS REPORTS
By BILL LOTHIAN
SCOTTISH rugby bosses will seek to boost playing numbers with a street version of the game due to be rolled out soon.

Details of the non-contact version, which can played on car parks or playgrounds, were unveiled by Nick Rennie, Murrayfield's business partnership manager, at a ceremony marking the extension of Scottish Rugby's development officer scheme.

There are now 56 development officers employed in the game compared with 49 at the start of last season.

Rennie said: "The cost of providing development officers can be partly met through grants, including Cashback for Communities." This involves taking the assets of convicted criminals and ploughing them back into social improvement programmes.

Rennie, 35, a former Lismore and Aberdeenshire player, whose remit includes organising funding packages for development officers, added: "There already exists street football and basketball.

"Now rugby, in conjunction with the police, is ready to go into areas where there has been a lot of antisocial behaviour.

"It could be at 7.30pm on a Friday during school holidays that we give guys an opportunity to try rugby.

"At a very minimum, street rugby could put a stop to some petty crime and a pilot scheme involving working with rucking pads has shown there are a lot of youngsters with energy and aggression which can be better channelled. Indications are they really enjoyed the physical aspect of rugby that you don't get in, say, football."

Currie, Forrester and Edinburgh Accies, through their link up with Trinity and Broughton (BATS), are among those clubs already employ development officers and Rennie estimated the cost at �25,000 for the full package with approximately one third being met by clubs.

He said: "At the last audit there was a 19 per cent increase in youth rugby players and seven per cent in adult figures.

"Although we are geared towards fulfilling Scottish Rugby's strategic plan, which is up until 2012, the target increase for 2008 looks like being smashed.

"At the moment 48 per cent of state schools, which equates to 170, play rugby. In looking to increase that to 250 schools we are hitting on areas where there is a local rugby club. The big fear is that youngsters who only play rugby in schools might drift away from the sport aged 16-18 if they are not attached to a club.

"The role of the development officer is to build that bridge from schools to clubs."

Meanwhile, the appointments of new development officers for Edinburgh and Midlothian are due to be announced shortly.

This article was posted on 26-Jun-2008, 15:30 by Hugh Barrow.