THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS

HARRY PINCOTT

ALLAN Munro has faced a few challenges in his sporting and business careers but accepted his toughest one yet yesterday when he was unveiled as chairman of the Scottish Rugby Board. The executive chairman of Stewart's-Melville FP immediately identified eating into the £23million of debt accrued by the union as his No1 priority.

Munro, 57, who and his three non-executive directors, deputy chairman Fred McLeod, Tom Inglis, who had a very successful business career with Ford Motors and is currently president of Helensburgh RFC, and the entrepreneur Brian Kennedy, who owns Sale Sharks, will work very closely with the new chief executive, who will be revealed next week. Four candidates are being interviewed over the next day or two.

Announcing the appointments at Murrayfield yesterday morning, the Scottish Rugby Union president, Andy Irvine, stressed the importance of Munro's appointment and hailed it as a "defining moment for Scottish rugby".

Irvine continued: "Alan will work hand in hand with the new chief executive and they, with assistance from the other directors, will drive the game on in Scotland."

In effect, Munro is replacing David Mackay, the ousted chairman of the unitary board, which has since evolved into the Scottish Rugby Board. Irvine said that with a new chairman appointed and a successor to former chief executive Phil Anderton imminent, he would step to one and fulfil a mainly ambassadorial role as president.

In answer to a question as to how he views his new post, Munro replied. "I want to see the Murrayfield debt reduced, I want to see more people playing the game, and the national team being more successful."

Like Irvine, Munro has had a very successful career in both sport and business. As a teenager he played stand-off for Broughton HS rugby team in the morning and at full-back for Salvesens' Boys Club at football in the afternoon.

While he reckons he was a better rugby player than footballer, Munro was taken on by Hearts for a brief spell, followed by moves to Hawick Royal Albert and Bonnyrigg Rose. His business career then took off, mostly with the unit trust firm Ivory and Sime, and he retired as managing director in 1999. In 1989, he joined the board of Forth Investments, who owned Hibs, and he led the defence of Forth from the Hearts merger bid.

It was in 1999 that Munro returned to rugby when he started watching his son Richard playing for Stewart's-Melville. "I was approached by the players to become involved, but it was not until a year later that I met with the committee and put up some sponsorship.

"I was then asked to become more involved, but I told them it had to be all or nothing as far as I was concerned."

So Munro was appointed executive chairman and from the depths of Premier Division 3 he has led them to Division 1. "It's a great achievement and I will carry on despite my involvement with the SRU. Stopping was not an option. I love doing it and we're looking forward to the new season."

Along with Kennedy and Inglis, both ultra-successful businessmen, and McLeod, whose role as interim chief executive and SRU chairman since January was hailed by Irvine, it would appear the SRU are actively seeking men who have proved they have razor-sharp business acumen.

And while Irvine acknowledged there will be differences of opinion along the way as actions are taken to solve the many problems, he expressed confidence yesterday that the men brought in to Murrayfield would be able to work together and come up with the right answers.

"I believe that Scottish rugby now has corporate governance which will stand the test of comparison with any sporting organisation," stated the former Scotland and British and Irish Lions full-back.

"This is a defining moment for Scottish Rugby and I know that its future, through the appointments we are making today, is in very safe hands."

And if Munro, and Kennedy, can repeat the successes they have had with their respective clubs at national level, then we can, indeed, look forward to the future with confidence.

This article was posted on 15-Jul-2005, 07:55 by Hugh Barrow.