SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY REVEALS



Published Date: 08 February 2009
IN A move that will be widely welcomed, the legendary Scotland and Lions prop Ian "Mighty Mouse" McLauchlan confirmed yesterday that he was considering standing for the position of SRU president at the agm in May.
"I have been approached by several people who have urged me to stand for the presidency. I honestly haven't made up my mind yet whether or not to put myself forward but I am thinking hard about it and what I could contribute.

"I am obviously keen to see Scottish rugby progress further in the coming years and I'd like to think I can be a part of that process."

McLauchlan is undeniably one of the greatest names in Scottish rugby. He won 43 caps in a career stretching from 1969-79. He captained Scotland on 19 occasions and won ten of those matches. But he found wider fame as a Lion when he toured with the composite team to both New Zealand (1971) and South Africa (1974). He played eights Lions Tests in all and lost just one of them.

If he does throw his hat into the ring it will be a sharp change of tactics for McLauchlan who has once one of Murrayfield's fiercest critics. In bidding for the prestigious post of president, any changes he would want to enact at Murrayfield henceforth would need to be carried out from the inside.

McLauchlan has had a turbulent time with the authorities ever since he was disbarred from the game after receiving money for writing a autobiography in what were strictly amateur times. Since then he has been an observer rather than an active participant in Scottish rugby politics but all that could change soon.

Naturally enough a "weell-kent face" is not enough to persuade the clubs to vote anyone president, as Peter Brown found to his cost two years ago, but McLauchlan is known to be a keen supporter of the clubs who vote on the post every year. He is instantly recognisable, and not just within Scotland, well-liked and widely admired. Should McLauchlan decide to stand and then win the vote, he would give the Union a figurehead with a similar profile to Andy Irvine who was president for two consecutive years from 2005-06.

There is an ongoing debate about the role of the president within the modern SRU and there is currently a standing working party, chaired by Rob Flockhart, looking into this very issue and the wider business of corporate governance. It will report to the board ahead of this year's agm.

The current president, Jim Stevenson, was not elected as the chairman of the council, which surprised a few, although that is allowed for within the Dunlop Report which reduces the president's role to an ambassadorial one. However, some clubs feel strongly that the man they place inside Murrayfield needs to chair the council and sit on the board in order to properly represent their (the clubs') interests. It is a difficult issue and the truth is that the success of the post largely depends upon the clubs voting in the right man for the job, a charismatic, efficient and widely respected candidate.

Meanwhile, Stevenson is mulling over another tilt at the top job and Jim Gracie, a member of the old and thoroughly discredited general committee, is another who is said to be contemplating throwing his hat in the ring.

This article was posted on 8-Feb-2009, 08:20 by Hugh Barrow.