Kevin Ferrie in THE HERALD


KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer February 26 2009
Not since the last blast was blown on Robin Hood's hunting horn has a Sheriff looked so clearly to be the villain of the piece. Doubtless the poor chap in Nottingham felt as hard done by as David Mackie, the chairman of the Scottish Rugby Union's Championship Committee, seems to think he and his not-so-Merry Men of Murrayfield have been in The Herald's coverage of their ejection of Cumbernauld and St Boswells from the Scottish Cup.

However, I am proud that, as should always happen, at least some journalists have had the courage to defy the rich and defend the poor. It would have crippled Cumbernauld financially to take their case to the law courts, the only avenue open to them after they were thrown out then, reprehensibly, told they had no proper way to appeal.

The claim that ejecting these clubs on the basis of being lower placed in the leagues than their scheduled opponents was the most equitable way of dealing with a situation that was made out to be far more complex than it really is, was simply unacceptable.

First of all if, as it would claim, the championship committee treats all clubs equally without fear or favour, then how come they came up with a method of deciding a tie that protects the involvement of Premier One clubs at all times?

In any case, even drawing lots or tossing a coin would be fairer.

In the days before penalty shootouts in football, Celtic got to a European Cup final courtesy of Billy McNeill calling heads at the right time.

A sporting chance is always better than no chance at all.

Mackie has been loyal to his committee and officials but there are real flaws in his arguments
To Mackie's main defences, as published by The Herald yesterday, rather than accuse him of being disingenuous - he is, after all, a lawyer - let's just say he has been exceedingly loyal to his committee and officials, but there are real flaws in his arguments.

He would have us believe Cumbernauld and St Boswells were not eliminated from the competition, but were merely "put forward in the Bowl competition". Come on. It feels like a waste of words to have to explain that consolation competitions exist for those eliminated from the main event.

As to his point that the committee made the decision rather than the officials who have been accused by The Herald of failing to do their jobs properly, the fact is he then claims there "is yet to be advanced a constructive alternative solution to the intractable problem".

Yes there has. Setting aside the nonsense of the entire month of April being set aside for local fund-raising events in the shape of sevens tournaments - and the impression is that the SRU would love to divide and rule by getting the city clubs to make too much of that - this could easily have been resolved by playing in midweek, as used to be commonplace. The cup was only a couple of rounds behind. With the clocks going forward next month, the situation was, with the slightest hint of goodwill all round, far from intractable.

So to the nub of the matter.

Taken in isolation, this decision might have looked like nothing more than a mistake, but it cannot be.

Some SRU officials are so out of touch they were shocked when their proposal to axe the cup for a year to let them sort out the club schedule was knocked back last summer. Since then, there has been shameful inflexibility, not only when seeking solutions to rearranging cup ties, but also in the autumn when clubs sought to play league fixtures at different times to those recommended.

The conclusion, that an agenda lies behind the false creation of an impression of crisis, is inescapable.

The focus must, though, remain on this blatant injustice which needs to be addressed. Cumbernauld's case will now be heard by the Scottish Rugby Board today and the hope must be that common sense will at last prevail.

Since even the clubmen of East Kilbride and Linlithgow, who benefited most directly from the ejection of Cumbernauld and St Boswells, did not welcome it, perhaps the only people who should be thankful to the championship committee are Frank Hadden, Scotland's coach, and his management team.

Over the last week or so, they might have been expecting the pressure to be mounting on them. Instead, this decision has provided something of a distraction from their difficulties.

Further good news for them is that now England are firmly established among the strugglers in the Six Nations, talk of bringing in a two-tier European competition seems to have died.

After all, based on status, there is no way Scotland would have been allowed to remain in the main event.

This article was posted on 26-Feb-2009, 08:17 by Hugh Barrow.