THE SCOTSMAN REVEALS



Published Date: 09 July 2009
By DAVID FERGUSON
FORMER Scotland international Alastair Cranston is drawing on his experience in agriculture in a new effort to help rugby clubs, and other sporting bodies, to become more viable.
The Scottish Rugby Union may have posted healthier accounts for the past year at last month's AGM, and increased the money on offer to clubs through development, but many rugby clubs across Scotland are still some way off the levels of income they enjoyed over a decade ago, when the sport turned professional, and are living in fear of paying bills.

There are many reasons for that, among them the cutting of prize money to clubs by the SRU in an effort to spread their pay-outs more widely, loss of broadcasting, dwindling interest in the club game and inevitable knock-on effects to sponsorship, the main return of which is exposure.

In football, a series of clubs have gone to the wall, but rugby clubs appear confident of avoiding that scenario, even if it has taken drastic cutting of outgoings in recent months at some top-level clubs for that confidence to remain.

Cranston won 11 caps as a formidable centre for Scotland in the 1970s, and starred for the dominant Hawick team that won the first five official Scottish Championships on the trot. Away from rugby, his passion has been agriculture and working across the Borders and Scotland, primarily, and the troubles in that industry led him to spearhead an initiative of cooperative working which has turned into a multi-million business of franchises across the UK.

He has now launched something similar in sport, termed the Borders Sports Ring, and is hopeful that it could lead to similar improvements in the financial health of sports clubs across the country.

"We started the first agricultural ring in 1987 with 23 farmers and contractors signed up," explained Cranston, "and it has grown to having nearly 800 members now with a turnover of £5.5 million. Now that is just the 'Borders Machinery Ring' – the concept has been taken up across Scotland and the UK with more than 20 rings operating, and that is what I envisage happening with the sports ring idea as well."

What the 'ring' provides is a centralised service which taps into major suppliers to order items from grass feed to fertilisers, and even a network of skilled volunteers. Where the machinery ring perhaps brought in sheep-shearers at a better rate for local farmers, the sports ring is looking at sourcing help for clubs in pitch maintenance, club improvements, accountancy, marketing and PR, IT, catering, recycling, utilities, database help and even laundry.

"The key," said Cranston, "is not to step on toes with what clubs are already doing, because some clubs have made great strides in making their club more viable in certain ways. But all clubs need help and the ring would step in in different ways with different clubs to provide help where they need it.

"In many cases, we will see clubs helping other clubs as they will come together as members and be able to share ideas on best practice. If they then need help sourcing the goods or services, then the ring can do that.

"That is where the machinery ring worked – pooling resources – and our members regularly find more work for good trades they use through the ring. It would not have worked had there not been a great need in farming, but having watched it grow and grow I just became struck by the way rugby in the Borders and across Scotland was similar to farming; lots of people working away doing the best jobs they can, without much money, or support in some cases, and not always getting the best returns. So, it made sense to me to try and develop a sporting idea that could bring the best cooperative strengths together.

"I have had a lot of interest from rugby clubs so far, but also from other sports clubs, and not just in the Borders, so that's why we've launched it as a sports ring. It's starting off in the Borders, but as I said, I expect it to grow and would love to see other areas taking it on and developing their own rings.

"That's another big thing for me about the ring – retaining independence. Rugby clubs need to keep their independence because they are big parts of their communities in Scotland, and rather than fold or merge to cut costs, the ring idea could help many of them stay alive and grow the club as it is."

Clearly, Cranston can also see money to be made, or else it would not be worth his time and effort. The former internationalist is currently the 'business manager' behind the Borders Sports Ring and where the ring makes money is through fees charged, but this appears to be a profession driven by a sporting passion rather than the other way around.

This article was posted on 9-Jul-2009, 07:01 by Hugh Barrow.