THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS

DAVID FERGUSON

THE new man at Scottish rugby's helm is planning to reverse the centralisation of the three professional teams with plans to move them closer to their communities.

Gordon McKie is in the midst of a wide-ranging review of Scottish rugby, having only taken over as chief executive last week, but at one of several visits to clubs he revealed that he cannot fathom the previous regime's decision to move pro team operations to Murrayfield. "I inherited the decisions to close district offices and centralise these operations," he said, "and I admit I don't understand the thinking behind removing the three chief executives and having one person running the three teams.

"We have three professional teams who need to work hard to be a strong part of their quite different areas, and you then move their financial and marketing responsibilities to Murrayfield? I can't speak in detail about what I think we should do yet because I still have a lot of work to do before I know the full financial position, but I can say that we will be looking at moving aspects of the pro teams back into their communities as quickly and efficiently as we can."

McKie has this week met with the coaches at Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Borders, and asked them for their views on problems they face, and he was invited to Broughton RFC to launch a new initiative aimed at driving up numbers playing rugby in north Edinburgh. A new club, called Edinburgh BATS Rugby, has been formed by Broughton, Edinburgh Academicals and Trinity Academicals focused specifically on teams for players aged 13-17.

The chairman, John Wright, explained the concept in bringing three clubs together to drive up numbers across the north of Edinburgh, but specifically to target the teenage range which has witnessed the biggest significant drop-off in playing numbers. They have already found success with pre-season training numbers up at all three clubs and BATS teams now competing in the SRU youth leagues.

Sponsored by Aitken&Niven and pooling resources, the BATS have also established links with Napier University and the Royal Scots, and used the First Battalion's multi-sport facilities at Dreghorn Barracks for a three-day camp. Joe Edwards, the former Hawick prop and New Zealand Maori cap, started this week as the BATS development officer.

McKie stated: "This is exactly what I'm talking about when I say that community involvement is vital to Scottish rugby.

"Myself, Andy Irvine and Allan Munro (SRU president and executive chairman respectively) are extremely busy right now, but the people who had the vision to bring these clubs together and set up this system deserve to be commended, which is why we came to Broughton. They have our full support and we'd like to see this kind of initiative replicated across Scotland.

"Communities are crucial to rugby teams and it is the same with the professionals. An old business adage is 'invest, expand or die' and I believe that is as applicable to rugby.

"With the pro teams we want to encourage people to help us invest and expand them, but it is unhelpful to them, to be honest, if they are perceived to be wholly controlled and run from Murrayfield."

This article was posted on 26-Aug-2005, 07:21 by Hugh Barrow.