THE SCOTSMAN REVEALS

Ayr president calls for suspension of Cup

Published Date: 07 January 2010
By DAVID FERGUSON
A LEADING Scottish club has called for the SRU to consider scrapping the Scottish Hydro Cup to avoid a major fixture pile-up at the end of this season.
All Scottish Hydro Premier One fixtures scheduled for Saturday have been cancelled and many clubs fear their grounds will not be playable even by next weekend. Ayr RFC president Billy McHarg insisted: "We are heading for fixture chaos and I think they should cancel the cup for this year.

"It's not ideal and won't be good for the sponsors or a lot of clubs, and I for one would love to see Ayr win the cup one day, but we have got a major problem looming now. We are four games behind now with having the British and Irish Cup, so abandoning the Scottish Cup is the only realistic solution I can see to allowing the leagues to finish.

The SRU should be asking clubs now what to do."

It is a difficult situation for the SRU as it did not decide to maintain a 12-team league system, which is at the root of the problem. There are now too many league fixtures crammed into the calendar, alongside the cup and the new British and Irish Cup, largely because clubs already struggling to survive are reluctant to reduce fixtures and lose further match-day revenue.

The suggestion of a ten-team league has been thrown out, but is still promoted by many in the game, and the union acknowledged yesterday that they could only work within the confines of the structures agreed by the clubs. Scrapping the cup was, therefore, not within their powers.

An SRU spokesman stated: "The only reference point that the SRU have for the cup competitions is the decision taken by clubs at the AGM, and clubs showed their support for the cup last year. The cup finals day remains a red-letter day in the calendar for club rugby.

"Clubs need to speak to their representatives on the championship committee, which is already looking at how games can be rescheduled, with clubs with floodlights having to look at possibilities for midweek games. We would encourage clubs to look now at how league and cup matches can be completed this season."

At a time when the SRU is struggling to attract and retain sponsorship, clubs could also suffer more losses were the cup and Scottish Hydro's sponsorship to be cut. John Beattie, West of Scotland coach, believes it should stay, but a broader examination of the rugby season should be undertaken.

He said: "I like the cup and the fact that it creates such a big day for smaller clubs, so I wouldn't like to see it go, but as I said (in The Scotsman] earlier this week, we shouldn't be trying to play rugby any more in the winter.

"It doesn't matter if it's snow or rain or other bad weather, every year we get games off and piling up, and numbers go down at rugby clubs. Rugby is supposed to be about fun and it's not fun to be traipsing around in four inches of mud or snow, which is why we need to introduce a break with no rugby in December and January."

This article was posted on 7-Jan-2010, 08:32 by Hugh Barrow.