Saturday, 25 June 2011
Scotland’s rugby clubs have voted overwhelmingly in favour of proposals for a radical reshape of the domestic league programme which will shorten the season, reduce travel costs, help clubs to grow the game and retain players.
More than 230 delegates packed into the President’s Suite at Murrayfield Stadium for today’s SRU agm.  At the gathering the clubs supported a motion drawn up following extensive consultation which will change the current 12-team league format to a ten team structure by the start of the 2012-2013 season.
This coming season Scotland’s club divisions will be regionalised below National League Division 1 into West, East and Caledonia with no change to the current format of the Premier Divisions.
The early rounds of the National Cup will also be regionalised with the winners competing in national knockout rounds.
For the 2012-2013 season regionalisation will progress further up the leagues, leading to ten team leagues at the top, where the clubs compete nationally, above two East and West championship divisions which will be redrawn each season to match the geography of the competing clubs.
Clubs also approved a motion that a Scottish Exiles representative will serve on the Scottish Rugby Council from the 2012 AGM.
In addition they backed a motion from Moray House RFC to establish a permanent rugby museum at Murrayfield Stadium.
Former Scotland scrum-half Alan Lawson (Heriot’s) was elected as vice-president of the SRU in a three-way contest with Archie Ferguson (Lenzie) and Gordon Cairns (West of Scotland), while Ian McLauchlan, the former Scotland and British Lions prop, was re-elected unopposed as president of the SRU.
The meeting saw Allan Munro retire from the post of Chairman of the Scottish Rugby Board, which he has held since 2005.  He is succeeded by Sir Moir Lockhead who spoke to www.scottishrugby.org about the challenges ahead.

Following the agm, Scottish Rugby Council representative Jim Greenwood (Berwick) was re-elected to the Scottish Rugby Board.

This article was posted on 25-Jun-2011, 15:32 by Hugh Barrow.