The Rebels Have Won - This Particular Battle

BANNING troublesome journalists from open fora such as annual general meetings is never a good idea for any large public concern, and, if the SRU thought keeping me out of today's Murrayfield agm would shut me up - thnk again guys. Thanks are due to my trusty moles inside the room, and to those who took the trouble to give me their take on events afterwards, but, here it is: Aristotle's view on what happened.

 

SRU President Dee Bradbury - the first lady of world rugby

THE battle is o'er, and, to quote Celtic superfan Brian Dempsey back in 1994: “The rebels have won.” Ian Barr wiped the floor with the two Establishment candidates to win the vote to be the new vice president of the SRU, but, more importantly perhaps, the clubs restored their right to have a bigger say in who runs the SRU.

The vote in the vice presidential election was as follows:

1. Ian Barr (Lasswade) 106 votes
   
   
2. Jim Littlefair (North Berwick) 48 votes
   
   
3. Mike Monro (Aberdeen Wanderers) 30 votes
   
   
4. Graham Love (Gala) 10 votes

Ian Barr was therefore elected and will be SRU vice president during seasons 2018-19 and 2019-20, assuming the presidency in August, 2020.

There were two motions up for discussion; the first, proposed by Aberdeen Grammar School FP and seconded by Marr covered the placement of the “amateur” teams of the six new franchised clubs within the league structure, and also called for a clear definition of an “amateur” player below the franchised clubs' level.

The motion called for the clubs to be involved in the debate around the implementation of Agenda 3 and also called for the Council's Standing Committee on Governance to be involved in resolving this issue. This motion was passed.

Motion 2, proposed by Haddington, seconded by GHAand amended slightly by Portobello, called for an addition to SRU bye-law 14 and sought to reinforce the clubs' right to determine the set-up of domestic leagues. Again this was passed.

The thorny issue of 'Russellgate' – the sacking of former Director of Domestic Rugby, Keith Russell and his subsequent successful claim for wrongful dismissal was another potentially thorny issue. However, SRU Chairman Colin Grassie managed to defuse this ticking bomb – for the moment – by telling the meeting, it was expected that former Solicitor General Lesley Thomson's report findings should be published in September, when the matter would be fully aired. This satisfied the meeting, for now.

In the course of the meeting, the Establishement, particularly where matters touched on the six franchises, wheeled-out several big hitters to speak on their behalf. Fin Calder and Iain Milne, both of whom are involved to some degree in the successful Heriot's franchise bid – which will see a tie-in between lower Goldenacre and lower teams from Calder's Stew-Mel uniting, spoke in support of the six clubs, and of their “amateur” sides being placed in the National Leagues.

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend also reminded the meeting, the notion of Super-6 was to narrow the gap between the club game and the professional one. Strangely, no input from Director of Performance Rugby Scott Johnston – the man who allegedly kicked-off the whole Stupid-6 debate with his: “the Premiership is not fit for purpose” remark.

And, speaking of Stupid-6, it was announced that at the conclusion of their domestic season, the six franchised clubs would play in a competition against the top six Welsh Premiership clubs – this will start at the end of the 2019-20 season, probably in March-April 2020.

The meeting also confirmed the new members of the SRU Council, elected at the meetings of each of their constituent member clubs, these newcomers are:

• Murdo Gillanders (Lismore), replacing Jim Littlefair as Edinburgh Regional Leagues representative
  
  
• Alistair Forsyth (Earlston), replacing Alan Brown as the Borders Regional League representative
  
  
• Hazel Swankie (Dunfermline) replacing Graham Kerr as the Caledonia Midlands Regional League representative
  
  
• Bob Richmond (Mackie Academy FP), replacing Mike Monro as the Caledonia North Regional representative
  
  
• Adam Gray (Stewartry) retained his seat as Glassgow South Regional Leagues representative

Their may be further changes to the Council, since promotion and relegation issues have affected the clubs of some National League representatives.

Rob Flockhart stood down as President, the seal of office passing to Oban Lorne's Dee Bradbury, the first lady to be elected President of a major Rugby Union.

Finally, none of the potentially contentious issues which might have arisen under any other business were raised and the delegates departed. However, with the ramifications of “Russsellgate” continuing, and further potential flash-points over the franchise clubs' placement in the SRU pyramid still unresolved, it would be foolish to say the war was over.

Any way, with Peebles Seven at the Gytes kicking off the Kings of the Sevens series, and various other clubs playing pre-season friendies, the new season is upon us, and we can concentrate less on the politics and more on the actual playing of the game.

Perhaps the main lesson of today was aimed at CEO Mark Dodson. I have dubbed the rotund Mancunian The Fat Controller, with, I feel, good reason. He is hardly a divisive creature – I don't actually think too-many people like him. In the excellent The Offside Line today, David Barnes produced a light-hearted measurement of how TFC had done against some key performance indicators (KPIs) since taking control at Murrayfield I 2011.

Barney's take was:

• growing the business: up 46.4% (from a low base) the best of the four Home Unions by a long way – score 6/10
  
  
• international results – much better – score 7/10
  
  
• pro team attendances, (as a critical metric of performance) again from a small base: Glasgow up 155.9%, Edinburgh up 154% - 6/10
  
  
• nurturing the game: clubs playing – down; adult players – down, times hard – 5/10
  
  
• governance: Barney lists a whole host of failings before awarding – 2/10
  
  
• ethos of the game: measured against a list of controversies – 1/10

So, overall, Barney gives TFC a score of – 27/60 across the six KPIs. That's a failure in my book, and I feel Barney has maybe been a bit generous in some cases.

You can read the whole article in The Offside Line, and I urge you to. For my part, I reckon the international results and the pro team attendance aspects are little or nothing to do with TFC and would discount these aspects from the examination.

There is no question, in difficult times, he has done well where he has to, in growing the business, but, elsewhere, Mr Dodson has been something of a disaster. I honestly feel the total, embarrassing clusterfuck he made of “Russellgate”, “Wanderersgate” and in his relationship with outside agencies such as sportscotland, should perhaps mean the time has come to say goodbye.

However, with the stupidity of the Board, in giving him a new contract while “Russellgate” remained unresolved, getting rid of him will be a costly operation.