WOW!! Murrayfield Consults The Troops

TALK about throwing petrol on a blaze. The SRU has certainly done that this afternoon, by releasing a special survey to all clubs regarding the future structure of the leagues.

Gavom MacColl QC - is consulting with the clubs on the eague structure

Signed off by Graham Ireland, wearing his Head of Regulations hat, and issued in the name of Gavin MacColl QC, the new Chairman of the Governance Committee, the document seeks to find the views of the clubs on the league structure from next season, when Super-6 comes into play.

The survey makes it clear – S6 is happening, but it will be a stand-alone league, with neither promotion or relegation.

It also tackled, head-on, the vexed question of where the “club” teams of the S6 franchise-holding clubs should play, offering four options in response to this vexed issue:

1. They should play in the Premiership/Championship
   
   
2. They should play in National 1
   
   
3. They should play in National 2
   
   
4. They should play in National 3
   
   
5. They should play elsewhere (with the clubs asked to specify.

That question is the third on the survey form.

Question 1 asks:

• Does your club support the existing structure – four National leagues and the various regional leagues – remaining in place for next season?
  
  
• This calls for a straight yes/no response.

If a club answers “Yes” to Question 1, they are invited to go straight to Question 3, covering the S6 amateur club's placement.

If a club answers “No” to Question 1, they are invited to answer Question 2, which asks:

“Noting that the potential placement of Super-6 club XVs is covered under Question 3, how would your club suggest that the domestic leagues are structured?”

They are then offered to select from four options:

1. Premiership/Championship, 3 x National Leagues and Caledonian, East and West Regional Leagues
   
   
2. Premiership/Championship, 2 x National Leagues and Caledonian, East and West Regional Leagues
   
   
3. Premiership/Championship, 1 x National League and Caledonian, East and West Regional Leagues
   
   
4. Any other option – to be stated in writing.

There is a fourth question, to be answered by those clubs wishing to see the S6 amateur clubs placed outwith the National League structure – whether their preferred option for that be one, two or three National Leagues.

This Question Four asks any such clubs if they feel the S6 amateur clubs should be UNABLE to be promoted into the National Leagues; and asks for how long they feel this promotion ban should last.

There is also a fifth suggestion, in which the clubs can make any comments regarding future league structures.

The document must be counter-signed by the President, Secretary and Treasurer of the club, and has to be returned to BT Murrayfield, by 31 October, 2018.

Super-6 was rather dropped on Scottish Rugby at the 2017 agm, since when all Hell has broken out.

To be fair to Graham Ireland and to BTM, this survey document certainly seeks to discover what the troops on the ground are thinking, and will provide much-needed clarity on this most-vexing of subjects.

To me it is a major move in the search for clarity and peace within Scottish Rugby. It will be interesting to see what transpires – assuming BTM ever releases its findings.