Sadly For Us Old Romantics - There Will Be No Return To Districts

EVEN IF I edited out all the duplications, I reckon I must have written about two War And Peace length books on Super-6 and Agenda-3 – and we are no closer to seeing these twin imposters settled upon us, than we were when it all kicked off.

I have also received an awful lot of readers' feed-back, and one thing is clear – the change in Scottish Rugby governance most-likely to win the approval of the body of the kirk would be: a return to Districts.

The Glasgow XV which faced the Australians back in the early 1980s, we will not be seeing a return to District XVs playing regularly any time soon

The bad news is – this will not happen. In fact, I can safely say, I am more-likely to be invited to become an Independent member of the SRU Board, than for there to be a return to Districts.

Let's be clear, and again I am repeating myself:

• The reason for introducing S6 is as a bridge between the club game and the full-time professional one
  
  
• This move was designed and run by the SRU's Performance Department
  
  
• The PLAYING side of S6 – who plays there and when they play, is being overseen by Sean Lineen, the SRU's Head of Academies
  
  
• Therefore: S6 is part of the professional/performance side of the game
  
  
• Unlike in the other leagues in Scotland, entry to and permission to play in S6 is not determined by play in leagues, against your peers, but is by buying a franchise
  
  
• The S6 clubs do not have a presence on the SRU Council – the six franchises deal directly with the SRU Board. Every other club acts via and is controlled by: THE SCOTTISH RUGBY UNION; the Super-6 clubs act via and are controlled by: SCOTTISH RUGBY PLC.
  
  
• The only other clubs/teams within Scottish Rugby which deal directly with Scottish Rugby PLC rather than the Scottish Rugby Union are Edinburgh and Glasgow.

What are the alternatives?

1. Edinburgh and Glasgow A/B or Under-23 teams
   
   
2. A return to District XVs

With “second teams” for Edinburgh and Glasgow, the SRU's professional/performance department's salary bill would rise considerably. They would require to hire additional coaches and back room staff, in addition to having to offer enhanced contracts to the older Academy players. There would be considerably more equipment to be bought and maintained. The additional costs of playing matches against opponents of similar standard to their own – the B teams of the Irish and Welsh PRO14 sides, perhaps the English Premiership reserve teams, also has to be factored-in.

I get the impression SRU PLC does not wish to go down the road of absorbing these additional costs – which is why they have franchised this part of professional player development out to the six clubs.

With a return to Districts, control of this part of player development would be taken away from Scottish Rugby PLC and its paid staff, and handed back to the clubs - to the Scottish Rugby Union – the looser amalgamation of all those individual clubs. And there is nothing which worries the hired help inside the BT Murrayfield Big Top more than having to cede any kind of control.

Having got six clubs to purchase franchise – BTM can and has done, still control the pool of available coaches from which each club picks the guy they think best suits them.

If we went back to Districts, the choice of coaches and administrators would be down to the constituent clubs within each District. Local politics would come into play – you know, democracy, which is not something TCD and his inner circle are too-keen on.

With either Edinburgh/Glasgow B teams, or franchises, the chosen players are identified at the start of each season, they train and play together more-regularly. You get more consistency in selection and greater affinity with the tactics and game plan.

With Districts, the chosen squads would have less time together, the coaches do not have the same control over training/tactics. You would probably find different levels of preparation and tactical nous between different clubs, making it harder to have a benchmark from which to base selection for advancement to higher things.

There are additional costs involved in Districts over the six franchises. A franchise coach, before he selects his team for a Saturday, has seen all his players regularly in training and in games. A District coach would be at the mercy of his talent spotters and selectors, going round watching the top clubs in each District and reporting back. The exactitudes and near-certainties of working with a smaller, club-based squad are absent.

As I have said before, once S6 gets going properly, you will see player recruitment being via the player pathway. The S6 clubs will, to begin with, have most of their current Premiership squads involved, but, as guys drop out, they will be replaced by younger players from the Pathway, both guys taken into the Forsoc Scottish Rugby Academy, but also players who just miss out.

The professional/performance department then has input, and that all-important to BT Murrayfield thing, control - as regards these guys. If it was left to Districts, they would not have the same degree of control. This will not be allowed to happen.

There is another dimension to this whole thing. It is the job of the SRU to develop the game and take it forward; it is the job of Scottish Rugby PLC to run and manage that part of the overall entity of “Scottish Rugby” which generates the income which keeps the whole show on the road.

The two professional sides cost money to run – but, they generate the crowds and the income. The hope is that the S6 clubs can expand and enhance the business of generating crowds and income.

There is clearly a belief inside BTM that S6 will do this – it is far from certain that District Rugby could do this.

And that is another reason why a return to Districts as the talent sifting level of rugby – which it was in the past - will not be allowed to happen.