Flak Jackets and Tin Hats Might Be Needed At This Year's AGM - Unless It's A Virtual One

I WILL not be at the 2021 Scottish Rugby Union AGM – assuming we are back to normal by August – as I continue to maintain my status as Public Enemy Number One to The Murrayfield Junta.

If I cared enough, I suppose I could always slip in unannounced as a club representative, or perhaps I could persuade some newspaper or magazine to get me a press invite, but, I think I am washing my hair that day. I mean, when you get into your seventies and still have hair, it has to be protected.

Because, this one, unless The Junta decides it would be easier and less embarrassing to hold it in front of a virtual audience, promises to be a cracker, thanks to a couple of motions which have been revealed in the past week.

The first, proposed by GHA, seconded by Hawick, calls for the abandonment of the S6 experiment in favour of a return to Inter-District games. The second, proposed by Haddington and seconded by Currie, calls for a review of the function of the SRU's in-house legal team.

The first motion reads:

Motion:

That a modernised version of the Scottish Inter-District Championship (with the inclusion of a potential Scottish Exiles squad) be reinstated from season 2022/23 onwards for senior men’s rugby.

A consultation on the format and criteria for participation in the Inter-District Championship should be instigated by the SRU Council with the aim that the competition format be agreed by 31st January 2022. The competition format and timing should take into consideration the needs of the player development pathway and the objectives of the role currently fulfilled by Super 6.

Resources currently directed by Scottish Rugby from the Domestic Rugby budget towards the Super 6 tournament should be reallocated to support the Scottish Inter District Championship and club rugby in order to support the player development pathway.

The second motion reads:

Motion:

That the Scottish Rugby Council shall convene a review of the efficacy, efficiency and propriety of the in-house legal and Secretarial function of the Scottish Rugby Union and Scottish Rugby Union Limited (“Scottish Rugby”), which shall include consideration of the relative advantages and disadvantages of continuing such functions in-house when compared with outsourcing to a third party or third parties, in part or in whole.

The review shall also consider the potential for conflict to exist between the Union and Scottish Rugby in a manner which compromises the same individual holding the Secretarial position in each entity, and in-house Scottish Rugby lawyers advising both entities.

Following such review Council will use their powers under the Bye-Laws to make any necessary changes, including if necessary bringing a motion, or motions, to a general meeting or instructing the Trustees.

  

I would reckon the second motion will pass “on the nod,” as it were. Received wisdom is, the only friend “Howzat”, SRU "Legal Eagle" Robert Howat (pictured above by Craig Watson) has inside Scotland is TCD. If the SRU had been a well-run organisation at the time, he (and TCD) would have been dumped following the mess of “Russellgate,” while their performance at the subsequent AGM has left a malodour which still hangs around Murrayfield.

Mind you, knowing someone needs to be got rid off, and getting rid, are two entirely different things. Let's be hopeful, however.

The real debate will, I feel, centre around the first motion – on a return to Districts. There is a hard-core of support for this within the club game, the below the line comments on these pages have, for years, been packed by the views of die hard opponents of Super6. These club-men have never accepted, nor will they ever I suspect accept, S6.

The rationale for the motion, set-out in detail, makes one or two convincing points, but, crucially in my view, it completely ignores the realpolitik of present-day rugby.

The old Clubs – Districts – International system worked, because it was the basically same system as England (Clubs – County Championship – International) were using; or Ireland's Club – Provincial – International system.

Australia (Club – Inter-State – International); New Zealand (Club – Inter-Provincial – Inter-Island – All Blacks); South Africa (Club – Inter-Provincial – Springboks) also used a broadly-similar system. Only Wales and France of the top nations went Club – International.

But, as the song says – these days are past, so, I do not see the benefit of going back to them.

The rationale does make one claim which is indisputable – the launch of S6 was badly botched by the SRU:

They originally envisaged – six franchises, with no more than two in any one Region.

They came up with three franchises in Edinburgh.

They placed no franchises in the North and Midlands and only one in West Region – the largest region.

The expectation was that The South, where inter-club rivalries are the fiercest, would get behind the single franchise, based in Melrose.

These mistakes upset a lot of people. The fact, in their typically bull-headed way, The Junta opted for their usual: “Our way or the highway” approach meant a simmering discontent which has led to this motion.

They rushed S6 into being, they never properly explained the thinking behind it and trying to fob the clubs off with S6 being part of the club game, when it was clearly part of the Union's performance game, well that was just another in the long list of BT Murrayfield cock-ups.

I had initial doubts about S6, but I now believe, given the management model the SRU favours, it has its place, and that place – under the current management model, is a more-fitting one than reverting to Districts.

It is, however, good that this motion has been tabled. Finally, three years too late, we may get a chance to see S6 properly debated and explained. However, this is just one of many recent decisions, foisted on the clubs by a combination of a weak, some might say toothless Council, an out of control Junta - made up largely of unelected, paid officials, and sometimes, by the clubs taking their eyes off the ball. This need to be sorted out.

IF we were to fully-embrace the reality of Open Rugby, we would have, like Ireland and Wales, four fully-professional District or Regional sides competing in the multi-national Celtic League, against the Irish, Italian, South African and Welsh sides.

But, we are telt, the SRU cannot afford to run four sides, and they cannot or will not form partnerships with commercial organisations to make this happen. Maybe we could afford to have a third full-time side, but, any debate around that would involve The Junta opening the books to the scrutiny of the clubs, and I cannot see that happening.

In which case, Super6 makes sense as a development grade. Where S6 wins over Districts is: it guarantees at least ten games per season, in a concentrated time frame.

Now, in theory an inter-District Championship, even with five teams, playing home and away, only guarantees eight games. Would the clubs wish to lose their best players even for such a concentrated spell? What happens with the cross-border element of S6 – the clubs would lose their players for another concentrated spell?

Each District would need a home ground, and a central training ground, I can see arguments about this arising?

Either way, there are problems, and whatever is decided, self-interest will come into the equation. Also, the time frame, as explained in the rationale for the change indicates, nothing will happen until the end of the initial five-year franchise period.

Maybe we should give S6, which has had a troubled birth and early couple of seasons, time to show what it can do. After all, in spite of its teething troubles, S6 has already sent the likes of Ross Thompson, Rory Darge and Ollie Smith upstairs to Glasgow, and Marshall Sykes, Jamie Hodgson and Cameron Hutchison upstairs to Edinburgh.

And, what happens if, as has been suggested, S6 expands to S8 during the initial five-year term? That will make it even harder to bring back Districts.

OR – how about this set-up:

Tier One – the national side

Tier Two – four full-time District sides playing in the Celtic League

Tier Three - eight semi-professional S8 sides – two per District

Tier Four – a fully-amateur regionalised club game

If we take that as the ideal and work back from there to one which Scottish Rugby can afford, perhaps we could move forward #ASONE.