TCD GAVE a press briefing last week, which has got some of the usual suspects rearing-up. I of course, being permanently on the naughty step at BT Murrayfield, was not invited to participate in the briefing, so, my views are coming second-hand.
The Usual Suspects want the bulk of the CVC money from that company buying into the PRO14 and the Guinness Six Nations handed over to the grass roots side of Scottish Rugby.
Get a life guys – this isn't going to happen.
As I have written before, the SRU's management model is very clear:
They run the national team.
That team generates the income which funds rugby in Scotland.
This is (in theory) done by playing the type of entertaining, free-flowing rugby which fills BT Murrayfield and in-part, encourages the TV companies to wish to invest in the Six Nations.
The national team is under-pinned by the two full-time sides which play in the PRO14.
There is a responsibility on these teams to play the same type of entertaining, free-flowing rugby as the national side – to prepare players for playing internationals.
They also have a duty to make people want to turn up at BT Murrayfield and Scotstoun to watch them.
Below there, there is the FORSOC Super 6 competition, which is a bridge between the general club game and the full-time game. It is mainly a development league.
Below that is the club game. This is where the future players are captured and nurtured.
I repeat, for the SRU to do as the Usual Suspects wish, and give the bulk of the new money from CVC to the fourth tier of their management model – is simply not going to happen.
The SRU is a two-tier organisation. The Scottish Rugby Union is, a co-operative of individual clubs, however, the trading activities of the SRU are undertaken by the Union's wholly-owned trading arm: Scottish Rugby Union Ltd. The elected and in particular the paid officials of the Union, therefore, have to safeguard the trading arm, since it is via this trading arm that the activities which generate the money which underpins the financial security of the game are managed.
So – nae chance of the clubs getting a massive hand-out; more so, because of the particular problems of Covid. Protecting the finances of Scottish Rugby Union Limited must be the priority.
However, this fact does not mean the Board, who run the trading arm, can have carte blanche to do as they like. The grass roots must be protected, but, not to the detriment of the trading arm.
By the same token, the activities of the trading arm, inasmuch as the finances of the S6 clubs and the two PRO14 clubs, has to be rigorously monitored – they cannot be allowed to spend, spend, spend as they wish. The Union's stakeholders, the clubs, have to have oversight of how the Union's cash is spent.
This means the SRU Council members have to be more vigilant and assertive than they have been of late.
For many of the Usual Suspects who make BTL (below the line) comments on here; all would be well with Scottish Rugby, if we reverted to the old amateur days' model of club rugby, feeding into the District teams and from there into the Scotland teams. Dream on boys – aint gonna happen.
It would probably be better if, like the Irish and Welsh, we had four rather than two Scottish teams in the PRO14. But, I doubt if there is enough cash lying about in Scotland to fund the other two teams. I am, however, equally certain, anyone trying to start-up even one additional full-time team to play in the PRO14 would find the control freaks of The Junta putting insurmountable obstacles in their way.
I still reckon we could have a third PRO14 team, more-son if, as Connacht was at first, it was a development team. With three full-time teams, we could have tie-ins for each one to two of the S6 clubs, who could – in their turn – have tie-ins with two clubs in a 12-team Premiership.
Below that, we could have the grass-roots, purely amateur clubs, playing in Regional Leagues.
This would leave us with:
Level One – Scotland
Level Two – Edinburgh – Glasgow – Team 3
Level Three – Ayrshire Bulls – Boroughmuir Bears – Heriot's – Southern Knights – Stirling County – Watsonians
Level Four – Aberdeen GSFP – Biggar – Cartha-Queen's Park – Currie Chieftains – Dumfries Saints - Dundee HSFP – Edinburgh Academical - Gala – GHA – Glasgow Hawks – Gordonians - Hamilton Bulls - Hawick – Highland - Jed-forest – Kelso – Kirkcaldy - Marr – Musselburgh – Newton Stewart - Peebles – Preston Lodge - Selkirk – Stewart's-Melville.
Before the squealing: “How come he's put them in and not us,” etc., starts; I merely went down the list of league clubs from season 2019-2020. If we do go down the road of having “Performance Clubs,” playing in the National League and above, and “Community Clubs,” playing at an all-amateur regional level, then entry to the Performance level would be subject to each club meeting certain criteria as regards facilities at their grounds, grandstands, floodlights, pitch quality, number of coaches, and so-forth. Some on the Level Four list might not qualify, while clubs not on that list could.
Ideally, I would want to see those Scottish-based players who were in the full Scotland squad given central contracts and divided equally between the three full-time teams. They would, however, only play for them in certain matches.
The matches involving the three full-time teams, would be tiered:
Tier One – Games in Europe and games against the top three other sides in the club's PRO14 conference, plus, if applicable the PRO14 play-off games.
Tier Two – The other PRO14 conference games.
Since there is no relegation in the PRO14, the bulk of the full-time squads should therefore be Scottish-qualified players. I do not think we can afford to compete for the superstar, X-factor Southern Hemisphere players, but, should instead only import SH players who are already Scottish-qualified.
I would encourage upward and downward movement between the three full-time clubs and the S6 clubs – to give all the players a chance of as much game time as possible.
Similarly, I would enable and encourage upward and downward movement between the S6 clubs and the Level Four clubs.
I feel there is a definite case for enlarging S6 to at least an eight-club tier.
I feel the SRU should also be looking at the case for resurrecting an an A-Team Six Nations competition. I also think there is a case for entering the Scotland Club XV, selection for which is limited to S6 and Level Four players, into the European Nations Cup.
The aim would be to, in time, gain promotion to the Trophy tier, the second level of the competition – currently contested by: Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Switzerland and Ukraine.
Further down, at Regional level in Scotland, I feel there is a case for reintroducing Inter-Regional games, similar to the old Inter-District games, as a means of encouraging and recruiting to a higher level, those players who were late developers or missed out on a chance of breaking into Performance Rugby, when teenagers.
The regional leagues should be more-localised, with a return of the old County and Regional Cups to maintain interest. And, while we are at it, lets put Seven-a-side rugby on a more-organised and encouraged level than it has ever had.
There is also, I believe, a case, as happens in Ireland, for less centralised control of the community game, let each Region have more autonomy than it currently enjoys, bring control closer to the grass roots, get more people willing to be involved. It would make for a healthier game.
And, fund it properly. Of course, the Performance game would still need to be funded properly, but, with good house-keeping and firm oversight, we could make the money go further.
And, by making changes, we could break-up some of the mini-empires within BT Murrayfield, which are holding back Scottish Rugby.
I know the Governance Review Group has been quietly working away during the Covid pandemic, we need to see what they have to say – then we need a wide-spread debate, as to how we move forward.
Covid has offered the chance of reflection, let's not waste that chance.
