Call to drop Olympic rugby to help protect Scotland's sevens side

Published on Tuesday 29 December 2009 21:28

A FORMER sports minister has called for rugby to be removed from the Olympics because it might undermine the Scottish team.

But the comments by Nationalist MSP Stewart Maxwell have been questioned by former British Lion Gavin Hastings, who claimed most Scottish rugby players aspire to play for Scotland and Britain.

Mr Maxwell has claimed that there is a danger of the International Rugby Board (IRB) cancelling the Rugby Sevens World Cup when the form of the game is included in the Olympics in 2016. This would mean that the main international sevens team for Scots would be the British one.

Mr Maxwell said that this would be wrong, especially as sevens, the smaller team version, was invented in Scotland.

He called on the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) to act to save the national sevens team.

The West of Scotland MSP said: "The SRU must use their place in the IRB to stop this plan that will push Scotland's sevens – the home of sevens – off the world stage.

"The IRB seem determined to scrap the Sevens World Cup – taking away Scotland's right to compete as a rugby sevens team in a major tournament. For this to happen to the country that invented the game is unacceptable."

Former Scotland captain and British Lions legend Gavin Hastings told The Scotsman that rugby was different to football because Scottish players aspire to represent both Scotland and Britain.

"If I or any other former British Lion was asked whether representing the Lions was up there with my international experiences, of course I would say 'yes'," he said.

"It would be a shame if the Sevens World Cup was lost and Scotland could no longer play in it, but you have to remember there would still be a Scottish team in the Commonwealth Games," he said.

"Overall the benefits of rugby being included in the Olympics and the profile that gives the sport is worth the loss of the Sevens World Cup."

The SRU, along with other rugby union boards, has long campaigned to have sevens introduced to the Olympics to help raise the games profile around the world.

Dominic McKay, the SRU's director of communications, said: "We take pride that sevens, invented in Scotland, will now spearhead the worldwide growth of our sport as a by-product of the IOC's decision."