Irvine linked to SRU board post as Kennedy prepares to stand down

Published on Monday 12 May 2008 23:07

BRIAN Kennedy is to stand down from the Scottish Rugby Board this summer, leaving the SRU to find a new director with a professional rugby background.

Gordon McKie, the SRU chief executive, intimated last week that he was already seeking a high-profile figure with a working knowledge of the professional game, accepting that the executive and Scottish Rugby Council were short of top-level business experience in the one area probably most problematic to the sport in Scotland.

Kennedy, a Scots entrepreneur, was one of the early investors interested in taking on a Scottish pro side, but he was turned away by the SRU and duly took over and turned Sale into a leading force in English rugby.

Ironically, then the SRU, albeit under new chiefs, wanted his advice. Andy Irvine, the former SRU president and current British Lions chairman, is one person rumoured to be a possible replacement.

Allan Munro, the board chairman, stated: "Brian has contributed greatly over the last three years and I thank him on behalf of my board for his excellent and valued support. I am delighted that Brian has offered to remain available to the board as an advisor if required."

The SRU also confirmed the nominations for this year's presidency and various proposals for the AGM, including the motion to put the Scottish Cup into abeyance for a year. George Jack, the current president, and Jim Stevenson, the Cambuslang president who lost out to Jack last year, are the only nominations for the figurehead role this year. Their election takes place during the AGM on 27 June.

Ian Barnes, the Edinburgh Accies and ex-Hawick coach and player, will contest the Division One representative position on the council with incumbent George Clark of Boroughmuir next Tuesday. Bernard Dunn (GHA), John Davidson (Jed-Forest), Bob Hogarth (Peebles) and Keith Wallace (Haddington) will vie for Division Two rep while Premier Three's Donald Naysmith (Livingston) and National League representatives Archie Ferguson (Dalziel) and Malcolm Gillies (Dumfries) have all been returned unopposed.

There are four motions for the clubs to debate and vote on at next month's AGM, focusing on the cup, timing of the agm, amendments to the SRU bye-laws and an amendment to the SRU's Articles of Association.

The motion to suspend the Scottish Cup for next season only, to allow for a new domestic season to be fully debated, and proposed by Munro and Jack, also comes with a suggestion to schedule stand-by fixture dates for Sundays on the home international weekends. The SRU stated 12-team leagues next season, with six home internationals in the calendar, could mean the cup starting on 16 August, with matches on 27 December and 3 January before concluding with finals day on 9 May.