Board outlines ambitions for Scots rugby growth

Chairman of the Scottish Rugby Board Sir Moir Lockhead and chief executive Mark Dodson spoke on their ambitions for the Scottish game recently after the Board’s annual general meeting.

(L/R) Chairman of the Scottish Rugby Board Sir Moir Lockhead, new SRU President Ian Rankin, Chief Executive Mark Dodson and Vice-President Ed Crozier. Picture: SNS

In a video interview with rugby TV, Sir Moir Lockhead, spoke on the importance of getting the rugby community behind the board and outlined how Scottish Rugby can now grow their ambitions with the funding received through the BT deal and other commercial partnerships. He said: “It’s been a very good year in many respects, but in particular that we’ve created a vision that we can now implement because we’ve got the funding to do it.”

Lockhead added that he felt that growing the sport at grass roots level was vital, highlighting that Scotland as a whole ‘doesn’t do enough sport in schools’.

He said that thanks to the funding provided he was looking forward to being in a position to help rectify that situation, especially with regards to rugby being played in state schools. He said: “We are now going to be able to help create sport in schools that currently don’t play enough sport and in particular don’t play rugby. You know only 19 per cent of our State schools are involved in rugby, if we can double that, then that would be fantastic. It’ll give a complete expansion to our pool of players, not just for the international and the professional game but also at club level. That’s always been our ambition to make rugby attractive to young people and to be able to fund it.”

(L/R) Chairman of the Scottish Rugby Board Sir Moir Lockhead, new SRU President Ian Rankin, Chief Executive Mark Dodson and Vice-President Ed Crozier. Picture: SNS

CEO Mark Dodson then spoke on the Board’s priorities going forward and his highlights of the past year. he said: “What’s been important for me is the way we’ve managed to keep engaged with supporters, with record attendances right the way

through at BT Murrayfield and also over at Scotstoun.”

Dodson then emphasised the importance of the fact that the initiatives that they had started had now ‘become programmes’ and that thanks to the new funding they would be able to drive rugby forward across the nation, not just at school and club level but also in providing new levels of funding for the woman’s game.