Hegarty out as SRU breaks with past

A STRONG link to Scottish rugby’s Gordon McKie era was severed yesterday when Eamon Hegarty was relieved of his duties as the SRU’s Finance and Business Operations Director.

But the move, unsurprisingly effected within days of the new chief executive Mark Dodson taking over from interim CEO Jock Millican, will have more far-reaching consequences than merely the finance department. Hegarty had been McKie’s business partner through a number of ventures and was installed at Murrayfield despite the SRU having already identified a new financial director in 2005.

Down-playing the need for a marketing supremo in the Scottish game, McKie duly handed Hegarty responsibility for marketing as well as ticketing, Murrayfield stadium events and all the financial business. It is believed Hegarty’s salary was around £200,000 a year, including bonuses and pension contributions, by the time he left.

However, Hegarty was as much a part of McKie’s downfall as the chief executive himself. McKie lost the support of a number of sponsors and media partners, but Hegarty was also involved in talks that turned sour in those areas and in others across the Scottish club and pro game, and further afield. It was Hegarty’s decision to turf the Edinburgh supporters out of the SRU President’s Suite and spend over £500,000, including a £70,000 carpet, on a refurbishment programme that left the whitewashed President’s Suite looking more like a function suite in any upmarket hotel rather than something unique to Murrayfield. While it has again become an exclusive hospitality venue on match days and for concerts, the primary aim was to generate new income and Hegarty confirmed that very little profit was made from the series of ‘Glitterball’ Christmas parties that were held in the suite.

He confirmed this under oath in an Edinburgh court when the SRU was sued for breaching promises to Edinburgh season ticket holders over their use of the suite. The sheriff found in favour of the supporter, but stated that he could not re-open the suite for one individual.

Hegarty was praised by the SRU this week for bringing a tight grip on the finances and he deserves as much if not more credit for this as McKie. The duo successfully tightened up the spending in Scottish rugby with a fastidious approach to accounting that was dearly required in a business struggling to make ends meet. Where they both failed was in finding a way to then drive the business forward, and much of that stemmed from a lack of understanding of, or passion for, the game of rugby in a way that would open new revenues streams and encourage people to the sport.

There is no news yet of whether the union will appoint a straight replacement for Hegarty. The SRU, with former media boss Dodson working closely with new board chairman Sir Moir Lockhead, is now looking at restructuring the shape of the business, both to ensure there is a stronger marketing element to its direction and a central rugby philosophy that helps to grow the game by widening the appeal of club and professional rugby across the country.