SRU Council proposal causes split in the camp

TWO of the men behind the Scottish Rugby Union's system of governance are at odds over a motion being put to the agm next month to allow officials to stay in office for a longer period than is currently permitted.

Our report yesterday on the union's proposals to enable Scottish Rugby Council members to remain in place and continue to represent Scotland on international organisations even when they no longer represent the club constituency that elected them attracted criticism. David Johnston, the former Scotland centre, was part of the Sheriff Dunlop Report that plotted a new SRU route after the turmoil of a 2005 leadership coup.

He said: "That is a concern to me. We set a limit of two three-year terms to allow people to be elected and have some time to get in and understand the SRU, and if they were seen to be doing a good job perhaps be elected for another term, but built into that was the need for change in the organisation.

"Of course it would not be good if the board and council changed every year because you do need continuity in the organisation but to tackle the potential for that kind of turnover by increasing the number of representatives permitted to remain on the council, when they no longer are representing anyone, strikes me as being like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut."

The Scottish Rugby Council is permitted two co-opted members, currently Bill Nolan and Gordon Cox, who represent the SRU on the IRB and FIRA organisations. They no longer represent the constituencies they were elected by, but remain as ex-officio council members.

The agm motions want to create more of those roles and Archie Ferguson, another member of the Dunlop Report panel, supports them. He moved with Nolan from the old general committee that forced the leadership crisis in 2005 to the new council.

He remained in place when his club Lenzie were relegated, by switching to Dalziel, but Dalziel have now been promoted and his five-year involvement is due to end next month.

Ferguson said: "When I represented Glasgow on the old committee, I got around different clubs each week and I've done the same as national league rep, finding out the issues, so these clubs have got used to me and trust me. That takes time.

"Similarly, it takes time on the Scottish Rugby Council to get used to the systems and then to go from that to being on the plc board, and then a Scottish representative on international bodies needs more time to grasp.

"We have had some great sporting administrators from Scotland, but I believe that we will never have someone in an influential position in international rugby because we don't leave them there long enough."