SCOTTISH RUGBY could do with a good news story after a less than successful Six Nations campaign, so here it is. Almost exactly a year after the Borders was closed, Scottish rugby is about to get its third professional side back, only this time it will be based at the exiles club London Scottish rather than in Galashiels or Stirling.
According to one source, the SRU board met last December and agreed in principle the union's support for the venture. They reconvened last Thursday and were expected to approve Murrayfield's contribution for the new team but no agreement was for
thcoming. One suggestion was that the financial goalposts had moved, with the union now offering less than had previously been agreed.
This delay has caused huge frustration among the Exiles and their backers who are going ahead with the project with or without the SRU's help. Still the latest hitch is not expected to prevent the two sides coming to an eventual agreement although no-one knows for sure exactly when that might be.
While one insider put Murrayfield's mooted contribution to the new venture at approximately £250,000 per annum, the real cost to the union is considerably less because much of the support, as and when it happens, is likely to come in the form of players' wages which the union would be paying in any case. Part of the plan is to send fringe players from Scotland's existing pro teams down to London where they will get regular game time at a decent level with London Scottish. The club will pay for their accommodation in the capital while the union will continue to pay their wages.
Since the players need this game time as much as London Scottish needs an injection of top-class young professionals, it would not suit anyone's best interests to have SRU chief executive Gordon McKie drag his feet for too long. While union support is undoubtedly welcomed by the Exiles, it is not central to this new scheme. On their own initiative, the London Scottish suits have rounded up not one but two different sets of investors who are both going to pump money into the Richmond-based club in an effort to gain National One status.
The first consortium is headed by former Scotland international, journalist and broadcaster Chris Rea who now works for the IRB. He has acted as a facilitator in bringing together several like-minded Scottish rugby supporters who are based in the south of England and who are all keen to see an upswing in Scotland's on-field fortunes. It is understood that the group includes Tesco chairman David Reid, former chairman of HSBC Sir William Purves and UBS investment banker Iain Nimmo.
The second group consists of three men; former Scotland winger Kenny Logan who played for the club in recent years, property developer Gerard Porter and Greg Knight, who runs the financial services company the Welbeck Group. A fearsome competitor for the Exiles back in the 1980s, Knight made it clear his motives were largely altruistic.
"It's my old club and it p****s me off seeing them struggle against some junior side. I want to see them back at the same level that they were when I played the game. I am quite aware that I will be losing all my money, never to be seen again, but I have been quite successful and I want to put something back."
All three men originally wanted to build a professional rugby franchise in Stirling with Aberdeen businessman Graham Burgess. While Burgess is not a part of this consortium, he has not ruled out getting involved at some time in the future.
London Scottish currently play in England's National Three (South) where they were lying in fifth spot ahead of this weekend's action. Promotion is out of the question for this year but, following this cash injection, the club will actively seek and expect the two promotions that will take them into National One. Presuming they are successful, the club plan to assess their options once they have reached what is effectively England's second division. Any immediate move into the Premiership is unlikely due to the costs of competing in the top flight compared to surviving in second division rugby.
In National One, the Exiles will come across the likes of Exeter Chiefs, Bedford Blues and the Cornish Pirates. This level of rugby is fully professional and there are strong rumours emanating from England that English rugby may witness a two-tier Premier League established, with both leagues consisting of 12 teams and both running end of season play-offs. There has even been some talk of ring-fencing these two professional leagues which means that London Scottish cannot waste any time in joining the elite.
The money involved in getting them there is not huge. Something like £500,000 has been promised by the Logan consortium over a number of years while Rea's group will add approximately double that amount over the same period. When the club's own sponsorship and gate receipts are added to the SRU backing, as and when it appears, the Exiles should be looking at annual budgets approaching the £1m mark, enough to see them comfortably into National One.
Presuming the problems that are preventing Murrayfield's active support are ironed out the plan still needs the green light from the London Scottish membership who will be asked to vote at an EGM.
It is not a done deal. Older heads will remember with horror the club's last flirtation with professional rugby. Tony Tiarks gained control of the Exiles back in 1997 and withdrew in the spring of 1999 as the club – then in the top flight – slipped into administration. London Scottish's professional arm "merged" with London Irish but quickly disappeared. The Irish wore a blue band around their shirts for one season before even that pathetic token was forgotten. London Scottish's amateur wing survived and started again at the very bottom of the English league system. They have clawed their way back up through the regional divisions, securing five promotions in seven seasons, and this season they returned to national league rugby.
To prevent another such calamity a new company will be set up which will have certain rights given it by the club, to play rugby at Richmond using the name and colours of London Scottish. The investors will be issued equity in this company which will not affect the London Scottish amateur sides in the event that the venture goes pear-shaped.
It seems like a win-win situation for everyone. The investors, most of them members of London Scottish and all of them Scottish rugby supporters, get to bask in the warm glow that comes from helping their club and country. The club gets a helping hand up the leagues which they would struggle to climb any further without this cash injection and, when the SRU finally clambers aboard, they will get a third pro-team to help develop young Scottish talent at a fraction of the cost they spent on the Borders. Obviously England's National One league is not as high a standard as the Guinness Premiership but it is probably on a par with the bottom of the Magners League.
The new set up will mean dramatic changes at London Scottish who will be advertising for a club coach/director of rugby and recruiting new players. Indeed a list of potential players has already been sent to the club by Murrayfield and only the SRU's failure to agree the budget has prevented any approach to those in question being made.
As things stand the exile club has more Welsh than Scots, with less than one third of the starting team on any given Saturday likely to own their own kilt. In its new guise the club will remain open to all comers but, while European employment law prevents the club from making it official policy, it seems likely that the London Scottish 1st XV will once again regain their distinctive tartan flavour.
