ROB Flockhart, the Scottish Rugby Union president, is confident that a substantial majority of member clubs are in favour of the motion, to be put to Friday’s special general meeting, to permit the sale of stakes in Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh. His main concern now is getting enough of them to turn up at Murrayfield to enable the meeting to go ahead.
Flockhart believes it is in clubs’ self-interest to vote for the motion, which he will propose, because greater external funding for the two professional teams will enable the union to make further increases in the amount of money it distributes to clubs. And, while accepting there is no guarantee that businesses will come forward to put millions into either team, he argues that Mark Dodson, Scottish Rugby’s chief executive, should at least be given the chance to test the market.
“I am now getting the feeling that the clubs recognise that what we're trying to do is look after their interests,” Flockhart said yesterday. “I am still hoping that we get sufficient people along.
“I think part of the problem is that most clubs we have spoken to want it to happen, but probably don’t see that they necessarily have to come along. We maybe have to get the message across that the clubs do need to take a bit of responsibility for their own futures. We’ve got to get a bit of trust that they should really support us in taking this forward.”
Each member club can send two representatives to vote at the meeting, and 106 people entitled to vote are required for a quorum. The motion then needs a two-thirds majority to be carried.
A member of Boroughmuir, Flockhart believes that the bare fact of the increase in club funding should be enough to persuade the required numbers to back the motion - always provided that they turn up in the first place. “It’s such a success story,” he said of that increase. “The figure for investment in the clubs has gone from £1.8million to £2.9m in four years - a 63 per cent rise.
“If we were to suddenly do that again, another £1m in clubs’ pockets to help them be sustainable, that would help us go forward. And it would be quite an exciting time.
“As the president, and the chair of the Scottish Rugby Council, my responsibility is directly to the stakeholders - the clubs. I would only be doing this if it was in the best interest of the clubs.
“To move forward we have got to find a way of securing investment which safeguards the kind of amounts of money that have been put into the domestic game over the past four or five years. That has been a sea change.
“Talking to some of the clubs, they accept they would be in a pretty difficult situation if that money wasn't coming in. I just want to secure their interest - that's my job.”
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