Two motions, which will shine a spotlight on Super6 and on Scottish Rugby’s handling of the Scottish Government’s £20m covid support package for the sport, have been submitted to Murrayfield ahead of the governing body’s Annual General Meeting in August (at a date still to be announced).
The first motion, which has been proposed by GHA and seconded by Hawick, calls for Super6 to be disbanded with a modernised version of the traditional Scottish Inter-District Championship (which could potentially include a Scottish Exiles squad) to be introduced from season 2022-23 onwards.
Super6 was launched as a part-time professional league in November 2019 with the aim of bridging the gap between the essentially amateur domestic club structure and the full-time professional tier consisting of Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors. The heavy-handed implementation of the league by Murrayfield, without proper consultation, has led to a simmering resentment between the six franchises involved and the leading clubs which have been left out in the cold.
However, clubs lower down the Scottish Rugby food chain are not as exercised by this situation, and it is likely that many will take the view that Super6 should be allowed to complete at least one full season without a Covid interruption before dropping the axe.
There will also be questions about whether an Inter-District format can really provide the infrastructure and fixture schedule required to create a suitable performance environment for the country’s best aspiring players.
The second motion, which has been proposed by Glasgow Hawks and seconded by Falkirk, relates to anxiety among a number of clubs at how the £20m received from the Scottish Government to support rugby through the Covid crisis is being managed by Murrayfield.
It was announced last month that a funding package worth up to £6.5m over five years has been set up which allows grassroots clubs to apply for support for specific projects, but questions have been asked about whether this really satisfies the Scottish Government’s stated aim “to assist grassroots rugby clubs in Scotland with the damage caused to them as a result of their compliance with Covid-19 public health rules”.
If voted through by the clubs, this motion will require that a schedule of payments made from the Scottish Government support package should be published and made available to the Scottish Rugby Council – which is elected by the clubs – on a quarterly basis, and that assurances are given that any public funds allocated will not be used to support the recruitment of non-Scottish qualified players either directly or indirectly through to end season 2021-22.
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