Kevin Ferrie
Things have changed since Farry said ‘no chance’ to the SRU...
IT has long been an ambition of the powerbrokers at Murrayfield to have greater involvement in the national game.
A succession of courtships and flirtations have taken place over the last 30 years with varying degrees of warmth.
As one former Scottish Rugby Union president who was involved in commercial discussions through the nineties has taken almost perverse pleasure in recounting down the years, however, the regular discussions regarding the use of Murrayfield for international football at that time would be engaged in politely, before then SFA chief executive Jim Farry would make it clear that there would be no chance of it happening on his watch.
These are different times and the improvements on the commercial side of the Murrayfield operation that have seen the SRU’s debt drop significantly have encouraged a bullish approach among its executives at a time when the SFA has not had its troubles to seek.
The way they go about their business internally is under intense scrutiny, but chief operating officer Dominic McKay sought to betray not the slightest lack of confidence this week when, while stressing his organisation has a high regard for the SFA, made it clear Scottish Rugby believes it knows how to make events attractive in a way football has yet to learn, when observing: “I love my football but for a long time and the same with rugby, we are guilty of assuming that you put games on and people turn up. There are so many different distractions for young people and it’s very expensive, that you need to offer them something special and it needs to be broader than the 90 minutes.”
He pointed to the commercial benefits to be gained for the SFA by making full use of “the largest stadium that can generate the largest return that goes back into football.”
McKay’s choice of analogy was meanwhile an interesting one when he borrowed from yet another sport in comparing the bidding process with a 400-metre race, observing that they are now in the finishing straight and suggesting they now have a clear run to the line, having negotiated all the various obstacles placed in their way.
This is no contest played to Olympian ideals, however, with silver and bronze medals offering solace to those finishing second and third since in seeking to become landlords to the guardians of Scottish football. As rugby seeks to achieve even more than it was attempting to back when Jim Farry proved so resistant to its charms, this is a race which could, in terms of the long-term power balance in Scottish sport, prove to be a winner-takes-all event.