Begbie says clubs can lean on Scottish Rugby

SCOTTISH Rugby could offer more financial help to member clubs if there is a further lengthy delay to the sport’s return, director of rugby development Sheila Begbie has revealed.

The governing body announced yesterday that it had disbursed nearly £400,000 from its Club Hardship Fund, with a total of 82 clubs benefiting. Clubs were normally able to apply for a grant of up to £5000, with more being on offer in exceptional circumstances.

The fund was set up to help clubs with running costs between late March, when play was suspended as a result of the pandemic, and next month. As there is still some way to go before a date for the return to play can be announced, Begbie acknowledged that a second tranche of help might well be required to prevent some clubs from going out of business.

“I would say that we’re very much alive to, and will be very much directed by, what clubs are asking us for,” she said yesterday. “If this goes on for much longer, or we have a second wave, we will be very much open to working with our clubs to look at how we continue to support them financially.

“What we all don’t want is for our clubs to go to the wall. So certainly, if there is any support we can look to give them if this is a much longer period than we’re in at the moment, then absolutely, we’ll be open to discussions with clubs. If there’s additional support clubs are needing, we’re absolutely open to it.

We’d want to support our clubs to make sure clubhouses are opened safely and we don’t have clubs going to the wall because they didn’t anticipate hidden costs.

“At the moment we’ve managed to avoid that, but if this goes on for a much longer period of time then I think we absolutely have to be open to looking at creating a new hardship fund in terms of further support for clubs down the line – and we are absolutely alive to doing that. Whatever needs to be done to support the clubs to stay afloat, absolutely we’ll be looking at supporting them to do so.”

By the same token, Begbie noted that the SRU was itself under some strain financially, and that a lengthy delay would impact on its ability to offer its members more monetary aid.

“It’s a really fluid situation,” she continued. “We can’t continue to go like this, because we’re going to end up running out of money. Like every other business, Scottish Rugby has been majorly impacted financially by Covid-19.

“I would say to you at the moment there is no guarantee of anything, and it absolutely depends on how long this situation goes on for. There’s a lot of uncertainty, which is really challenging for all of us.”

If, as is likely, rugby is one of the last sports to be allowed to return, Begbie knows clubs face an additional risk: losing players to other activities.

“I think that’s a big risk for us. Because of the nature and culture of rugby, in terms of the sweat and the saliva and stuff like that, maybe we are going to be one of the last sports to go. So, I guess there is a concern that if other sports are able to go before we are, then maybe young people turn their head away and think: ‘If that sport is up and running then I am going to try that’.

“I know that some clubs have that same fear that people might be afraid to come back, so from our perspective it is about working with clubs.”

Scotland Under-20 internationalist Callum Hunter-Hill has joined Saracens on a permanent basis from Edinburgh. The 23-yearold second row has been on loan with the English club this season but has now signed a three-year deal.

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