Scottish rugby deserves a National Lottery windfall
THERE are many unsung heroes in Scottish rugby but this week I want to single out for praise a group of individuals and companies without whom we would not have Murrayfield in its present form as one of the leading stadia in any sport in the world.
When the Scottish Rugby Union proposed the massive expansion of the stadium in the early 1990s, they looked to a tried and tested method of raising money, and issued debentures which I think were about £2k a pop on average – obviously the better seats came in at bigger prices. And all that got you was the right to buy a ticket for your debentured seat for the next 50 years.
Companies wanting to offer hospitality to corporate guests – for whatever nefarious reason (only joking!) – snapped them up but a very considerable number of individuals stumped up the money, and I was told at the time that around 18,000 were sold in all, raising near enough £37m to pay for the project.
I have no written evidence to prove this, but I understand that many if not most debenture holders still hang on to their ticket rights, in which case they have my huge admiration for having stuck with Scottish rugby through some torrid times on the pitch and some huge upheavals off it. Remember, when these debentures were bought back in the early 90s, rugby was still an amateur game. All I can think is thank goodness the deals were done then, because would the same number of people step up to effectively subsidise professional rugby? I hae ma doots.
The SRU always stated that you could sell your debenture and up until March of last year there was a single company appointed to conduct such sales.
According to the SRU website: “Speirs & Jeffrey, the broker which previously provided a service matching buyers and sellers of Scottish Rugby Debentures, was sold to Rathbone Brothers last year. Unfortunately, they are no longer able to replicate this service provision within the Rathbones Group, and so ceased to provide this service from 15 June 2019.
“This service is an activity regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and one which Scottish Rugby is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to conduct. Therefore, any future matching of buyers and sellers of Scottish Rugby Debentures will need to be done privately between individuals. Public auction sites are often used for sales and can be checked for availability.”
I am still not seeing any great signs of debenture holders rushing to sell their certificates, though one valued at £2,200 is currently on sale on eBay for £2,495.
The point about debentures is that they are nothing new – the Royal Albert Hall in London was built using the system, and the original
Murrayfield ground and stadium was acquired and built in 1924 using debentures.
Some debenture holders were a bit annoyed in March this year when SRU Chief Operating Officer Dominic McKay wrote to them to say: “From next year the deadline