Dodson bullish over Super 6 and sure more clubs will want to join
● SRU chief insists that Premiership sides demanded change ● Smaller clubs were behind return to days of amateurism
killing the game [at that level].
“What we have is money being paid to players who are never going to be part-time professional, never going to be at that standard, being paid with money which is being taken from the union.
“That money should be being spent on grassroots – volunteers and facilities. At the moment you have some clubs who have almost gone to the wall because they are paying players and distorting leagues.”
The lack of a franchise in Glasgow created the most headlines after the announcement of the six winning bids on Tuesday but there is a general and obvious geographical imbalance with the controversial inclusion of three Edinburgh teams.
It means there is no franchise north of the Forth and none in Scotland’s third and fourth biggest cities as well as the largest.
“We were disappointed we didn’t get a bid from Aberdeen,” said Dodson.
“Dundee came a bit late and probably needed a bit more time.
“We worked really hard with the University of Aberdeen and the clubs but there just wasn’t enough traction we could get up there, to get the people to come together and make a bid but we did work extremely hard.
“There was a letter of intent but it didn’t materialise into a bid.
“We have to look again at the strength of the game in Aberdeen and Dundee. I have to say the Dundee bid was extremely good.
“They worked extremely hard and I think they will have learned a lot of key lessons to take the game forward in that conurbation for sure.
“I think in Aberdeen we have a bit more work to do, trying to bring people together and make the game stronger there. There have been some problems the last couple of years in that neck of the woods.” 0 Back row (left to right): Chris Laidlaw (Boroughmuir), Nick Sutherland (Heriot’s), Ross Graham Scottish Rugby chief executive Mark Dodson, Scottish Rugby president Rob Flockhart and Steven