Dodson insists decision to quit not because of Cattigan case
Mark Dodson insists he is leaving Scottish rugby in a healthy position and on his own terms after announcing that he was stepping down early after 13 years at the helm.
The chief executive said the Siobhan Cattigan case had no bearing on his decision and he would leave it to others to judge his often controversial stewardship of the sport.
Dodson, 63, will vacate office this summer, a year before his contract is due to expire. He said he reflected on his position after the Rugby World Cup and concluded that it was the right time to go.
The governing body has recentlygonethroughaperiod of major transition, with an overhaul of its governance structure and the appointment of John Mcguigan as the new chair of the Scottish Rugby Limited Board.
“Severalfactorswere in play to influence my decision,” said Dodson, who left the Guardian Media Group to become chief executive of Scottish Rugby on September 3, 2011, succeeding Jock Millican. “When we got back from the World Cup, I thought long andhardwiththefamilyandwe believed it was only right that thenextworldcupcyclebegiven to someone who is actually going to see it through.
“My contract was up until 2025. It was there to make sure we had continuity between the new governance structure and the new boards being bedded down. We’ve made tremendous progress on that. John and I have worked really closely together since he joined the business and the new strategy piece we are doing at the moment will run for a ten-year period.
“It was right for me to say, I think we should hand this over to someone who will be able to execute it over the long term. There are other things I want to do in my career and we felt it was the perfect time to do that.”
Dodson is the union’s longest serving chief executive and has been responsible for modernising swathes of the sport in Scotland. But his tenure has not been without controversies, most notably his handling of the Cattigan affair.
Scottish Rugby apologised “wholeheartedly” last November and after saying it had let down the family of the former international. Cattigan died in November 2021, with her family saying undetected rugby-related brain injuries caused a “catastrophic decline” in the 26-year-old's health.
It took the appointment of Mcguigan for the SRU to handle the affair in the appropriate manner. Mcguigan said the governing body “should have managed this tragic situation better” and “take responsibility” for the way it dealt with “certain elements surrounding Siobhan’s funeral”.
Dodson was unrepentant when asked about it at the SRU agm last November and insisted yesterday that it had nobearingonhisdecisiontogo early. “There is no connection,” he said. “It is an upsetting affair and it’s been a difficult time for everybody, but it had no bearing on my decision at all.”