CHARITY TO MISS OUT ON MATCH REVENUE
THE Welsh Rugby Union and Scottish Rugby Union are coming under increasing pressure to donate a percentage of the Wales v Scotland profits to the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.
The Celtic rivals will clash at the Principality Stadium this Saturday to kick off the autumn series and will be playing for the Doddie Weir Cup. The game is expected to net in the region of £3million.
The former Scotland international has Motor Neurone Disease and has set up a foundation in his name to raise funds to aid research into the disease.
A cup was attached to this weekend’s fixture to help raise awareness of the foundation and the disease but it has emerged that the charity will not be receiving a percentage of the profits from the match.
Fans have been angered upon learning that there are no plans for the foundation to receive a slice of the gate receipts, so much so that some are calling for a boycott of the match on social media.
Journalists and pundits have also expressed their dismay at the situation and called on the Unions to reconsider their stance.
“If the unions want the game to have a broader, deeper relevance, there is an easy, and right, thing to do: join the fans in digging deep. Give Weir a slice of the gate,” wrote Scottish journalist Mark Palmer in the Sunday Times.
Broadcaster Sonja McLaughlin commented that she’s ‘falling out of love with rugby right now, a sport seemingly obsessed with cash over everything’.
And Welsh rugby fans’ favourite Phil Steele urged the WRU and SRU to ‘do what is right and aid one of your own’.
Weir’s story has captured the hearts of many of the rugby community and it would be remiss not to point out that the WRU are doing things to raise funds and awareness around the game. They will be holding a pre-match dinner with Shaun Edwards and Gregor Townsend on the eve of the match, heavily advertising the foundation around the ground and putting on bucket collections on matchday.
WalesOnline understands the WRU are disappointed with the criticism and remain adamant that involving the foundation was done so with the best intentions.
But many still feel that, given the game is being played in Weir’s name and the WRU stand to make upwards of £2m in profits, the Scot’s foundation should be seeing some of it.