This was money that could have kept Hogg and Gray at Scotstoun

THE NEXT time you get bored listening to someone witter on about the importance of governance in Scottish rugby, force yourself to stay awake. And think of Mark Dodson. Specifically, focus on the revelation that the chief executive of the rebranded SRU saw his earnings more than double to £933,000 last year. Now, to put this in perspective, Glasgow might well have held on to Stuart Hogg if they’d been willing to match the offer made to him by Exeter — which would have cost them somewhere in the region of an extra £150,000 a year. The same sort of investment might have kept Jonny Gray at Scotstoun beyond the end of the season. Any Scotland player employed by Edinburgh or Glasgow will certainly be paying close interest to directorial remunerations revealed in most recent Scottish Rugby accounts. Particularly when contract extensions are being offered. But the optics of such a huge pay rise go far beyond the debate over whether keeping on-field talent close to home, guaranteeing greater availability to the national squad, is worth more than retaining a couple of clever men in suits. Every time anyone in Scottish rugby — with a small — is denied central funding for any project, they’ll be entitled to hit administrators with a ready response. No extra cash for the Super6? Oh aye, but you’ve got plenty to give Dodson… Can’t afford to stump up for new training facilities or grassroots pitches? Of course. You’ve spent it all on a chief exec who, you might recall, was on the wrong end of a damning verdict in an employment tribunal involving unfair dismissal… Oh, and you’ve tried to hide it. Or at least made no attempt to publicise this great act of largesse. The fact that the details on Dodson’s entire package — including bonuses for all sorts of successes not always apparent to outsiders — were rather tucked away in the contents of accounts lodged with Companies

House certainly doesn’t suggest a wish to draw attention to the facts. Indeed, the official accounts do not identify — by name or position — the director receiving that bumper package. This bit of business might even have passed without comment. Almost as if it was planned that way. Now? There will be questions. Lots and lots of questions. And the only people who should be more annoyed by these figures than dyed-in-the-wool rugby folk, meanwhile, might be a couple of chaps with offices at Hampden. Ian Maxwell and Neil Doncaster, chief executives of the SFA and SPFL respectively, both earned a good chunk shy of £400,000 in 2019, according to published figures. Massively impressive money, certainly. Even putting their wage packets together, though, they’re not earning the same as their single rugger equivalent. Yet football has a higher profile, attracts more flak and is regularly cited as the root of every societal evil. Surely that’s worth a bit of danger money. Think on this, the next time the eyelids start drooping in the middle of a lecture about oversight, the committee system or checks and balances. In a marvellous stroke of serendipity, clubs are gathering at BT Murrayfield this evening in order to hear details of Sir Bill Gammell and Norman Murray’s corporate governance and business review. It might be a good deal more lively than many expected.