The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Shake-up for Scottish game
Rugby union: SRU hoping new plans will see greater participation in clubs
Scottish Rugby has unveiled its new rugby development department in an effort to grow the game at grassroots level.
A series of regional directors and managers have been appointed to work with clubs and help them become more sustainable and encourage participation.
The Caledonia North team, which incorporates clubs in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and the Highlands and Islands, will be headed up by Chris Hildrey, who joins from his role as regional performance manager in the Highlands and Islands for sportscotland.
The regional managers will be Alan Falconer, Hamilton Rugby Club’s former development officer, and Sinclair Patience, who played for Highland and was the club’s development officer before moving on to being coach development officer for Scottish Rugby.
Scottish Rugby chief executive Mark Dodson said: “This has been a thorough and comprehensive change to how we deliver our support to clubs across Scotland.
“It was important to recruit people who shared our vision of the role clubs can have in their local communities and have the necessary range of skills to make a real difference to how we work with them and grow all aspects of the game.
“This is significant strategic change in how we work with our most important stakeholders and it underlines our commitment to ensuring rugby at every level, in every region, grows and is truly a game for life.”
All five regions will also be equipped with coach development officers and regional administrators. The new structure forms part of the SRU’s Agenda 3 proposal, which aims to work with clubs to improve sustainability at local level.
Domestic rugby in Scotland will be restructured from the start of next month with Caledonia North being one of five regions alongside Caledonia Midlands, Glasgow North, Glasgow South and Edinburgh, Borders and East Lothian.
“It underlines our commitment to ensuring rugby is a game for life”