Scottish Rugby Union - Definition and Overview

The Scottish Rugby Union plc (http://www.scottishrugby.org/index.cfm?) is the official title of the governing body of rugby union in Scotland, usually referred to as the Scottish Rugby Union (often abbreviated to SRU) or just as "Scottish Rugby". Phil Anderton was the Chief Executive Officer (resigned January 2005), and Ian McGeechan, the former Scotland and British and Irish Lions player and coach, is now the SRU's Director of Rugby. The head coach of the Scotland national rugby union team is Matt Williams.

The Scottish Football Union (foreunner of the SRU) was founded in 1873 and was a founding member of the International Rugby Board in 1886 with Ireland and Wales. England joined in 1890.

The SRU owns Murrayfield Stadium, which is the main home ground of the Scottish national team, though in 2004 international rugby games were played at Hampden Park in Glasgow and McDiarmid Park in Perth, as part of the SRU's campaign to reach out to new audiences outside the traditional rugby areas.

When the Heineken Cup was suggested SRU officials were concerned that Scottish club sides could not compete against the best teams from France and England and that centrally funded so-called 'super-district' teams might do better.

The four traditional districts—the South (renamed Border Reivers), Edinburgh, Glasgow and the North & Midlands (rebranded as Caledonia Reds)—were given the go-ahead to take part in Europe. For the first two seasons, players were still released to play for their clubs in domestic competition, but eventually the districts became full-time operations.

Then financial difficulties—the SRU's high debt, partly as a result of the redevelopment of Murrayfield—called for retrenchment. After two seasons, financial difficulties forced the SRU to merge the four teams into two. Edinburgh merged with the Border Reivers to form a team to be known as Edinburgh Reivers. Glasgow merged with Caledonian to form a team to be known as Glasgow Caledonian.

The Borders was resurrected in 2002 and joined the second season of the Celtic League. As a consequence Edinburgh Reivers became simply Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow became Glasgow Rugby. Caledonia will be re-established when the SRU believe financial circumstances permit.

Contact details

The Scottish Rugby Union plc
Murrayfield
Edinburgh EH12 5PJ
Scotland, UK
Tel: 0131 346 5000
Fax: 0131 346 5001
E-mail: feedback@sru.org.uk

SRU_symbol.jpg
Logo of the Scottish Rugby Union, no longer in use

Note: This logo is no longer in use.

See also

• Scotland national rugby union team
• The Borders
• Edinburgh Rugby
• Glasgow Rugby
• Murrayfield Stadium

External links

• SRU accused of becoming dictatorship (http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/rugby.cfm?id=51502005) - the crisis of January 2005 when David Mackay was removed by the general committee

• Scottish Rugby Union (http://www.scottishrugby.org/index.cfm?) - official website
• SRU Annual Report 2003-04 (http://www.scottishrugby.org/pdfs/SRU_AnnualReport.pdf)
• Scottish Rugby Strategic Review (http://www.scottishrugby.org/pdfs/agm.pdf) (Interim Update) 30 May 2004
• A brief history of Rugby Union in Scotland (http://www.scottishrugby.org/library.cfm?action=libhistorysection2) - from the SRU website
• The Library at Murrayfield (http://www.scottishrugby.org/library.cfm) - from the SRU website
• Guide to Scottish Rugby (http://sport.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=736) (The Scotsman)