GLASGOW Hawks president Kenny Hamilton has called for an investigation into the awarding of Super 6 franchises on the grounds that a key commitment by the SRU has been overlooked.
Hamilton, whose club’s application was unsuccessful meaning that there won’t be a team from the country’s biggest city in the new league, has pointed out that the Franchise Information Pack issued by Murrayfield last November explicitly states that there will be at least one franchise from each of the country’s four regions – and no more than two from any single area. While all four regions are represented, three of the six franchises selected by the SRU-appointed review panel, and rubber-stamped by the SRU Board, have gone to Edinburgh clubs – Boroughmuir, Heriot’s and Watsonians.
The Information Pack states that:
That was the month that was: April 2018
Asked by The Offside Line to explain this apparent abandonment of a central plank of the whole Super 6 project, a spokesperson for the SRU said:
“The Franchise Information document was prepared as guidance on the overall process, long before any applications were submitted and before Scottish Rugby reached a concluded view on what the regional composition of Super 6 might look like.
“The selection of the successful franchises was based solely on the criteria evaluation set out by the Review Panel which had a remit to determine the strongest bids. Under the terms of the application process, the Scottish Rugby Board had the final decision on which clubs were selected and Scottish Rugby believes it has selected the most robust applicants for the Super 6.”
Hamilton’s complaint, however, has nothing to do with the “robustness” of the applicants or the assessment of the Review Panel. Instead, he believes that clubs lodged their bids believing that the distribution of franchises would be made as stated in the Information Pack. And, while the pledge to have a maximum of two franchises per region may not have been repeated in print subsequently, Hamilton and his club are convinced there was a general understanding that it remained SRU policy.
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Hamilton said:
“I have to say that I find the statement bewildering and certainly bordering on downright dishonest. The applicants made their submission in line with the criteria that were set out in the original documents issued on 20th November.
“That document, I understand, was issued after a great deal of careful consideration. As far as I am aware no alteration was made or agreed by the Board after that date. Or at least none that was transmitted to the applicants.
“This appears to be an attempt to cover a serious error that has been made. Our application to serve the rugby community of Glasgow was rejected, but we now do not know against what shifting criteria it was found wanting.
“Similarly, all of the bids have apparently been assessed against criteria only known to the Assessment Panel. This is not a credible or transparent process and needs to be investigated thoroughly.”
Speaking earlier in the day at the media launch of Super 6, Scottish Rugby Chief Executive Mark Dodson said:
“We did say that we wanted one in each area and we have [that]. The other two are in Edinburgh because they were the best bids. We chose them on that basis. Would I have wanted a strong bid in Glasgow? I would, obviously. But you guys [the media] would have held us to account on this. So, if we hadn’t chosen the best bids and used geography as a convenience – and that franchise wasn’t strong enough to survive – we would have been criticised for that.
“The truth of the matter is, the Hawks bid was a very good one, a very smart bid, but it wasn’t as good as the ones we have pushed through today. I feel their pain. I know this causes them a problem. It was always going to lead to a transition moment from not being a Super 6 franchise. We are there to help them, I have offered my help. We will meet with all the committees of clubs who weren’t successful to work with them.”
“The fact of the matter is you judge the values of the bids across the piece. We didn’t believe – on a whole list of things, including governance and commerciality – that it was as strong and sustainable as other bids.”
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Now that the Super 6 Clubs have been revealed, I am at a loss to the reasons the most successful team in Scotland has been overlooked.
Hawick
For a start – the British Lions website has a list of players from all the clubs in Britain and Ireland who have played for them, these are:
Melrose – 6; Ayr – 0; Heriots – 10; Watsonians – 8; Boroughmuir – 4; Stirling – 1; Hawick – 12
In addition, Hawick have had some 60 players capped for Scotland 1 for England, J.M Morgan. The majority of these players born and bred in Hawick – with nobody needing to do a 3 year qualifying period from the ‘High Velds’ or the ‘South Seas’.
At the same time that Hawick were keeping the Lions and Scotland supplied with players, they were also sending a steady supply of players south to Rugby League – Chalmers, Drew Turnbull, Broatch, Glen Turnbull, Fiddes, Whittaker, Rob Valentine, and many more. Please do not let us forget the most famous of the them all – D.D. Valentine who went on to Captain the Great Britain Rugby League side. Yes, Hawick was producing Rugby League players when ‘going professional’ was a dirty word.
As far as the ground capacity goes – in 1963 the South played the All Blacks at Mansfield Park with an estimated crowd of 15-16,000 attending the match. Nine of the team that day came from you guessed it – Hawick. The team took the All Blacks to the wire – Wilson Whineray the All Blacks captain would later record in his autobiography that the South pack that day had given them one of their hardest games on the Tour. May I add, that Jim Gray at fullback was outstanding, as was the whole team.
Some 5 years ago, Newcastle played Edinburgh at Mansfield Park in a pre-season paid entry match – attendance was 4000+ – Edinburgh currently struggle to get 3000 at Murrayfield at the moment.
When Hawick won the first National Cup at Murrayfield – an estimated 35 buses left Hawick for Edinburgh that day, with 23,000 attending the game. I am currently scratching my head trying hard to think what other team would need 35 buses – it’s a hard one to work out….
We will have to leave the dissecting of the SRU Super 6 policy for another day.
@Owenins @Scotlandteam @GlasgowHawks1 Since when have Pooler been playing in Scotland?
@Scotlandteam @GlasgowHawks1 Suggests underhanded tactics haven broken the original guidelines, sme… https://t.co/8CEnkgkf8E
Maybe Hawks’ proposals were just not good enough? One of the bigger sections in the S6 document was about facilities, Hawks don’t have a permanent home at the moment, which would surely have counted against them? (Edinburgh Accies were in the same boat, with their portacabins at Raeburn Place and no sign of work starting at the ground). Even if two rather than three Edinburgh teams had been chosen, there’s no guarantee that Hawks would nave been next on the list. It was an exercise to choose the best applicants to take on a 6-figure franchise, I very much doubt that ‘underhand tactics’entered into it. (There were hardly any Edinburgh people on that Panel).
@Scotlandteam @GlasgowHawks1 Yin the borders home of Scottish ? joke
Old school tie still rules in SRU? Disgraceful anything north of Stirling written off. Kick in the teeth to those who travel to all home games. When are we getting an under 20 or Women’s international in Inverness again? Similarly for Aberdeen etc.
@GHKRFC @Scotlandteam @GlasgowHawks1 Maybe the hawks bid wasn’t good enough. The SRU are trying to… https://t.co/ZtavyF6zHF
@Scotlandteam @GlasgowHawks1 It’s almost as if the SRU are making things up as they go along.
@Scotlandteam @GlasgowHawks1 and what about us north east of Edinburgh? Nothing!