SRU have eyes for Edinburgh: Carruthers

Edinburgh Rugby owner Bob Carruthers claims the Scottish Rugby Union are determined to take the club back into their ownership again.

Carruthers took over the club a year ago but his tenure has been marked mostly by an ongoing dispute with the SRU.

The conflict centres primarily on the distribution of Magners League and Heineken Cup fees.

Carruthers contends the SRU owe Edinburgh a six-figure sum, which the union deny.

Edinburgh escalated the row when they prevented 12 of their World Cup-bound players training with their Scotland team-mates last week and then resigned their associate membership of the SRU on Monday.

The SRU subsequently claimed Edinburgh would be unable to play Magners League or Heineken Cup fixtures next season and that their players were uninsured “by the governing body scheme for the purposes of training or playing”.

However, in a further statement, and reiterated at a press conference in the capital yesterday, Carruthers maintained Edinburgh would fulfil fixtures and that their players were insured, while adding: “I think the SRU would love to have Edinburgh back because there is no vision for professional rugby in Scotland and that’s the problem.

“There has been a concerted campaign to undermine Edinburgh almost from the day that we bought the club but that’s life, we have to get on with it.

“But we think there is a better strategy for rugby in Scotland and sometimes you have to take a bit of pain if you care about what you are doing.

“We could have bought a club in England but we wanted to support professional rugby in Scotland played by Scottish players in Scotland.”

Caruthers also called for immediate mediation to end the dispute after saying that the SRU’s actions have “trashed the reputation of Scottish rugby around the world”.

Carruthers was scathing of the SRU’s handling of the situation, while appealing for the governing body to meet and resolve the situation.

“Both sides in a legal dispute have a duty to avoid going to court and wasting everyone’s money,” he said.

“There are always issues that can be resolved if the willingness is there.”

Carruthers also refuted the SRU’s assertion that Edinburgh would have no fixtures next season.

He said: “The Celtic League confirmed that we would be playing in the Celtic League and Bath, our English rivals, confirmed that they would be fulfilling their fixture with us.

“We have been speaking to clubs all around the world and they were expecting to see us in the Heineken Cup and looking forward to it.

“The only people in the world who seem to think that Edinburgh wouldn’t be in the Magners League or the Heineken Cup is SRU plc.”