Colin Rigby

I spoke to Colin Rigby (whom many will know from the FP Rugby Club), who was elected VP of the SRU last year. We discussed the pandemic, the club game, the national team, and head trauma amongst other topics. Thanks to Colin for being generous with his time and his answers.

You were elected VP of the SRU in summer last year. Has it been difficult to make progress with the domestic reform you talked about in the campaign in the difficult circumstances of your term so far?

It’s certainly been an interesting opening six months - effectively three AGMs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the cancellation of the competitive domestic season, the start of a governance review, and new autumn series – the Autumn Nations Cup and new ways of delivering the game to the wider audience, CVC money into Pro 14 now 16 and of course, the win at Twickenham. In addition, thanks to Doddie Weir and Rob Wainwright, a lot of us have had the chance to do some exercise in the Doddie Aid inter-district challenge for MND in January raising over £1m – a quite remarkable achievement! One of the major items I campaigned on was the level of transparency given to clubs to explain the context behind decisions. The VP Notes are now published after each Scottish Rugby Council meeting and I am delighted they have been a resounding success. Going forward, since minutes of our Council meetings are now also being published on the Scottish Rugby website, my aim is to weave this into one document combining the minutes of meetings and the VP notes. The Governance review is well under way with already some five meetings. President Ian Barr and Stewart’s Melville’s Gavin MacColl QC as chairman are driving the review and we remain on track to report back to the clubs by early summer. As we progress through the pandemic, we will start to focus on how domestic clubs will emerge from the pandemic and reform going forward as the game on and off the pitch as we knew it will need to adapt. One of the positives of the pandemic is that I have been able to speak to more clubs than I would normally as forum meetings are via Zoom rather than in person. Some of the positive initiatives clubs are coming up with to keep contact with their own rugby community are truly outstanding. For example, buy a virtual round; virtual dinners with delivered meals and wine with speakers; and regional fitness competitions including throwing the welly; and inter-club football leagues to name but a few.

With that in mind, are there new priorities for the leadership of the SRU after the pandemic?

The pandemic, globally, has led to all organisations reviewing their priorities and strategies for the coming years and Scottish Rugby is no different. The priority firstly has to be the wellbeing of stakeholder, that is the clubs and their communities and employees. We responded with a four-stage plan - Respond, Reset, Recover and Rebuild, and I believe Scottish Rugby was proactive from the outset in its response to the pandemic. We are now in the reset phase and various strategies are being evaluated and refined, the difficulty on this occasion is the majority of decisions are impacted by items outwith Scottish Rugby’s control such as government legislation and restrictions. So, to answer your question, yes, there are new priorities, around survival and realigning the game for when we can eventually resume.

We are grateful for the support we have received from the Scottish Government in the recent weeks by underpinning our plans by the provision of £15 million grant aid and the option to take an additional £5 million loan as part of a rescue package, given the absence of spectators at almost all matches since restrictions triggered by the coronavirus pandemic were imposed in March 2020. This will help finance the game at all levels. Scottish Rugby understands the parlous state many of our clubs find themselves in and I am sure in the upcoming Council meetings and Board meetings we will look to build on the template of last season’s Club Hardship Fund.

Live sport attendance is something a lot of people are looking forward to after lockdown - how do you see crowds being phased back in?

We all wish to see crowds back at sporting events within Scotland as soon as possible following guidance from medical experts and Scottish Government. As the virus continues to mutate more and more scenarios are being planned around how and when crowds can return whether to Inverleith or BT Murrayfield. Scottish Rugby has a threat management group meeting at least weekly with stakeholders from throughout the game evaluating scenarios and opportunities so when we are given the green light, we are ready to re activate the game at mini , midi, schools , and club levels. We will all have to work hard together to retain and ultimately increase the number of people playing and involved in other roles in our game.

What are your thoughts, and the thinking within the SRU, on how the Super6 league has operated so far? Are there any plans for it to evolve in the future?

It’s early days with Super6 as their first season was truncated by Covid. My initial view was it was a positive step forward and from a Stewart’s Melville perspective we have seen many benefits from our partnership with Heriot’s. I also appreciate that not all has been plain sailing and Super6 has much to do to gain the trust of the clubs and build a working relationship with Premiership clubs. That said, Super6 is here and we need to embrace its conception and standing in the club game and perhaps there will be consideration in the future to increase it to eight or ten teams.

There are a good number of exciting prospects in Scotland at the moment (including some from Stew Mel). What is your opinion on the increasing tendency of clubs giving opportunities to southern hemisphere talent, instead of young domestic prospects?

Great question and one that highlights the issue of where we stand as a game on and off the pitch. The reality is we need to evaluate why our domestic prospects are not in some cases the first port of call? And this comes back to where we need to look to invest in the game at grassroots and create a pathway that the best players are tested week in and week out for clubs and schools so as they rise up through the ranks. These prospects need to have the best coaching, strength and conditioning and understand what is expected of them, but, most importantly, that they have been tested in each environment. We as clubs and schools have never, I believe answered that question to any great degree of satisfaction. We are very fortunate at Stewart’s Melville over the last few years to have provided several players to the professional ranks, Scott Riddell at Scotland 7’s; George Turner with

Glasgow Warriors and Scotland; Ross Thompson also in Glasgow. And in the Edinburgh ranks we have Jamie Hodgkinson, Jack Blain and Connor Boyle. Add in hooker Isaac Miller at Worcester Warriors, Callum Hunter Hill at Saracens - we are contributing to the Scottish professional game. This is great news for the school and the rugby club and a progression that we should celebrate. At the same time however, it is in the domestic game where 95% of players play, some for competitive rugby, but most for fun and the social aspect with their friends and that must be at the forefront of our minds when laying out our strategy for the future. The top 5% of our playing population need a structure to be as competitive as possible to drive sucess and funding which is then promoted and distributed to the 95% of the playing population so we must all look at the overall bigger picture as well as within our own team or club. We need to be open minded and think outside the box, why can’t school teams play against the best club teams? How do we retain players at all levels of the game, irrespective of gender, how do we increase match official recruitment? The list is long, but we must all start to understand the issues before we can apply a solution. Sometimes we forget that every player that plays for Scotland, Edinburgh or Glasgow started either at a club or school, there were no bright lights and sponsors it was Saturday mornings or Sunday afternoons. We must get the girls and women’s game to dovetail into these deliverables.

Head safety and concussion is maybe the biggest debate in rugby (and a number of sports) right now. The RFU and WRU have had former players raise lawsuits against them, and an increasing number of parents have reservations about their kids taking up the game. What can be done to encourage more people playing whilst ensuring their safety? And have the regulations at the professional level gone far enough in your opinion?

This is certainly an area that has become very newsworthy of late. For those of us privileged to hear Dr James Robson speak at the rugby club dinner a few years back, Scotland through James and his medical colleagues have been and remain vigilant around all aspects of player welfare. In conjunction with their colleagues in coach education, they have been prominent in advancing the importance of safety first around concussion, through, for example, the “Are you ready to play Rugby” and “Rugby Right” initiatives. There is undoubtedly much more awareness of what to look for and how to treat head trauma. You only need to look at campaigns across Scottish sport, in which Scottish Rugby has taken an active lead, such as “If in doubt sit them out” to know the importance we attach to this area of player welfare. As we have become more aware of how injuries occur, the game’s laws have adapted and the emphasis on player safety must continue to be paramount. All sports will need to come to terms and adapt as medical research evolves around head trauma. This is not just a challenge for rugby.

A lively debate within Scottish Rugby surrounds the potential resurrection or creation of a third professional club. Is that something to realistically expect?

Why not? However, the bigger question is how it can be financed. It’s no secret that Glasgow and Edinburgh lack the financial clout of some of the PRO 14/16 teams and their English and French counterparts. So, before we can look towards a third Pro Team, we need to ensure we can adequately finance what we already have. Obviously, the CVC investment in the PRO14 will help Scottish Rugby as a whole, however it will also aid the other countries, so we need to fight hard just to stand still. Then debate will be where does this potential third team play? Borders? North? Or even London via London Scottish could be a consideration. It will take a few years for all forms of rugby to settle down and get back to the levels of financial investment that were seen prior to the pandemic so I believe our focus at the current time should be to ensure we have the strongest Edinburgh and Glasgow teams we can afford, with the correct pathways and infrastructure to support this underneath. The club game is what these foundations are built on.

Lastly, Scotland are currently 40/1 to win the World Cup in 2023 – is that worth a tenner?

Surely, you’re not asking me to break World Rugby regulation 6! Professional rugby at International level is incredibly competitive, especially in the top 10 – most countries on a given day can beat each other so a lot will come down to who performs on the day.

Thank you Colin!