SRU President Jim Stevenson launches rugby appeal

Dec 24 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

SCOTTISH Rugby president Jim Stevenson has launched an appeal to local sports councils to help him spread his message to Lanarkshire clubs.

Under his role, Jim has gone out on President’s Roadshows to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Galashiels, Cupar, Aberdeen and Inverness but Lanarkshire comes under the Glasgow banner, and he’s aware that it’s so far been left out somewhat.

But Uddingston resident Jim said: “The roadshows give myself and the senior officers of the SRU a chance to go around the country and give a presentation on where we’re going.

“Lanarkshire comes under the Glasgow area but I’d be very keen to do something similar, which could perhaps be organised through the local organisation of sports councils.

“I’m happy to go anywhere to meet people, hear from them and get their views.”

Since being re-elected in June for a second and final term as president, Jim has covered hundreds of miles all over Scotland, as well as making numerous trips to London.

It’s been hectic, but Jim admits he’s loved every minute.

He said: “November was a really busy month for me, as between the Autumn Tests and my other duties as president, I clocked up over 4500 miles by car.

“But this is a great time to be a Scot, rugby-wise. Look at our results on the pitch – we beat Australia and Fiji, and had a very narrow defeat by Argentina – against three teams who are all ranked above us in the world by the International Rugby Board.

“For me, that was great.

“In between, I was out and about on Mondays and Wednesdays attending the President’s Roadshows, as well as hosting the Friday night dinners before the matches with our international opponents and having meetings at Murrayfield – and in case anybody doubts me, I had a full-time job on top of that as well!

“I’m able to do it through a mixture of annual leave and flexi-leave so I have to thank Glasgow City Council for being very good for me.”

Stevenson is confident about the national team’s future, and reckons they’ve settled under new coach Andy Robinson,.

He said: “The players have a new belief and have confidence in the coach and his team, which has shown in the results of the Autumn Tests.

“They’re now a very difficult team to beat and demonstrated against Argentina that they can also play a wee bit as well.

“Against Fiji, who are a big and physical side, we also showed we could play and close out games.”

Jim will stand down as SRU president at the June AGM and said: “I’ve got six months to go and there’s still a lot to come, but one of the most important aspects is to get people excited about rugby, break down the barriers, and make it accessible to everyone.”