Peeblesshire News | Sport | Borders 'future put in fans' hands

Wednesday, 19th November, 2008

Published: Friday, 29th September, 2006 10:41

Borders 'future put in fans' hands

By Atholl Innes

BORDERERS have reacted angrily to a call by Scottish Rugby chief executive, Gordon McKie, for the Borders public to come out and support their local pro-team.

“The support of the Reivers in the Borders community is something that is really giving me cause for concern and there ultimately comes a stage where we say: ‘what more can we do here?’” he said.

But one season ticket holder told the Peeblesshire News: “They (the Union) don’t want the Borders and I will certainly never be going back to Murrayfield.”

McKie told a media briefing: “Admittedly there is a linkage between attendances and the performance on the pitch, but that said, initial attendances for the two home games have been poor.

“We are very disappointed with the start to the season given we have some new blood in the pack but I’m fully supportive of what Steve Bates, George Graham and Alan Tait are trying to do.

“We’ve now set up a pro-team board to empower the Border Reivers within their own community to try and create a greater commitment from the clubs and the communities and others, including schools, to get behind the team but I just don’t see that happening at the moment.”

McKie added: “We believe that the three pro-teams are absolutely essential to the future of the national team so I would like to keep three teams in Scotland, admittedly one of them is in a joint venture with the Carruthers family, ideally we don’t want to reduce the base to two teams for reasons of affordability, but we are concerned with what’s going on in the Borders and I’m really urging the Borders communities to get behind the team and to help Steve and the boys at this time.

“As a measure of our commitment, we are investing in a second stand in the Borders. We are going to enclose the ground again and we have placed an order to have a covered, seated enclosure in there in time for the Heineken Cup game in October.

“It’s a substantial sum to invest but it is one we are prepared to commit to show that we are committed to this team. We hope that the Borders community will now show their commitment.”

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