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Anger grips Scotland after revelation that SRU's top executive was paid £933,000 last year
There has been a sizable backlash in the Scottish rugby community after The Offside Line revealed the staggering salaries paid to Scottish Rugby Union executives.
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The website revealed that the highest-paid executive – which is usually the chief executive, in this instance Mark Dodson – received £933,000 for the year up to May 31, 2019, which was double his previous year’s earnings of £455,000. The fees and salaries for all the company directors jumped from £1.13m to £2.246m.
Journalists and fans alike have shown their outrage on social media at these findings and have begun to dissect the situation Scotland rugby finds itself in.
The Scottish Daily Mail’s Rob Robertson described the revelation as “appaling”, while The Times’ Alasdair Reid said the figures were particularly alarming given the current exodus of players from the Scottish game.
Owain Jones compared the controversy to the outcry when former Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie was paid £600k from a £207million turnover, which pales into insignificance compared to £933,000 the SRU gave its top executive from a turnover of £61.1m.
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Only last week it was announced that Jonny Gray will be leaving the Glasgow Warriors at the end of the season to join the Exeter Chiefs, a move that Stuart Hogg made last summer.
With Finn Russell having also left the Warriors to join France’s Racing 92 in 2018 as well as the imminent departure of Glasgow boss Dave Rennie to coach the Wallabies, the criticism of the SRU is that its money is not being spent to retain or bring in new players – and these findings about the CEO’s salary have proven to be incendiary.
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This is appalling! THE highest paid executive in the Scottish Rugby Union – usually the Chief Executive (Mark Dodson) – received aggregate emoluments of £933k (before pension contributions), more than double the £455k earned the previous year. Well done @theoffsideline 4 story.
— Rob Robertson (@ROB_Robireland) January 14, 2020
The SRU annual report, given to member clubs, no longer reveals fees, salaries and benefits paid to its directors. However, they are obliged to do so in legal accounts lodged at Companies House. 1/3
— Alasdair Reid (@AlasdairReid3) January 14, 2020
These accounts show that fees and salaries paid to all directors almost doubled last year, from £1.13m in 2017-18 to to £2.25m in 2018-19. 2/3
— Alasdair Reid (@AlasdairReid3) January 14, 2020
My Lord, 933k for (almost certainly) Mark Dodson. I remember the outcry when it was announced Ian Ritchie was on 600k at the RFU when it had a £207m turnover after RWC 2015. The SRU's turnover was £61.1m in 2018-19. Can you explain, kind sir?
— Owain Jones (@OwainJTJones) January 14, 2020
The main criticism from fans seems to be that no Scottish team at any level has performed at a level that warranted such a pay rise for the senior members of the SRU.
The men’s team finished fifth in the 2019 Six Nations, and while the World Cup didn’t take place before the May 31 date in the SRU accounts, Scotland did themselves no favours in Japan, bowing out at the pool stages.
Ironically, it was actually during the RWC that Dodson’s comments regarding their potentially cancelled match against Japan during Typhoon Hagibis led to a £70,000 fine for Scottish Rugby.
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https://twitter.com/Pugoramma/status/1217052039332737027?s=20
I know successful CEOs can receive big increases, but looking at Scotlands performance at the 6Ns and RWC, the U20s relegation to the second tier tournament, under investment in Glasgow and those comments at RWC Dodson hardly fits that bill.
— Doug the Prop??? (@DougProp) January 14, 2020
Rob, you need to write about this. This is a disgrace. The results of the Men's, Women's, 7s and u20s merit a formal warning, not a doubling of his salary.
— SyKoro72 (@sykoro72) January 14, 2020
https://twitter.com/scottbricknal/status/1217099507126755328?s=20
Jesus @Scotlandteam this is an absolute joke. More than £900k for a CEO??? Do you think you're a FTSE 100 company or something?? No wonder Glasgows top players keep leaving without being replaced, money shovelled into the trough for Dodson https://t.co/JK0KDXxeZD
— Niall Sommerville (@niall_som) January 14, 2020
Many fans have been piling into this discussion, which was always going to prove very controversial in light of performances over the past year, and this may only be the beginning of a long saga.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Billy's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
28 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to comments