Rugby Club Issue 75 | Page 57

Gala
“ For the Club to be truly sustainable we need to represent and involve the whole community and ensure the club is an open , inclusive and welcoming place to be . An aspiration set out in our business plan but which will need a lot of hard work , clear thinking and direction to achieve . To allow this to happen we need to encourage more volunteers to come along and assist the club , even if they only give up an hour or two of their time every now and again , but of course there are many competing distractions .
“ Going forward , there are major changes proposed by the governing body , the SRU , to the league system in Scotland . It is intended that some of the current BT Premiership clubs , and or amalgamations of them will combine to bid for inclusion in a six team , semi-pro , ‘ Super Six ’ franchise with the leagues below comprising a BT Championship and three National Leagues ( 1-3 ) which will be wholly amateur .
“ So in terms of a three year or five year plan it is a bit of a guessing game at the moment until the franchise bidding documents are published . All these changes are to take place commencing season 2019 / 20 .
“ Given that as a club our members recently expressed a wish to return to an amateur status , it is likely that with the new proposed SRU structure that
it would become at least our short to medium term plan to seek to win the new BT Championship , once inaugurated . This is my personal opinion only and our future plans will be a reflection of our members wishes .
“ Away from the playing side , as a club we are currently seeking to become a Scottish Incorporated Charitable Organisation ( SCIO ) i . e . a charity regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator .
Achieving that status would help ensure the medium to long term sustainable future of the club .”
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