Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) chief executive Mark Dodson believes a compromise to resolve the ongoing row over the future of the European Cup is possible if all sides are prepared to accept some “tweaking”.
Leading clubs in England and France have served notice of their intention to quit the existing set-up when the agreement governing the running of the European Cup expires at the end of the season and set-up their own separate competition, to which other teams from the continent have been invited.
Dodson said he could understand the frustration many English and French clubs feel in having to qualify each season for the European Cup through highly competitive domestic leagues while Scotland’s two professional teams, Glasgow and Edinburgh, are guaranteed entry regardless of where they finish in the Celtic League.
However, Dodson said on Wednesday at the Scottish launch of the European Cup in Glasgow that a way out could be found under the existing structure run by European Rugby Cup and that there was no need for the proposed Anglo-French inspired Rugby Champions Cup.
“If the ERC had been a failure, you would think about moving on,” Dodson said.
“But when you look at the track record of success, why would you want to ditch a tournament that the fans love, the players love, and is growing in value year on year?
“What it might need is a certain amount of tweaking to make it even better and fairer and more equitable, but I’m certain the Heineken (European) Cup is where we should be.”
Asked if Scottish officials understood Anglo-French worries, Dodson replied: “We can. We look at this from their position as well and we have some sympathy with it.
“But it’s about how you protect the professional game across the whole of Europe.
“We have to respect each other and find a way to make everybody happy … there may be some tweaking to be done.
“We are happy to talk about qualification, we are happy to talk about financial distribution, we are happy to tweak governance.”
Even though English Premiership clubs are set to boycott the next round of ERC talks on October 23, Dodson was optimistic about finding a way out of the current impasse.
“I think what they say and what will actually happen will be two different things,” he said.
