CAMBUSLANG Rugby Club president Jim Stevenson is the new man at the helm of the Scottish Rugby Union. Jim pipped the incumbent George Jack (Leith and Biggar) by 95 votes to 86, to take on the post, with immediate effect from last Friday night. And he’s vowed to do everything in his power to try and grow the sport throughout the country. Speaking exclusively to the Reformer, Jim said: “I’m absolutely delighted about it all. “Normally, when you’re a wee boy in Rutherglen playing football every day, you dream of running out at Hampden Park, but you never really think about becoming president of the SRU! “I was never good enough or talented enough to represent my country, but now, I’m delighted that people from all over Scotland have put their faith in me, and I feel very honoured and humbled. “But I’ve made it quite clear that from the word go, I’m in it for 12 months, and then that’s it. I won’t be standing for a second term, and unless I’m persuaded otherwise by the stakeholders, I’ll be out this time next year. It says quite clearly on the tin, my sell by date is June 2009.” Messages of support were flying into Jim’s mobile, with numerous text messages and calls, in addition to e-mails and letters. Congratulations continued to pour in as he met with the Reformer in Glasgow on Monday. To date, he’s had messages from Australia, China and the USA, as well as from throughout the UK and Ireland. But whilst bouyed by their good wishes, Jim wants to get down to the serious side of the job: “We’ve got to bring a bit more realism to the sport. Four motions were brought by the board to the AGM, and all four of them were rejected by the stakeholders. That shouldn’t be happening - and we need to know why the board were so out of touch for that to happen. “That’s one of the main issues I’m going to have to deal with now. We have to listen to the clubs and find out their feelings, and now the board have some serious work to do. “Playing numbers is a matter of huge concern to me, and we need to increase the player base. One of the things we have to do is expose more people to rugby, and we can do that through the school curriculum, and continue the good work of our development officers. “Less than five per cent of people playing rugby will get the chance to make a professional living from it, while the rest are just volunteers, whether players, coaches, working behind the scenes, or whatever. “There’s a lot of good people putting in a lot of work which goes unpaid, and we should be able to recognise that in some form or another. “Another area we have to look at is best practice - what are some clubs doing better than others, and why? We’ve got to be able to tap into that and share the knowledge there is in this wonderful game of ours - that way, everyone can benefit.” Jim, who was brought up in Rutherglen’s Mitchell Street, now the site of the town’s shopping centre, said: “A lot of people have advised me that the best thing to do is to be myself. People have voted for me based on who I am, so that’s what I’ll do. ”They voted for me and don’t want me to turn into an establishment figure, but because I’ve got experience of playing, coaching and running a club. You need that degree of realism and people can see that you understand where they’re coming from, when you’ve got bills to pay, and so on.” He joked: “I suppose that means I won’t be flicking peanuts at Princess Anne!” One thing that Jim is currently considering is his own future as president of Cambuslang, with the duties that come with the SRU post. He explained: “That’s still to be decided. My home will always be at Cambuslang Rugby Club, where I’ve spent my whole life. “For over 30 years, I’ve been involved with this wonderful club, as a player, coaching my son’s team, and being vice-captain, as well as president. “I’ve always said that I love this club and couldn’t see anyone else being president while I feel I’ve got something to offer, but what better reason could there be than stepping down because of taking on the presidency of the Union? “At present, I’ve three vice-presidents in Alan Stark, Alastair Menzies in charge of rugby, and Susan Jones in charge of rugby and sports. We’ll have to see what happens in the coming weeks.” Jim added: “This reflects so well on Cambuslang as a club, but I’ve got to give full credit to my wife Ellen and son James. They’ve supported me all the way with this, and I can only thank them for that.” More - see pee page 78. | 
Article
