Sru Willing To Stage International Football

Last updated : 31 January 2015 By Queens MAD

 

C:WindowsTempphpEBB8.tmp

 

The Scottish Rugby Union has declared a willingness to stage international football matches at BT Murrayfield if a decision is taken to quit Hampden.

The Scottish Football Association’s current lease on the national stadium in Mount Florida expires in 2020.

Speaking last summer, SFA chief executive Stewart Regan admitted they had to ‘explore all options’ but stressed that Hampden remained a ‘key pillar’ of football in this country.

It is possible Scotland games could instead be taken on the road around various venues after 2020, with SRU chief executive Mark Dodson now offering the use of the 67,000-capacity Murrayfield.

The home of Scottish rugby hosted two of Celtic’s Champions League qualifiers while Parkhead was on Commonwealth Games duty last summer.

Dodson is keen to trim the SRU’s £11million debt and potentially gaining rental income from the SFA carries significant financial attraction.

‘We haven’t had any official conversations with the SFA but clearly if there is a desire from them to come and play at Murrayfield then we would happily listen to whatever proposal they put forward.

‘I do think the issue in Scotland is that we have got too many big stadiums and not enough small ones.

‘So it is difficult to make all of the bigger ones financially viable.

‘If you have any kind of stadium — indoor or outdoor — it is the number of dark nights that are the problem and you need to use it as much as you possibly can.

 ‘Something like Murrayfield is such an expensive building to maintain so to have it empty is not what you want. So we’re always thinking of ways to improve the Murrayfield estate so it becomes a better and more viable financial option for us.’

The SFA declined to comment but there would likely be significant resistance from within Scottish football to any thought of money flowing out to rugby.

A consultancy firm has been engaged by the SFA to fully evaluate a number of options in relation to their future at Hampden, but that process remains in its early stages with five years still to go on the existing lease.