Biggar Rugby Club gathering support from other clubs in battle to restore title win/promotion

The SRU sanction amid the coronavirus crisis saw all the 2019-20 Scottish leagues – including Tennent’s National Division 1 which Biggar won two games early – written off, leading to the Hartreemill team registering an appeal to the governing body which has so far failed to yield any positive outcome for Biggar.

Refusing to lie down, Biggar – with the backing of Dalkeith Rugby Club who are in the same boat having won Tennent’s East Division 3 – are currently trying to garner signatures from a minimum of 24 Scottish clubs to trigger a Special General Meeting (SGM) between clubs and the SRU.

Biggar have approached all 137 full member clubs asking if they would support their bid to be part of an increased Premiership of 11 teams next season. By Monday morning they had received 17 ‘Yes’ votes.

Club secretary Mike Booth told the Carluke and Lanark Gazette: “We didn’t put a deadline on when clubs need to reply to us by.

“We are not in any rush.

“We have to have 24 signatures, which then have to go to the secretary of the board to call an SGM within six weeks. We believe we will get the support of the 24 clubs.

“If we ended up getting 60 ‘Yes’ votes we would be ecstatic.

“The 24 would make us feel comfortable, but 60 we would be over the moon with.

“We’re only calling for the one motion in the SGM, to promote those teams who had without doubt won promotion for the 2020-21 season, reverting back to the SRU’s intended structure following a full season of play.”

Mike (63) feels it would be particularly harsh to deny Biggar the title and promotion to the Premiership, given that they were presented with the league trophy after winning 44-15 at Stirling Wolves on March 6.

“The SRU followed us to Stirling with the cup,” he added.

“It was a great day but what do we do with that cup now –send it back?

“We were so looking forward to a season in the Premiership.

“I’ve been a supporter for many a year and I’ve seen Biggar go up, I’ve seen them come down.

“Going up this time would be really special. This has taken three years of rebuilding the club from the ground up.

“The fact that we did it the way the SRU wanted us to – we took on a development officer, an academy, we spent money on the youth section.

“In doing so we lost a few of our better players who went to play in National 1 and the Premiership.

“But when we got to National 1, those players came back. Now that says a lot about the club to me.

“It was that building that took us to where we are now and getting into the Premiership. If that’s not a flagship club for the SRU I’ve no idea what is.”