Plans to set-up a motor-racing style international sevens Grand Prix touring the world would be unworkable, according to one of Scotland's greatest champions of the abbreviated game.
Furthermore John Jeffrey, part of a hugely successful Kelso sevens squad in the eighties and then Scotland's assistant coach at the World Cup Sevens at Murrayfield in 1993, thinks it could expose Scottish players to embarrassment.
Details of the proposal, which is being considered by the International Board, are revealed in The Herald today. Clearly the aim is to help to encourage developing nations that do not have the resources to compete at XV-a-side level, but Jeffrey thinks it could be at the expense of traditional powers such as Scotland.
''The idea is sound in principle, but the problem is getting hold of players,'' said Jeffrey. ''As things stand, players will only be released for eight internationals next season.''
Jeffrey compared the situation with that faced by the SRU when they turned down an invitation to take part in the Commonwealth Games this year. That decision met with widespread condemnation, not least from within his own club since, as they have been Borders kings of the sevens for the past three seasons, it was proposed that Kelso might represent Scotland. ''I was against our taking part in the Games sevens,'' Jeffrey admitted. ''Unless we can send our best possible side we could go out there and be beaten by developing countries. The last thing we need to do is make a fool of ourselves.
''I'm a great sevens fan,'' he went on. ''Sevens is a great ground for nurturing players. But in the professional game there's no room for them.''
qJohn Beattie's Diary - P38
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article