Former Dundee HSFP coach Ian Rankin said he was “absolutely delighted” to have been elected the vice-president of the Scottish Rugby Union by a landslide at Saturday’s AGM in Edinburgh.
Rankin was the first SRU office holder in living memory to be elected with a majority on the first ballot after basing his campaign on putting the club game at the centre of the Union’s operations.
He defeated existing union board members who were standing for the post, Jock Millican and Archie Ferguson.
It means that Rankin, who retired as head coach of Dundee HSFP at the end of last season after 10 years at Mayfield, will become president of the SRU in the 2014-15 season.
“I’m absolutely delighted,” said Rankin.
“To win on the first ballot, which has never happened before, convinced me that I had made the right decision to stand.
“It’s clear that my statements on the way the union should be run has made a real connection with clubs the length and breadth of Scotland.”
Rankin, who has also coached the Edinburgh Rugby professional team and the Scotland A and Under-20 sides, ran on a ticket of putting clubs at the forefront of the union’s operations.
“Even if the clubs had decided on Saturday that they wanted someone else, I felt that in the meetings myself and the other candidates had with clubs and groups of clubs across the country that I had changed a few ideas about where the priorities lie,” he said.
“Clubs want their views clearly stated at the highest level of the union, which is as it should be, and I’m honoured to be chosen as the man to do it for them.”
As someone with experience of all levels of the game in Scotland, Rankin is convinced that clubs should be re-established as a foundation of the game.
“The standard of rugby in the club game is the best it’s ever been, and we have a structure that is not far away, but we need it to be stable.
“Some clubs went two and a half months without a home game last year and you can’t run any business like that.”
Rankin also wants stronger ties between the pro teams and the club game.
“I think there is that feeling that in Scottish Rugby our players do remain true to their roots and want to go back and help where they came into the game,” he said.