Tom English column: ‘Transparency out the window as Jeffrey’s critics remain silent’

In the Grand Slam spring of 1990, John Jeffrey was making a nuisance of himself at the side of a ruck against France at Murrayfield when Alain Carminati, the bruiser from Beziers, decided to do something about it.

He drove his studs down on to the prostrate Jeffrey’s chin, then had another go, lacerating the Scot’s ear.

Whatever the severity of the action – Carminati was red-carded and banned for 30 weeks – it was nothing compared to the shoeing Jeffrey got when told on Friday the board of Scottish Rugby were kiboshing his bid to become World Rugby chairman.

Done in by his own kind, as Jeffrey put it when we spoke at his home in Kelso on Wednesday.

It’s important to get the facts right in all this and in establishing what went on we get a better picture of the fractured nature of the SRU. The board of Scottish Rugby Limited, chaired by John McGuigan, supported Jeffrey. The board of the Scottish Rugby Union, chaired by Professor Lorne Crerar, opposed him. Crerar’s board had the final say.

BBC Scotland reached out to Crerar and several of those who voted against Jeffrey but none are prepared to talk. They are a ‘custodian’ board brought in on a platform of openness, but they are silent on this.

So, the SRU is split. Jeffrey said people around the rugby world would be laughing at Scottish Rugby and reaction to the story from many nations would prove the truth of that. One observer from a neighboring union hooted at “cannibalism” at Murrayfield.

Jeffrey also said there was ongoing “bad blood” between himself and some who made the decision to effectively end his involvement in rugby administration. This is political and it’s also, in part, personal. Principally, but not exclusively, Jeffrey was referring to Crerar, who within the SRU is a powerful individual with a low profile.

Jeffrey received a brief note of reasons why Crerar’s board didn’t support his bid. Presumably, they will have been critical of the fact that under his leadership the union recorded a £10.5m loss in their recent accounts.

A large portion of that was increased funding for the women’s game, Glasgow and Edinburgh and the national team. Some of those finding fault now were involved in the decision-making back then.

Similarly, the desperately sad story of Siobhan Cattigan and the way Jeffrey and his chief executive Mark Dodson handled it may have been raised as a reason for not supporting his candidacy.

That’s an entirely valid criticism. But again, some of those who may be raising this as an issue with Jeffrey now were involved in the union at the time. None of them spoke up publicly in opposition to the SRU party line.

So what we have is Jeffrey exiting rugby in a sad and humiliating way, the SRU blowing an opportunity to have a Scot as leader of the global game, and a powerful board, chaired by Crerar, making a momentous decision and then refusing to explain why they made it. Transparency, anyone?