Feature image: Clan players at Gala RFC

What are the origins of SBDU?

The Scottish Borders District Union (SBDU) is a new body created in 2024, but one that harks back to the amateur era of rugby in Scotland.

Before the game turned professional, each area of Scotland would have its own organisational body that would focus on helping clubs and communities across its region and have representatives that would meet with other area reps and help to shape Scottish rugby through the Scottish Rugby Union.

When professionalism arrived in 1995/96, the picture changed and the focus in the 21st Century has largely been on the professional game – and how to sustain professional teams, Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors, and keep Scotland competitive at the top table, where the key funding comes from to sustain every other part of the game.

But the club and community game has struggled, with funding falling, participation numbers dropping and general interest waning. The SBDU was formed to bring together clubs and individuals across the Scottish Borders, where rugby has a great history back into the mid 1800s, and has always been the ‘working man’s game’.

Pic: Clan and Rebels Squads

Please tell us about the work that SBDU does.

Its focus is on helping to strengthen communities through sport, and the SBDU’s guiding values are: Community, Inclusion and Collaboration.

“Everything is about identity,” says David Ferguson, the SBDU secretary, “and so it’s vital for us that everything we do follows those three tenets.

The organisation is supporting the development of rugby for all, with girls and women’s rugby, walking rugby for older men and women, and rugby for people with physical, learning and sensory disabilities. The Borders Clan club is an example of that.

“The Clan was formed by former Hawick players Gary Murdie and Keith Scott,” explains David, “and the SBDU has been delighted not just to support the club, and its players and families, but to help the club to inspire and motivate more people to become involved in rugby.”

The Borders Clan has developed from two players to now have more than 20, and they enjoyed a first tour recently when invited to Cork to play against the Irish disability club, Sunday’s Well Rebels.

Coach Murdie says: “It was incredible really. We had great support from across the Borders, as we had to raise more than £10,000 to fund the tour, but thanks to clubs, groups, shops and businesses – and even a rowathon at Peebles Hydro by our McDonald twins – we made it.

“We played against the Rebels at half-time during the URC match between Munster and Treviso, and then had our own full game the next day, and the atmosphere was amazing. Our players certainly enjoyed the welcome they got from the Munster fans, and loved playing in a full stadium at Musgrave Park.

“The Rebels were fantastic too, and while the rugby was good fun the experience for many of our players of simply going away from home, travelling over the Irish Sea, and enjoying all the aspects of a traditional rugby tour was very special.”

One of the more recent additions to the squad, Nathaniel Jones, 33, added: “This was immensely valuable. For me personally this was a huge step out of my comfort zone.

“With me having autism and ADHD I don’t really go out of my room a lot, so to actually leave the country was a surprising eye-opener for me, and it has really lifted my confidence a fair bit.

“As for the team, it was a great team-bonding trip. We got the chance to spend lots of time together and so you get to know each other so much better, and we have come back even more enthusiastic about rugby, and about taking the Clan forward.”

For the SBDU, the tour was an example of what can happen when people come together with a common love of the game.

“Inclusion is vital for society and for people like Nathaniel, their families and our communities,” added David. “But it is also crucial to the future of sport.

“Sport doesn’t start in the international or pro arenas, but with children picking up a ball or kicking or hitting it, and playing with their friends. If we don’t support and invest in our community sport, we won’t have professional sport.

“Investment comes in many forms – financial, but also in human resource, time and other forms of support – and as community clubs struggle a bit to cope with changing demands the hope for the future comes from the likes of the Clan. Driving that enjoyment in the game is how we foster more volunteers, widen our base of players, supporters, coaches, referees and people who will organise behind the scenes.

“There are people in every part of our community who are ready and willing to be part of the game, or who maybe don’t yet realise the fun and friendships they can make through sport who we need to engage. Essentially, that’s what we are seeking to promote, encourage and drive through the SBDU – community, inclusion and collaboration, and a bright future of inclusive, engaged and thriving communities.”

Pic: Clan tackle

We’re right chuffed that  you use a .scot domain for such great work. What was the thinking behind that?

David Ferguson responded, “I have worked with a few organisations, most recently the Observatory for Sport in Scotland, and now the SBDU, and in both cases I thought it was important to use the dot.scot domain because it identifies us straight away as Scottish, and proud to be a Scottish organisation,. It also helps to distinguish us from others out there, in the dot.com and dot.co.uk world, and it works very well.”

Pic: Clan go out

For more on the Scottish Borders District Union, please visit https://sbdu.scot/