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Rugby Union

Owner unhappy with Edinburgh sanctions

02/08/2007

Edinburgh Rugby owner Bob Carruthers has hit out at the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) after he was ordered to return £1.4 million of funding his club had received from the SRU.

As a result of Edinburgh cancelling the operating agreement with the SRU, they will no longer receive future funding from the SRU and will not be able to train or play at Murrayfield.

The SRU and Edinburgh have been at loggerheads over money and had tried to settle on an amicable outcome, but now it seems the disagreement might have to be dealt with in the courts.

Carruthers claims the SRU signed a five-year agreement worth £8 million with Edinburgh but now cannot afford to pay that money and are trying to find an excuse to terminate the contract.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Carruthers said: "They are trying to engineer a dispute so they can ask for the money back, but you can't just bully people and behave like this.

"There's no such thing as an operating agreement. There are three contracts - there's a business transfer agreement, which can't be terminated, it happened. There's a tenancy agreement, which can't be terminated - it's in force.

"There is a facilities agreement whereby SRU were due to pay monies to Edinburgh. They failed to pay the monies and therefore have rescinded the contract."

It is uncertain if Edinburgh will compete in the Magners League season which kicks off in September, but a defiant Carruthers said the club would still be in business.

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