Statement from Musselburgh RFC

The following statement has been released by the President on behalf of the Board of Musselburgh RFC.

Musselburgh RFC would like to apologise to those who attended and were impacted by events at our recent club dinner. We particularly wish to recognise and acknowledge the hurt caused to our women’s team, who we are extremely proud of and to whom we are committed to providing a safe and nurturing environment.

We apologise for the very poor judgement of the speaker which he himself has acknowledged and sent us a written apology. We recognise the importance of calling out poor behaviours and in no way condone or approve of the subject matters that caused offence. 

We have been in extensive dialogue with our women’s team since Saturday and are working closely with them to agree a positive way forward for the team and for the club. We are grateful to them for their collaboration over this period.  

The club has committed to further conversations with the women’s playing group, offering opportunity for more women to have a clear and regular voice at the club. We are also pleased to note the positive endorsement to women’s rugby from our male players through planned joint rugby sessions at the club. 

As a gesture of our support, the club has agreed to make a donation to a charity of choice and we are working with our support network within Scottish rugby to ensure Musselburgh RFC maintains and builds an environment in keeping with our values of Integrity, Respect and Inclusion. 

We are extremely disappointed and sorry that this incident has dented the progress that we have made in developing women’s rugby at the club. It is an initiative we have strongly supported over the last few years and remain wholeheartedly committed to for the future. We sincerely hope and expect that we can move forward from this stronger.

MRFC Board