Scotland Support Star Initiative

Scotland have thrown their weight behind the South African Rugby Union’s STAR initiative and will join the campaign to highlight the sport’s opposition to racism before kick-off in Saturday’s Bank of Scotland Corporate Autumn Test match at Murrayfield. The Scotland team will wear a specially commissioned armband featuring a STAR in their colours of blue and white during the playing of the national anthems. Scotland have also made available space in the match programme and on the Murrayfield Stadium big screens to highlight the initiative.Scotland have thrown their weight behind the South African Rugby Union’s STAR initiative and will join the campaign to highlight the sport’s opposition to racism before kick-off in Saturday’s Bank of Scotland Corporate Autumn Test match at Murrayfield. The Scotland team will wear a specially commissioned armband featuring a STAR in their colours of blue and white during the playing of the national anthems. Scotland have also made available space in the match programme and on the Murrayfield Stadium big screens to highlight the initiative. The SARU campaign takes its shape from the acronym S T A R – Stand Together Against Racism. We are delighted to support our colleagues in South Africa on this important issue. Rugby in Scotland is a sport open to all and we believe that any opportunity that can be taken to underline that there is no place for barriers in our sport, should be grasped, said Scottish Rugby’s Chief Executive Gordon McKie. It is humbling to see the speed and generosity of spirit with which our rugby brethren in the northern hemisphere have agreed to stand together with us, said Mr Oregan Hoskins, president of SARU. Scotland’s gesture in a country with far fewer racial complications than our own speaks to the power of this cause and the importance that we as South Africans should place on it. I’d like to publicly thank Gordon McKie and the board of Scottish Rugby for their support of our campaign and helping us promote this important message. NOTE TO EDITORS: The STAR campaign was launched by SARU as a follow up to a domestic ‘No to Racism’ campaign during the Absa Currie Cup. Teams wore the slogan on their playing jerseys during one round of the competition and the message was painted in the in-goal areas for the second half of the tournament. Racism is not just rugby’s problem – it is a South African problem and this is rugby’s approach to tackling it, explained Mr Hoskins.