SCOTLAND is set to become the last major rugby playing country to form a professional players' trade union.

After a year of sustained campaigning, Ian Rankin,

formerly Edinburgh Rugby manager and head coach of Caledonia Reds and Edinburgh Reivers, believes he has agreed in principle with the Scottish Rugby Union to form the Scottish Rugby Players' Association (SRPA) and expects it to be set up by the start of the season.

The overhaul of the SRU hierarchy midway through last season transformed attitudes to many issues, including player representation.

Rankin said: ''I met initially with Bill Watson, the then CEO of the SRU, who was opposed to the idea and thought they could serve the players best. Since then I have talked with David McKay [SRU chairman], Phil Anderton [the new SRU CEO] and Ian McGeechan [SRU director of rugby]. They have been

supportive and, I believe, have the backing of the SRU board.''

Rankin has held talks with players' representatives of all three Scottish professional teams and plans to consult with Tony Higgins, the chairman

of the Scottish Professional Footballers Association.

However, he has already learned much from a meeting with Damien Hopley, CEO of the English-based Professional Rugby Association (PRA), and from studying Niall Woods' Irish version. ''I'd certainly see the Scottish model being along similar lines to Ireland, although when our teams are franchised that may change,'' Rankin said. ''Players and coaches with experience of PRA in New Zealand, Australia and England have commented on how helpful it was to the smooth running of the sport.''

The stumbling block remains finance, however, and unlike the majority of trade unions, which run on subscriptions, the SRPA's membership would be too small for that to work, at least initially. Rankin believes it would be unreasonable to ask players to pay more than the (pounds) 100 subscription which is the standard charge elsewhere, and that would generate only about (pounds) 10,000.

He also wants to set up an associate membership for the players attached to the Scottish Institute of Sport and district rugby academies, but their means would be such that only a nominal fee would apply. The SRPA could actually become self-sufficient in the long term, but the governing body must subsidise its existence at least in the short-term, as happens in all leading rugby nations.

Rankin said: ''It is imperative for the credibility of the SRPA that it's seen to be independent and the aim would also be to become financially independent within a few years.''

With the IRFU understood to provide about (pounds) 66,000 of funding towards their players' association, the SRU would have to come up with something similar to fund an effective organisation in Scotland.

The SRU continues to plead poverty, yet it seems very much in their interests to offer that support, if only to help avoid some of the pitfalls of the past year. Only a last-ditch out-of- court settlement is understood to have stopped an excruciating laundering of dirty linen when Richard Metcalfe, the former international lock, threatened legal action after his contract was cruelly terminated due to injury a year ago.

Lawyers are meanwhile understood to have been

consulted regarding several on-going contractual disputes. In spite of the SRU having tried to make player welfare one of the central issues in attempting to persuade players to sign for Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Borders, great unrest has been caused by player sackings at all three teams.

Earlier this year, there was widespread concern among colleagues when, within two years of each being capped, Stuart Moffat (Glasgow), Andrew Dall (Edinburgh) and Kevin Utterson (Borders), had what they believed to be solid contract offers withdrawn after the SRU failed to approve the terms agreed with their clubs.

Moffat's situation was particularly ridiculous, as within days of losing his contract, he was recalled to the national squad during the Australian tour. While he subsequently signed for the Borders, he still had to be listed as ''unattached'' when selected for a training camp in Poland.

That was hardly in keeping with the ''Fortress Scotland'' policy, which claims to seek to keep all contenders for the national side in this country. However, general reluctance among players to speak openly on the subject, because they are all employed by the SRU, is a further reflection of the problem of lack of representation.

Setting aside any questions of honour, there is a problem for the SRU if they do not have a players' association in place before going to the market-place for private investors.

''No private investor will want to be in a situation where he has to consult individual legal representatives and agents of every player on every issue that effects them,'' Rankin said.

''Players' associations elsewhere in the world have, though, managed to standardise many things, including

conditions of employment, in a way that is to mutual benefit and that would be a major

priority for the SRPA.''