On taking office as Scottish Rugby’s vice president, Ian Barr indicated that he believes he is now on course to take on the most powerful office in the sport.

The position in question, that of president, was filled in historic fashion at Saturday’s annual general meeting as Dee Bradbury, mother of Scotland flanker Magnus, became the first woman to take on the role.

She does so with the organisation in turmoil having, in the course of that AGM, announced a third eminent lawyer-led major review into its governance in 20 years and a separate enquiry into its repeated use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence former employees.

Barr was meanwhile portrayed as the anti-establishment candidate among the four standing for the vice presidency – a role which leads to a near automatic step up in two years’ time – having resigned from Scottish Rugby’s Governance Working Party last year.

On a day which saw clubs enshrine their control of the domestic competitive structure in the sport’s laws when a motion to that effect was overwhelmingly passed, the nature of his election seemed telling, not least because he had previously stood against both out-going President Rob Flockhart and Bradbury and failed on those occasions to be elected.

This time the other candidates included Jim Littlefair and Mark Monro, both long-standing Scottish Rugby officials, as well as Graham Low. Yet Barr won in a landslide, gaining election at the first time of asking having achieved a clear majority.

As several speakers indicated, the motion advocating club control of the domestic game was at least partly a response to what was generally perceived as a power grab by the board at last year’s AGM, when a bid to re-write the Scottish Rugby Union bye-laws, as proposed by Flockhart and chairman Colin Grassie, was rejected by clubs.

Explaining his decision to stand, Barr indicated that he saw himself as a champion of the grassroots, doing so after Flockhart and Grassie had offered delegates the abject apologies that were necessary in the wake of the controversial implementation of the Super 6 franchise model that will bring a new semi-professional tier into the sport, but more importantly, the ramifications of the Keith Russell affair that has brought attention to that use of NDAs following the employment tribunal which found unequivocally in favour of the former director of domestic rugby.

In contrast to the reports from the president and chairman, there was no acknowledgement of past wrong-doing, let alone contrition as chief executive Mark Dodson gave the impression of considering himself the most powerful figure in the room, however in stating his belief in the importance of giving the right lead in the right way, Barr indicated that he sees the presidency as the key role.

“I’m a great believer in strong leadership,” he said.

“There are a lot of good people on the Scottish rugby council, there are a lot of good people working at Murrayfield and I think that my leadership skills can help pull the council together. I would certainly be delighted to help Dee in her role. It is vitally important that we have the council, the domestic rugby department and the board all working together for the good of the game and that comes through strong leadership skills and business acumen. Hopefully I can deliver, I’m certainly not going to sit on my hands.”

As to whether the chief executive, chairman or president has most power, he claimed that it was the person elected by the shareholding clubs who should carry most sway.

“You can see by the way the chief executive goes about his business that he is a very powerful man and I think we need somebody powerful running the professional side of the game, but ultimately the president is the most important person in Scottish Rugby and I am looking forward to working with Dee to make sure that we get all the messages from the clubs to her, to allow her carry out her role, which is going to be difficult. There is a lot of responsibility and there is going to be a lot of pressure on her as the first female president.”

Bradbury has, however, been involved as vice president as the issues that have caused such embarrassment for the sport have arisen and the slightly contradictory sounding observations she made immediately after being elected spoke to the difficulty the organisation is now in.

Invited to address the criticism directed towards its board, she reverted to the language Scottish Rugby had initially used when issuing a statement immediately after the findings of the Russell hearing were issued, saying: "I'll be perfectly honest, I don't recognise any of that. I've been part of Scottish Rugby from the periphery, as a player, a coach, through to where I am today. If that culture existed I wouldn't want to be part of that and I very much do want to be part of it, which I think is evidence."

Yet when asked whether she was suggesting Flockhart and Grassie had been wrong to offer the apologies they had, she replied: "No I don't. That apology was for the place we got ourselves into. The clubs were entitled to some humility and that's what we've displayed."

It is Barr, then, who appears to carry the mandate from clubs to ensure that a sport that has suffered substantial reputational damage offers full disclosure of what has taken place in allowing it to start making amends.

A perilous journey, packed with possible rewards for the greater good, but high in risk may lie ahead for the man who would be president.