Grounds For Improvement

THERE was a piece in today's Scotsman to the effect that the old, fading Meadowbank Stadium - scene of the 1970 and 1986 Commonwealth Games - was to be re-furbished as a home for Edinburgh Rugby, the capital's professional side. A good thing say I, although I am not 100 per cent in favour of putting a rugby pitch in the middle of a full-sized athletics track.

Certainly, playing at Meadowbank would be greatly preferable to continuing to play at Murrayfield, which is a pretty soulless place unless nearly or completely full. Given that Edinburgh will never adequately fill the National Stadium for anything less than a Heineken Cup semi-final, moving the club to Meadowbank makes sense. However, is it the right move for Scottish rugby?

I think not, in fact, with the imminent move to fewer Premiership teams I feel that, rather than spending a lot of cash on upgrading Meadowbank, the SRU ought to have given more thought to broadening the appeal of semi-professional rugby (and you cannot tell me that clubs such as Ayr, Gala, Melrose, Boroughmuir, Aberdeen and Dundee are anything other than semi-pro sides,

Better I feel to splash the cash via long-term, low-interest loans to the leading semi-professional clubs, provided that cash is spent on ground improvements, including TV-quality floodlighting, pitch protection measures, better stands and terraces.

The reduction in the number of Premiership clubs will mean those clubs which are established in Premier One will become powers in the land. OK, it might well be sad that the across-the-board strength of the Border clubs will be diluted by the fact they cannot all ge into the top flight. Melrose are in with the bricks, Gala rapidly getting there - all we need is an outbreak of common sense in Hawick and the realisation that a return to the old days of everything being geared towards the Green Machine (I know, I'm not holding my breath) and Hawick can be back where they belong too.

The semi-pro clubs, competing for places in the British & Irish Cup, will become a good underskirt to the two pro sides and, as such they need to provide a better standard of spectator facilities. With better grounds for the semi-pro clubs, the pro teams home games could be moved around these grounds, spreading the gospel of SCottish rugby.

I think it might work - now, about other changes to the organisation of the game up here - WATCH THIS SPACE.