BURIED in Thursday's online Herald, I noticed a wee story, run without a by-line, which indicates the journalist who had written it, concerning the on-off formation of a semi-professional league, hopefully to bridge the gap between the club game and the two pro clubs.
Apparently, the Premiership Clubs Forum - the body which supposedly looks after the interests of Ayr, Melrose, Heriot's, Hawick, Currie etc, the clubs currently forming the BT Premiership - has discussed the formation of this league, and if things go well, we might see it up and running for the start of 2017-18.
Now this kite has been flown before, and I am not holding my breath in the hope of seeing it soaring any time soon. The reason, the same as what is holding-back Scottish football - blatant self-interest.
As I understand it, the proposal is for an eight-club top-flight, sitting beneath the Pro12. OK, first problem: which eight clubs?
Today, 20-years into professional rugby, we still have not got it right here in Scotland. Certainly, in the past couple of years, things have looked up for both Glasgow and Edinburgh, but, the set-up for these two clubs is still not as good as it might be.
Let's get the two pro teams properly fettled, then, since we now have enough players of the required standard, get at least a third, or better still a third and fourth club, up and running.
At club level, as Allan Massie outlined only too-well in his usual Saturday essay in The Scotsman, we are still reliant to a high degree, on the volunteer officials who do the necessary and unglamorous jobs which have to be done.
It is one thing asking a team manager, or kit man or so forth to come-in two nights per week to lay-out the kit and equipment for training, then to come-in again for matches on Saturday, for little or no reward. It is a whole different ball game if they have to come in four or five days a week, plus Saturday match days.
Ditto the physios, the club administrators, the part-time coaches etc. If you go even semi-professional, these guys and girls will have to be better paid.
Let's have a look at a good example, the town of Ayr. Right now, Ayr Rugby Club tops the BT Premiership, Ayr United are second-top of the SPFL League One. Both squads are made-up of part-time players, but, there the similarities end.
Somerset Park, United's home, is frequently held-up as the best example in Scotland of "an old-fashioned football ground", but, it is still in better condition than Millbrae, the rugby club's ground. It is also open all week, where Millbrae is not, so, United has higher off-field staff costs.
It is understood, in Scottish rugby circles, that Ayr's expenses deal with their players is one of the most-generous in the amateur side of the sport. But, if that club, which is incidentally the only one in Scotland which comes anywhere near the suggested minimum standard which will be asked, had to start being even semi-professionally run, their costs would escalate out of sight.
There have been rumours of Murrayfield making £100,000 grants to each of the proposed eight semi-professional clubs. Well, with the increased off-field staff costs, that would not go too-far, and, what might club sponsors think of the SRU chipping-in with that sort of money? I could well see one or two saying: "Aye well, if they're funding you, you don't need as much from us".
In a semi-pro set-up, can we allow some of the schools to control access to the pitch, and to take a percentage of the bar takings, as I understand happens in some places?
What about the cost of infrastructure upgrades - better spectator facilities, better pitches, better floodlights? Will Murrayfield meet these costs?
To introduce a semi-professional level, below the Pro12 sides, is, in theory, a good thing. However, it really requires an awful lot more thought, over a longer period, before it is introduced.
Professional rugby was introduced hurriedly in 1995. Today, the SRU still has not got it right. Provided they do not take another 20-years to do it, we should maybe give them a wee bit longer, to identify and strengthen the weaknesses in the game up here, before they start looking at the semi-professional game.
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