THE GREAT Fin Calder – former Scotland and Lions captain and one of the immortals of our game – has caused a wee bit of a stooshie this morning, by, wearing his current hat, as Chairman of Stewart's-Melville RFC, releasing a statement on a new departure for the club.
Fin Calder - on the charge again
The
statement reads:
“To
all Members, past and present, Sponsors and friends of Stewart’s
Melville Rugby Football Club
The
expression goes something like this …. ‘ either you can be a
driver of change or a victim of change but make no mistake, changes
there will always be! ‘
Over
the past several years we, at Stewart’s Melville Rugby Football
Club, have found holding our status as a top twenty Club in Scotland,
extremely challenging. It
is no secret that the quasi professionalism / amateurism structure
within the Scottish Club rugby scene has not been a good model for
us.
Running
three teams on a regular basis has become more and more difficult for
a variety of reasons namely, injuries, as the game becomes more and
more physical at 1st xv level, and other interests compete at the
lower levels. In
truth relegation came almost as a relief for it allows us breathing
space where we can re-group as a Club to focus on what is important
and that is, (in the opinion of the Committee) getting two teams on
the park, fit and healthy, every Saturday.
We
want our players to enjoy their rugby and the fellowship it brings. Throughout
the last twelve months or so we have also fully endorsed, and will
continue to endorse, the SRU plans to take their chosen Six Clubs
into a recognised Franchise structure allowing all those below to
return to amateur status. We believe that this can only be good, not
only for ourselves but for the game in Scotland, allowing all
resources to be focused on player welfare, coaching, insurance,
physios etc.
One
of the Clubs awarded a Super Six Franchise were our nearest
neighbours, and long-time adversaries, Heriot’s Rugby. To support
their submission, it was agreed by the Board that we should support
and endorse their bid. We were therefore delighted when they were
recognised by the SRU as being more than worthy in terms of status
within the game, structure and financial security.
Heriot’s
Rugby recognise, though, that Super Six status is not without
difficulties and are looking to ourselves to act in tandem with them
going forward. Heriot’s
Rugby also believe that Stewart’s Melville RFC should be the
strongest amateur club in the North of Edinburgh once the Franchises
have been established.
The
current more urgent undisputable facts are though:
- Both Clubs are running on empty at 3rd XV level.
- Both Clubs have limited numbers of S1 to S6 (Youth or Academy players).
With
this as the backdrop it seems sensible, in the first instance, to
bring these two areas together to form a finite mass.
The
Committee propose that these two sections should merge, with
immediate effect, playing under a separate title and kit
incorporating the words ‘Ferry Road’ in order that no-one is seen
to be giving up status. Perhaps ‘Ferry Road Colts’ for the youth
section and ‘Ferry Road Stags’ for the combined 3rd XV? Both
sections would see Goldenacre and Inverleith as their home grounds
playing alternatively between them both.
These
are our initial thoughts which will be acted upon immediately for
season 2018-19, then hopefully, moving towards something more, in
time, as we approach season 2019-2020 whereupon dual registration of
some players would allow players to move up or down as required.
The
fact is though that whilst the exact detail of the Franchise
arrangements remain unclear, and further debate is to be held at
Murrayfield, neither Clubs want to rush into anything more formal at
this stage.
Stewart’s
Melville and Heriot’s also see both mini-sections continuing to run
separately as both are massively successful. The route map suggested
allows the more ambitious to progress upwards through the ranks of
both our Clubs towards, ultimately, professional status.
After
very positive feedback at the AGM on Thursday past, the Committee
felt that strengthening our long term relationship with our old
adversaries, into something more formal, is in the best interests of
both Clubs.
We
therefore welcome your continued support and look forward to seeing
you next season.
FinlayCalder
Chairman
Stewart’s Melville Rugby Football Club”
Chairman
Stewart’s Melville Rugby Football Club”
This
blog's - dislike of the whole Stupid-6 nonsense needs no re-stating.
There was nothing wrong with the Premiership, if it was accepted for
what it was and still is, the highest level of club play in Scotland.
But,
to try to hold it up as the lowest level of the professional game –
as a semi-professional level, while it may be correct in fact:
players are being paid, was still wrong. I maintain, it is a
Murrayfield power grab, the Executive is trying to get the clubs to
fund a level of the game which they ought to be funding, but cannot
afford to.
However,
if they cannot be dissuaded, far less prevented, from going down this
path to disaster, then the clubs will need to change, and this move,
from Stew-Mel and Heriot's may be a way forward for struggling clubs.
Yes,
to an extent it plays into Murrayfield's “fewer but stronger”
agenda, however, it is a welcome effort to overcome a problem
afflicting all clubs – a decrease in playing numbers.
The
amalgamated teams will be playing at a level we can define as:
“social rugby”, there will still be – below the
Goldenacre-based franchise, separate Heriot's and Stewart's-Melville
clubs, playing in the Tennent's National Leagues. The serious or
ambitious player will still find a home at Inverleith and Goldenacre.
The
new set-up will cater for the enthusiastic amateur, who cannot devote
the time, or the inclination to training – but who wants to have a
run-around of a Saturday afternoon. In football such a player would
have to perhaps leave the “serious” club he had played for, for
an amateur, or “pub” side. With this plan, that player will be
kept inside the club tent, and, week-about or so, the bars at
Inverleith and Goldenacre will enjoy their custom.
It
is an interesting development, which we shall observe with interest.
As Fin himself acknowledges, this is a developing situation, a lot of
tinkering will be done as it develops. If it works, however, this
could be the future for a lot of clubs - and a model for others.
More like an admission of failure, regarding a club that used to field more than a dozen sides each Saturday. No need to go all starry-eyed just because the announcement comes at the hand of F Calder.
ReplyDeleteThe merging of their youth sections is interesting.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the Conferences from last season, StewMel played in the Colt Schools Conference, whilst Heriots don't appear to have participated in T3 conferences.
Under the Unions Game Time policy, kids must not exceed 90 minutes game time in a 48 hour period - so the boys playing a game for the school on Saturday can't then also play for a Club on the same weekend. So perhaps the StewMel "B" team will be rebranded Heriots and play on the Sunday, instead of a Saturday, so allowing both Clubs to meet their Club Sustainability Award targets.
Don't have the stats to hand, but there does seem to be a large number of Clubs in Edinburgh, so the idea of "fewer, but stronger" may indeed be relevant to this part of Scottish rugby - but if this an admission that there's too large a supply of rugby in the Edinburgh market, what does it say about awarding three "Super6" franchises in a market which the current participants believe is already saturated.
Interesting developments down Ferry Road way.
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that clubs are proactively doing something about their own situations. I think the youth arrangement will be stronger than the 3rds but we will see.
I Know other clubs are also talking about their youth set up and the sharing possibilities.
Now after the applause comes the critique
The fact that two of the most established clubs, in Edinburgh who also have a school feeder are struggling at youths should be a concern.
That they also can’t raise 3rds should also be ringing alarm bells. I suspect this is more to do with the size of squads now needed to run 1sts and 2nds. If the Premiership sides needed 40+ players to play in their 1sts does that mean you need a squad of 100 to ensure you get a 2s out?
On the question of dual registration we open up a very interesting Pandora’s box - one I would contend hasn’t really been considered.
The suggestion from Fins letter is that somone can progress through the two clubs. That’s not how dual reg works. This needs much more clarity (essentially this hasn’t been considered and the dual reg rules will need looked at)
An interesting move, having played against the 3rd XVs and 2nd XV of both clubs in the past few years they're definitely both struggling at 3rd XV level. Getting sides out and folk playing is important, not all !st XV players start their careers there, there's a lot to be said for a callow 18 year old spending a season learning the dark arts from some more hardbitten evil old sods in the lower teams. I'd challenge calling it social rugby, there's some hugely competitive fixtures at that level, although a lot of games do go unfulfilled through lack of numbers
ReplyDeleteAgree with that.
DeleteI started playing for our 5ths when I was 16 and wasn’t picked for the colts. On taking up senior rugby I worked my way up the teams. The 3rds played quite a high standard then - like clubs like Murrayfield 1s!
It was certainly an education!
Sadly we can only put out 2 teams now and struggle for U18s
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteUnder 18s is a major issue across Scotland and I fear the Playing Time policy that was introduced at much the same time as the Schools & Youth Conferences is not helping.
DeleteThe Playing Time policy means kids play for either for school or Club - some Clubs have close links with schools, but the majority don't.
However, Schools struggle to field U18s as kids leave from the age of 16, and with no link to a local Club they are lost to the game.
The schools policy was based on the flawed assumption that all of Scotland could work like the Borders School & Club competitions - this is another Union experiment where the knock-on effects were not considered fully, as they had funding to make it happen. Once the government funding for Schools rugby reduces / ends, I fear about what will be left of youth rugby across vast tracks of the country.