The 66th Birthday Thoughts Of One Of Leith's Finest

MY OLD mate Bill Lothian posted an interesting thought on his Facebook page on Thursday, when he said:

“Just noting that the Croatia team which reached football’s World Cup final had one home-based player; Argentina had two and Brazil three.

Their domestic leagues go on regardless providing thrills and entertainment; so long as the players return for internationals all is well.

So why on earth are Scottish Rugby shelling out reputed six figure sums on player contracts and operating two essentially Scotland feeder teams that are crippling the domestic game?

Said many times it is not a governing body role to run “clubs”. What good could be done in nurturing the game at all levels if this money was spread around. Is Murrayfield control so essential? Certainly not…”

Bill Lothian

And there, ladies and gentlemen, you have one reason why the high heid yins at Murrayfield are happy to see Bill no longer on the Edinburgh Evening News' rugby beat. Thing is, Bill makes a very-good and very-valid point, one which is worth considering. He has, to be honest, been flying this particular kite for a wee while, but, that doesn't make it the wrong kite to fly.

I always, in reflecting on such rugby arguments, consider the state of Scottish football. There, we have two massive clubs: one making a lot of money from the weakness of the other, the lack of genuine domestic opposition and the fact it regularly gets access to the huge prize money available in Europe. The other club, to put it mildly, is a basket case, with ultimate power lying with an overseas based convicted criminal, described by his trial judge as: “A glib and shameless liar.”

The other top tier clubs all struggle to varying degrees to make ends meet. It is a case of praying for: good runs in the domestic cups, hopefully ending in a final against one or other of the big two; selling a player to England – or both.

Below the top league, it's a case of fighting for every penny, good housekeeping and hoping for that cup draw against one of the big boys, perhaps with live TV coverage, to turn a loss into breaking even. And, if you can unearth an unpolished diamond and sell him on to one or other of the Big Two, or to England, so much the better.

Quite frankly, using football as the benchmark: given the squad sizes they are carrying and the crowds they attract – there is NO WAY Scottish Rugby can afford to carry two full-time professional teams – Bill Lothian's case is, as far as I am concerned, indisputable.

 David Mackay - knew private investment was required

Again, I saw something else this week, it was a quote attributed to David Mackay, the former SRU Chairman who was convinced – without private investment, professional rugby in Scotland could not work.

The SRU's problem is, they are such control freaks, no sensible private investors will entertain them. Indeed, I have been saying for over a year, and nobody has ever argued with me, or offered any evidence to the contrary – the only reason the SRU is so-keen on Stupid-6 is: since they cannot attract outside investors for their professional teams, they have turned to their stakeholders – the clubs – to fund a semi-professional set-up.

And now – SHOCKEROONY – Stupid-6 would not be stupid, and would probably work, if the proposed semi-professional level of rugby was the top tier of the domestic game, below internationals. Why not?

In football, the Scandinavian nations all have mainly semi-professional leagues. Need I remind you, they have a much-better record than Scotland in qualifying for the big competition finals.

I accept, there could well be a case for – as is happening in Welsh rugby and English cricket, some form of central contracts for the star players, but, with that and semi-professional players, perhaps “working” for sympathetic sponsors, maybe in “rugby development” roles, Scottish clubs could put together a vibrant domestic league, and do well at least in the second tier European Challenge Cup.

Such a system, I am sure, would be viable in the current climate. For full-time professionalism to work in Scotland, we will need, I feel:

• To be an independent nation, free from the dead hand of London
  
  
• Have sorted out the legacy of 300-years of playing second or third fiddle to London
  
  
• Have a Norwegian-style “oil fund” to subsidise such things as international-level sport
  
  
• A wee bit less “tribalism” inside Scottish Rugby
  
  
• Some visionaries inside Murrayfield
  
  
• A Scotland in which “sport” meant more than “football”

Well, an old man can still dream.

Imagine the boost a centrally-contracted Hoggy would give to Hawick if back playing in green

Suppose Bill's notion was to be put into practise and we had a vibrant eight or ten-club Premiership. Stuart Hogg, Darcy Graham and Rory Sutherland back at Hawick, with maybe Alex Dunbar travelling over from Annan. The likes of the Horne brothers and the others who have left for higher things playing for say a Premiership Stirling County which was a genuine Midlands-based central club.

Glasgow Hawks could have a formidable squad, ditto Ayr. Spread the locals in Edinburgh around their original clubs. Imagine the boost Watsonians would get if their team again contained the name Hastings.

 Or imagine this Hastings playing for Watsonians

And, if the big-money English and French clubs came calling: the SRU should ensure they were screwed tightly for player release for internationals etc. You know, it might work.

But, for such a system to be given a chance, I suppose we will have to wait until, as it surely will, from the way it is currently set-up, Stupid-6 implodes. Then we can maybe begin again from a new starting point.

It would also help, if the SRU's accounts were transparent. We know, the two professional teams are a money pit, but, thus far, the SRU has been very good at not telling us, how much of our – the clubs' money - has been poured into it, and why it is so necessary for this voracious beast to be centrally-funded.

If this information ever gets out – I reckon there will be blood and snotters running down the walls of Murrayfield in the aftermath.