LIKE (I think) most people in the extended Scottish Rugby family, I am not over-joyed at our two full-time professional teams being centrally-owned by the Scottish Rugby Union.
OK, some regular readers of this blog will do their blood pressure no good by reading that paragraph. Others will doubtless go off on a btl rant about SRU control freakery etc. Well we have had all those discussions and the fact is, the situation is what it is, and I do not see Edinburgh and Glasgow being freed from Murrayfield control any time soon.
With the sides due to clash at Murrayfield this afternoon, in the first rugby match in Scotland for ages, it is maybe a time to look at the current position – something big David Barnes did in his latest The Offside Line posting. This has quickly become rather controversial, and I shall return to it, after name-checking another blog.
Kevin Miller at the excellent On Top Of The Moon, Glasgow Warriors unofficial website, has a post up which suggests, perhaps, the SRU are getting it just about right.
Kevin has produced an interesting depth chart, comparing the two squads, which looks like this:
Glasgow has a 43-man squad
Edinburgh has a 40-man squad
Glasgow squad average age is 26.6 years
Edinburgh squad average age is 26.8 years
Glasgow has 10 players – 23% - aged 30+
Edinburgh has 8 players – 20% - aged 30 +
Glasgow has 11 players – 26% - aged Under-23
Edinburgh has 9 players – 22.5% - aged Under-23
26 Glasgow players – 60% - have been capped
22 Edinburgh players – 55% - have been capped
The capped Glasgow players have an average 24 caps
The Edinburgh players have an average 17 caps
Glasgow has 19 – 44% - of the squad Academy graduates
Edinburgh has 19 – 47.5% - of the squad Academy graduates
Glasgow has 15 players – 35% - of their squad recruited from another top league
Edinburgh has 12 players – 30.5% - of their squad recruited from another top league
Glasgow has 9 players – 21% of their squad recruited from a lower level league
Edinburgh has 9 players – 22.5% of their squad recruited from a lesser league
Glasgow has 36 players – 84% of their squad Scotland-qualified
Edinburgh has 30 players – 75% of their squad Scotland-qualified
Glasgow's squad is drawn from 5 different nations
Edinburgh's squad is drawn from 4 different nations
Two clubs, common owner, very similar structure. However, after a few years of Glasgow being the top dogs, there is now a suggestion that Edinburgh has taken over – this afternoon may, or may not, sort this out for the moment.
But, as Big Barney suggests, maybe Edinburgh have been, of late, better coached than Glasgow. Not that the now departed Dave Rennie wasn't a good coach, perhaps one of these cases which you see in sport where a good coach in one league cannot quite cut it in another. We see this in football, why not rugby?
Certainly, expectations, not least from their fans, will weigh heavily on new Warriors' Honcho, Danny Wilson, particularly this afternoon.
I am looking forward to the game today, not least to a potential line-out battle between Andy Davidson, flung straight into the Edinburgh line-up following his move along the M8, and old school and club partner Scott Cummings. The two Kelvinside Academials will surely knock lumps out of each other, then share a couple of beers afterwards – old school rugby indeed.
I am sorry that Darcy Graham isn't in the Edinburgh XV, he lights up every match he plays. Being a West Coast man, I am also quite happy about this, it has to be said.
Expect a lot of mistakes in the match, given how rusty the players will be, and I am sure, with the new law interpretations at the breakdown, wee Mikey Adamson is in for a busy 80 minutes. But, it is good to see rugby back, even without spectators.
Spectators – speaking of which, can I ask what the fuck is going on around plans to allow spectators in to the Edinburgh v Glasgow game, at Murrayfield on Friday, 28 August.
I gather the attendance might be limited to just 700 fans. OK, our left-leaning SNP-led Scottish Government are showing the sort of Socialist control freakery which makes even the SRU Junta look like paragons of libertarian free spirits, but, 700 fans in a 67,000-capacity stadium. To me, that's ridiculous overkill.
But, more worrying is, the suggestion that the SRU will need 300 event staff to adequately run such a small show. I haven't seen such ridiculous over-policing of fans since the afternoon St Mirren gave notorious Hamilton Academical “Superfan” “Fergie” his own personal squad of four stewards for a game at Love Street.
If such a clamp down on freedom is going to be an early example of an Independent Scotland under the SNP, I just might return to the Conservative Party.
Disclaimer – I used to be a Tory, but, I think I am better now.
AS REGULAR followers of these haverings will be aware, I supplement the old pension with sporting obituaries for the mainstream media. It is a task I enjoy, there are some good, near-forgotten stories out there.
Well this week, I filed an obituary to the only Scottish newspaper which still takes obits from freelances, on former All Blacks fitness guru Jim Blair.
Jim, who died in Australia, aged 85, was not really a rugby man – he was, as befits a Shettleston man, a footballer in his youth. But, when you have the likes of former AB's coach John Hart and the legend that is Grant Fox singing his praises, well, he clearly had a big impact on Rugby Union. Fox by the way, was an enormous help to me in compiling the obituary, great to learn legends can be humble and helpful like the rest of us.
But, while waiting until the obituary appears – it's in a somewhat lengthy queue at the moment, I must share one wee snippet. Jim Blair died from complications following a broken hip.
He sustained that injury, attempting to escape from the care home in which he had been placed because of his Dementia. As the saying goes: “Ye can tak the boay oot o' Shettleston, ye canny tak Shettleston oot o' the boay.”
Interesting thoughts AA.
ReplyDeleteIf we can find some multi millionaire to take over one of the pro teams then so be it. Would make life interesting.