I WAS not touched by the Great Devolution Debate of the late 1970s – when, courtesy of a particularly odious example of “The House Jock,” a Scottish-born Labour MP for an English constituency, the debate on whether or not Scotland should have its own parliament was disgracefully pauchled by the 40% rule.
Perhaps the headline act of the prelude to the vote was the Jim and Tam Show, whereby Jim Sillars and Tam Dalyell, respectively pro and anti-devolution, barn-stormed round Scotland, packing-out Town Halls and Community Centres as they debated the case. I did, however, while I was on missionary service in darkest West Yorkshire, catch a snippet of one of their debates on TV, and was tickled by Jim Sillars' suggestion that, had the Scots, wandering in the desert, been offered mana from Heaven – they would have rejected it as: “Not for us,” in the same way some were determined to reject the chance of a smidgen of Home Rule.
This queer notion of something being too-good for we Scots comes to mind when I look at the current admittedly low key suggestion that – just maybe, Gregor Townsend is at his sell-by date and is no longer the man to be our National Coach.
Well, here's a wee list, which the Get Shot of Toony gang might wish to ponder, it's the record of the men who have held Toony's job, since the late Bill Dickinson was appointed Advisor to the Captain in 1971:
Derrick Grant – 60% wins
Gregor Townsend – 57.8% wins
Bill Dickinson – 54.3% wins
Vern Cotter – 53% wins
Ian McGeechan (two terms) – 47.4% wins
Jim Telfer (three terms) – 43.75% wins
Andy Robertson – 42.9% wins
Frank Hadden – 41.5% wins
Colin Telfer – 40% wins
Richie Dixon and Scott Johnson – 31.25% wins
Matt Williams – 21.4% wins
Nairn McEwan – 13.3% wins
I know, some readers will be bringing-out the “lies, damned lies and statistics” argument, but, there is no way that I can see whereby they cannot argue against the reality – Toony is doing a good job.
Earlier this week I started researching a piece, which will not hit the blog in full until next week. I've been looking at Scotland's results over my lifetime. I was born in February, 1947, just as international rugby was re-starting following World War II. In the amateur era, from 1947 till 1995, we won 40.9% of the internationals we played. Since 1995, we have won 44.5% of the internationals we've played; that's a 9% improvement. Toony's record is 41.3% better than our record in the amateur days and 30% better than our baseline performance in the Open era. I repeat, he must be doing something right.
Only 18 times in the 75 seasons since the end of WWII have we managed to post a “winning” season, i.e. we win the majority of our games – that's 24% or just under once every five years.
You might think, with that low level of comparative success, the Scottish fans would be welcoming of a winning coach – but, perhaps not. I mean, we've only had the three true winning seasons in those 75 – the Grand Slams of 1984 and 1990 and the final Five Nations success of 1999.
Only 19 times in the 75 Five or Six Nations campaigns since the end of WWII, have we managed to finish the campaign with a plus points difference. We never have scored enough points, so why have a go at Toony for being unable to turn-around this time-honoured Scottish failing?
Mind you. He has finished with a plus points difference in four of the six Six Nations' campaigns in which he has been Head Coach – that's one-third of our overall total of positive seasons, so, again – he must be doing something right. So, why the calls for change?
ONE OF Scottish Rugby's longest-running sagas took a significant step towards its conclusion last week, when South Ayrshire Council agreed to sell the Dam Park to Ayr Rugby Club. So, now the deal is done, what happens next?
Don't ask me; the high heid yins at Millbrae are making no official statement on their plans for the stadium, but, we do know what they would like to do. Dam Park now sits as part of a “sports village” right in the heart of the town. There is the stadium, just up the road, the new athletics ground, which will be home to Ayr Seaforth AC is due for completion in the Autumn. This facility also includes two new 3G pitches, one for rugby and one for rugby and football, which will be used by Ayr Academy. The new Academy also has a state of the art Games complex which will be open to the public.
Millbrae is one of the rugby grounds in Scotland with the highest “paper value,” right in the heart of some of the West of Scotland's most-expensive real estate. Ayr RFC is staying put, but, massive developments are rumoured to be in the pipeline; - a new access road on the opposite side form the current one, a new clubhouse and stand, hopefully a 3G pitch, upgraded floodlights.
We hear the second pitch may have to be sacrificed to the development, which means the Dam Park will be utilised during the re-development and afterwards. Nobody from the club is keen to be quoted “on the record,” but, the club officials are keen to have more of a presence in the heart of the town, rather than in “posh” Alloway.
The feeling is, they could better sell rugby as a participation sport from the Dam Park, tapping into the student population at the Ayr College and the University of the West of Scotland, whose campuses surround the Dam Park.
There are a lot of dots still to be joined-up, but, Ayr are excited at how having the Dam Park will enable them to accomplish their vision of making rugby more of a game for all in the Land of Burns.
FINALLY – JP Doyle to be Scotland's elite referee coach – yet another English failure getting a job at Murrayfield. The Junta really are taking the piss now. Why didn't they go the whole hog and appoint either John Lacey or George Clancy – if they wanted a really bad referee to coach our top talent?
This is a bad appointment.
I’m with you AA. I really don’t get the keys change the coach argument. We are becoming more and more like association football with every passing year. And we only have to look at our round ball colleagues to see the futility of regularly changing the manager.
ReplyDeleteHowever it does raise an interesting question about who’s next in line for the Scotland job. My real worry is the Townsend git the top job too early in his career. He should have taken another club gig probably in England.
As with the Doyle appointment, we see, to always import people in. Where’s the pipeline in Scotland? And don’t say Super 6!
My other worry with the Doyle announcement is his title - high performance referee coach. I agree it’s a needed role but as with all things in Scottish Rugby we concentrate on the top of the pyramid seemingly to the exclusion of the grassroots.
If Murrayfield spent as much time on the club game as they do obsessing over the performance side of things we would be in a much better place.