How Do We Change Things For The Better? Part 2

WHEN I posted my piece on reform of the club game, I expected incoming flak; I was not disappointed, first to open fire on me was weel-kent man about Falkirk, Bill Faulds, who asked a number of questions, which I now intend to answer in the course of this post, which is the second part of what is, at the momernt, a three-part piece. So here goes.

One: I should say, right at the start of this post, the first thing I would do to change and improve Scottish Rugby, would be to DE-CENTRALISE. Back in the days when it was an Amateur game, a lot of the heavy lifting was done at a more-local level, via the four District Committees. We did away with these hard-working “Bufties” in favour of the “Murrayfield Apparatchiks”. I, for one, feel, putting too-much power and control into the hands of guys who are some way divorced from the clubs, was a bad move.

I can see the sense in having a smaller central core of people working with the elite performance end of the game, but, running the club game has to be done from a more-localised place.

I honestly believe, we need a Third Professional Team. So, let Murrayfield run:

1. The full international side

2. A Scotland A side

3. The Age group teams

4. The three URC teams

Below that – everything should be run at a regional level.

Bill Faulds' first question to me was: “How many regions”?

I see Six Regions:

1. North of Scotland

2. Midlands

3. East

4. Borders

5. Greater Glasgow

6. West of Scotland

How the leagues were organised within each of the regions would be a matter for that region's clubs to sort-out for themselves. But, I would envisage more localised regional leagues.

For instance – in Wales only the Premiership is a fully-national league, this features the 13 top clubs in Wales. At the next level down, The Championship, there is an East Wales – West Wales split. Below that there are 24 localised “National” leagues.

In Ireland each of the four Provinces runs its own provincial leagues, where, the lower down the ladder you go, the more-localised the leagues become. It is not rocket science to sort things.

There might, I would admit, be a case for taking one of the provisions of Agendfa Three and using them, whereby each club was given a ranking, according to how many teams etc they ran; some would be “Senior” clubs, others would be “Junior” clubs, ranked accordingly in their regional leagues.

So let's get down to hypotheticals, starting with the hypothesis, all club rugby is regionalised. Hereafter, in defining a club as Senior or Junior, I have gone with whether they are currently playing in one of the National leagues, or a Regional one. A process which, at the moment, would involve 143 clubs, split as follows:

North Region: 27 clubs

Geographic area – Grampian, Moray Firth Coast, Invernessshire, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland, Orkney and Shetland.

Senior Clubs (4): Highland, Gordonians, Aberdeen Grammar, Orkney,

Junior Clubs (23): Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen Wanderers, Caithness, Ellon, Mackie FP, Moray, RAF Lossiemouth, Banff, Deeside, Dyce, Garioch, North Police Scotland, Shetland, Caithness, Inverness Craig Dunain, Kinloss Eagles, Ross Sutherland, Skye, Stornoway, Aberdeen University Medics, Fraserburgh, Huntly, Turriff. [Skye and Stornoway are in italics because I would envisage switching them to the West of Scotland Region].

PROPOSED SET-UP:

Caledonia Premiership (12 clubs):

Highland : Gordonians : Aberdeen Grammar : Orkney (NR) : Dundee : Falkirk : Kirkcaldyt : Stirling County : Howe of Fife : Strathmore : Dunfermline : Perthshire (MR)

Grampian League (7 clubs):

Aberdeenshire : Aberdeen Wanderers : Mackie : Deeside : Dyce : Garioch : Aberdeen University Medics

Moray Coast League (8 clubs):

Ellon : Moray : RAF Lossiemouth : Banff : Kinloss : Fraserburgh : Huntly : Turiff

North League (6 clubs):

Caithness : North Police Scotland : Shetland : Caithness : Inverness Craig Dornain : Ross Sutherland

Midlands Region: 24 clubs

Geographic area – Stirlingshire, Clackmannanshire, Perthshire, Fife, Tayside and Angus.

Senior Clubs (8): Dundee, Falkirk, Kirkcaldy, Stirling County, Howe of Fife, Strathmore, Dunfermline, Perthshire

Junior Clubs (16): Panmure, Grangemouth Stags, Hillfoots, Carnoustie, Kinross, Blairgowrie, Alloa, Glenrothes, Mardras, Aberfeldy, Dundee University Medics, Crieff & Strathearn, Bannockburn, Rosyth Sharks, Wair Academy FP, Bo'ness (again in italics because of a proposed change of region)

PROPOSED SET-UP:

Caledonia Premiership (12 clubs): [as with North Region]

Highland : Gordonians : Aberdeen Grammar : Orkney (NR) : Dundee : Falkirk : Kirkcaldyt : Stirling County : Howe of Fife : Strathmore : Dunfermline : Perthshire (MR)

Midlands-Fife League (8 clubs):

Grangemouth Stags : Hillfoots : Alloa : Glenrothers : Bannockburn : Rosyth Stags : Waid Academy FP : Kinross.

Tayside-Angus League (7 clubs):

Crieff & Strathearn : Panmure : Carnoustie : Blairgowrie : Madras: Aberfeldy : Dundee University

East Region: 29 clubs

Senior Clubs (12 clubs): Currie Chieftains, Heriot's Blues, Musselburgh, Edinburgh Academical, Watsonians, Lasswades, Stewart's Melville, Preston Lodge, Boroughmuir, North Berwick, Murrayfield Wanderers, Ross High

Junior Clubs (17): Linlithgow, Haddington, Broughton, Forrester, Leith, Portobello, Royal High, Dunbar, Penicuik, Dalkeith, Corstorphine, Livingston, Trinity Acadeicals, EdinburghNorthern, Edinburgh University Medics, Lismore, Inverleith.

PROPOSED SET-UP:

East Region Premiership (12 clubs): Currie Chieftains : Heriot's Blues : Musselburgh : Edinburgh Academical : Watsonians : Lasswade : Stewart's Melville : Preston Lodge : Boroughmuir : North Berwick : Murrayfield Wanderers : Ross High

Edinburgh Junior League (10 clubs): Broughton FP : Corstorphine : Edinburgh Northern : Edinburgh University Medics : Forrester : Inverleith : Leith : Portobello : Royal High : Trinity Academicals.

Lothians League (8 clubs): Bo'ness : Dalkeith : Dunbar : Haddington : Linlithgow : Lismore : Livingston : Penicuik.

Borders (South) Region: 14/15 clubs

Senior clubs (8 clubs) Hawick : Kelso : Selkirk : Jed-forest : Melrose : Gala : Peebles : Berwick,.

Junior clubs (6.7): Langholm : Hawick Harlequins : Hawick Linden : Duns : Earlston : Gala YM : Walkerburn.

PROPOSED SET-UP:

One Borders Senior League (8 clubs) as listed above and one Borders Junior Lerague (6/7 clubs) as listed above.

 

Greater Glasgow Region: 26 clubs

Senior Clubs (10 clubs): Glasgow Hawks : Glasgow Academicals : GHA : GHK : Allan Glen's : Hillhead Jordanhill : West of Scotland : Cartha Queen's Park : Hamilton Bulls : Whitecraigs.

Junior Clubs (16 clubs): Lenzie : East Kilbride : Dalziel : Cambuslang : Bishopton : Uddingston : Waysiders-Drumpellier : Cumbernauld : Clydebank : Paisley : Birkmyre : Glasgow University Medics : Shawlands : Hyndland : Strathendrick : Lomond and Helensburgh.

PROPOSED SET-UP:

Glasgow Senior League (10 clubs): Allan Glen's : Cartha-Queen's Park : GHA : GHK : Glasgow Academicals : Glasgow Hawks : Hamilton Bulls : Hillhead Jordanhill : West of Scotland : Whitecraigs

North Clyde League (9 clubs): Clydebank : Cumbernauld : Dalziel : Glasgow University Medics : Hyndland : Lenzie : Lomond and Helensburgh : Strathendrick : Waysiders-Drumpellier

South Clyde League (7 clubs): Birkmyre : Bishopton : Cambuslang : East Kilbride : Paisley : Shawlands FP : Uddingston.

**One club could be moved to the other geographic area to even-up league numbers **

West of Scotland Region: 24 clubs

Senior Clubs (8 clubs): Ayr : Marr : Biggar : Newton Stewart : Dumfries Saints : Garnock : Stewartry : Greenock Wanderers.

Junior Clubs (16 clubs): Ardrossan Academicals : Oban Lorne : Cumnock : Strathaven : Wigtownshire : Kilmarnock : Annan : Carrick : Irvine : Moffat : Lochaber : Mid-Argyll : Lanark & Clydesdale : Isle of Mull plus Skye and Stornoway

PROPOSED SET-UP:

West of Scotland Senior League (8 clubs): Ayr : Biggar : Dumfries Saints : Garnock : Greenock Wanderers : Marr : Newton Stewart : Stewartry

Argyll and The Islands League (6 clubs): Isle of Mull : Lochaber : Mid-Argyll : Oban Lorne : Skye : Stornoway

South West of Scotland League (10 clubs): Annan : Ardrossan Academicals : Carrick : Cumnock : Irvine : Kilmarnock : Lanark and Clydesdale : Moffat : Strathaven : Wigtownshire.

I HAVE used this season's league tables as my basis for the splits. However, as I mentioned above, using Agenda for Change and its criteria, it is clear that some Senior clubs simply do not have the appropriate facilities to be considered a Senior club, while some currently Junior clubs do.

If we were to continue with National Leagues at a Senior level, this could be an issue – might we not want our Senior clubs to have a minimum level of facilities:

• A grandstand

• Floodlights

• A costed plan for installing a G3/G4 surface within a certain time frame if they do not alreradfy have one

• A clubhouse with a minimum standard of bar and catering

• An appropriate youth development scheme in place

This might not be such an issue if we operated the club game along regional lines, but, certain minimum standards for facilities would need to be put in place.

In countries where the club game is regionalised (New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina etc) the bridge between the club game and the professional one is Inter-Regional Representative Rugby. We would need to think seriously abot how we run this area of our game.

A modified version of Super Rugby might work here, with the five regions each running a Regional Senior Representative Team:

• Caledonia

• East of Scotland

• South of Scotland

• Glasgow District

• West of Scotland

These Regional Representative teams could also be replicated at Junior Club level.

The next question is, how would the season look with this set-up?

The rugby season ttraditionally starts on 1 September, with the 15-a-side season ending on 30 April, which gives us either a 34 or 35 week season.

So 35 Saturdays; current practice appears to insist we clear the schedules for internationals; WHY? Back in the amateur era, club matches were played on the morning of internationals, since everybody who might want to attend a Murrayfield game cannot possibly be accommodated inside the 67,000 capacity stadium, why should those who cannot attend, or choose not to, be denied their club rugby fix?

So, there we have five to nine barren International Saturdays which could be added to the schedule. OK, I can accept, the Murrayfield bead counters would rather have the day to themselves, so, if we accept, no alternative Saturday rugby when Scotland is playing at Murrayfield, then we lose six or seven Saturdays, leaving us with 28.

My Regionalisation proposal envisages a total of 17 leagues – 5 Senior, 12 Junior. To get them played-off we would need:

1. Caledonia Senior League (12 clubs) – 22 Saturdays

2. East Senior League (12 clubs) – 22 Saturdays

3. Border League (8 clubs) – 14 Saturdays

4. Glasgow Senior League (10 clubs) – 18 Saturdays

5. West of Scotland Senior League (8 clubs) – 14 Saturdays

6. Grampian Junior League (7 clubs) – 12 Saturdays

7. Moray Coast Junior League (8 clubs) – 14 Saturdays

8. North Junior League (7 clubs) – 12 Saturdays

9. Midlands-Fife Junior League (8 clubs) – 14 Saturdays

10. Tayside-Angus Junior League (7 clubs) – 12 Saturdays

11. Edinburgh Junior League (10 clubs) – 18 Saturdays

12. Lothians Junior League (8 clubs) – 14 Saturdays

13. South Junior League (6/7 clubs) – 10 or 12 Saturdays

14. North Clyde Junior League (9 clubs) – 16 Saturdays

15. South Clyde Junior League (7 clubs) – 12 Saturdays

16. Argyll and the Islands Junior League (6 clubs) – 10 Saturdays

17. South West of Scotland Junior League (10 clubs) – 18 Saturdays

Therefore, we have enough Saturday's to get all the league fixtures played, and have some left over for possible postponements. Indeed, 11 of our hypothetical leagues do not require more than half of the available Saturdays.

Thus, we have plenty of time to factor-in cross-league events which would produce Regional Junior Champions. We could also, have play-offs between the 5 Senior Leagues, to produce an overall Scottish Champion.

Again, I stress, with more-localised leagues and competitions, such as County or Regional Cups, we could see midweek games in April and September, giving us more potential days in which to get fixtures played.

I now turn to my suggestion of Inter-Regional competition. In recent years, we have seen the season extended into May. - so why not use these extra weeks to play-off the Inter-Regional competitions?

A point which Bill Faulds made was, how much the Borders clubs appear to love their “Sports”. Well in the example of seasonal structure which I have posted above, the South Region would only require 14 of the 28 available Saturdays to get their 16 a side league games played, plenty of free Saturdays for their precious Sports.

I don't presume to have all the answers, but, here I am setting down one potential agenda for change. In Part Three, I will introduce another agenda, so, let's at least talk about how to make things better.