Green-Eyed Monster Alert

REGULAR READERS of this pish will know, I hold the BTL (below the line) comments after each story on the excellent The Offside Line as being the touchstone of current thinking in the body of the Scottish Rugby Kirk.

The story causing the biggest stooshie at the moment is big Lewis Stuart's report from the Ayr v Currie Chieftains Arnold Clark Premiership clash at Millbrae. As I write this has generated nearly 40 comments, ranging from the brilliant (from some guy named Aristotle Armstrong) to one or two which are such pish they give pish a bad name.

A lot of the commenters are annoyed that Ayr has managed to hang onto the bulk of the squad which set the standard for Super Rugby and this is seen as somehow unfair. We have the purists moaning that, clearly the Ayr players are being paid and that somehow this is against the spirit of the game.

Which particular rugby bubble have these people been living in these past 30 years or so – yes, 30 years, because come August, 2025, less than a year from now, Rugby Union will have been an Open Sport for that long. Much as some of The Junta would like it to be so, they do not have Captain Jean Luc Picard's ability to: make it so”. Even some of the paid help at Scottish Gas Murrayfield, themselves by definition “professional sports administrators” might wish to see the Premiership contested by true-blue amateurs.

Listen guys, I've got news for you, that ship sailed lang syne. The decision to go Open in 1995 was supposed to end the days of brown envelopes and “shamateurism”, by formalising payments to players. Even though things were suppose to be above board, I can still remember, back in the pre-Super Series days when one of the top Premiership teams of the time wished to recruit a played from another.

This guy was happy to make a lengthy cross-Scotland journey to train and play for a club – and as we all know, apart from the M8 – East-West trips across Scotland are all on poor, winding roads. He was offered a much-shorter, North-South journey to another of the top clubs, only – when talking got down to the nitty-gritty, the recruiting club could not match the deal he had, and they had a reputation for paying top whack. Also, the team he was with, was very-much a “We play for the famous jersey” 'Establishment' club.

So paying Scottish players didn't start with Super Rugby – it's been happening for years. I know, for instance, of one Premiership club – still there by the way – who were upset when a handful of their top players decided £50 per game would not cut it, because they were offered a better deal by a rival club within close travelling distance. This has been a fact of football life for years – why play for Partick Thistle for £1000 per week when you can get a lot more across the city? It's a no-brainer.

Perhaps if the Premiership was really professional, even on a part-time professional basis, with a CBA – that's a Collective Business Agreement – the playing field would be more-level. Murrayfield could impose a salary cap, But, there are always means of getting round that one.

They could even, as I have been suggesting for years, take a leaf out of football's book, and impose standards on clubs, which had to be met before the club could aspire to a certain level of rugby.

Or, here's a revolutionary move – more of the Premiership clubs could think themselves as a business, rather than as a club. A lot of the abuse being dished out in TOL this week is aimed at Ayr. It's as if what that club has done – being more business-like in how it is managed, is somehow against the rules. There is also the suggestion that the Macdonald Legacy, which handed Ayr a useful lump of cash, is somehow unfair.

They have an annual budget at Millbrae, and while he no longer holds an official post within the club's management structure, Billy McHarg has laid down strict ground rules as to how the club is managed within an agreed annual budget, and the current Board of Directors – not that designation, they are a Board, not a Committee – there is a subtle difference, has to stick within the agreed parameters.

They've got guys there whose job is to do nothing but generate the income: making sure they put bums on seats for the pre-game lunches, getting – and keeping sponsors and, this is perhaps Ayr's USP, ensuring those guests get a good day out, regardless of the result, and looked after and well-entertained, so they want to come back, and keep coming back.

Millbrae is marketed locally as more than a club-house, it's a sports bar, it's a destination to go to. It's somewhere the people in Ayr want to visit and they enjoy themselves when they are there.

Now, this works in Ayr, but may not, for instance, work in Glasgow, Edinburgh or the other cities, where there are competing entertainment spots. Locally, Ayr are competing with Ayr United for sponsorship and interest, and holding their own. Hawks, I will admit, might struggle against the Old Firm, or even Partick Thistle, for sponsorship and fan engagement, even before we factor-in the pull of Glasgow Warriors.

At the other end of the M8, the Premiership clubs in the capital are involved in an even-tougher fight for sponsorship and other income, with Hearts, Hibs, Edinburgh Rugby and other clubs and games. It doesn't help that they are generally more-limited in how they can market their club-houses and grounds, since most are tied-in to their core schools.

I would suggest too, in the Borders, while they enjoy the same local recognition as do Ayr, they are still perhaps wedded to how it's aye been done – with the income from the annual sports subsidising the 15-a-side season. The Sports are no longer, I would venture, the cash cows they once were.

But, the Borders clubs are not competing with top-flight football clubs in the sponsorship and local recognition stakes, maybe a few of them could and should be doing better off the field.

Indeed, I am always tempted to suggest to Billy McHarg, Jock Craig and Norrie Lymburn – they ought to form a Club Rugby as a Business consultancy and offer their expertise to the other Premiership clubs, and any ambitious other clubs; it could be a nice little earner.