When Even The English Say: "Beware Of The English"

TUESDAY'S ONLINE EDITION of The Guardian was very-interesting, if you are into Rugby Union. Their first issue of their weekly 'The Breakdown”, rugby blog had Robert Kitson's take on the suggested British and Irish League.

When even Kitson, who is just about the Gallagher Premiership's biggest cheer-leader, can see, the only people with anything to gain from the formation of such a league would be the cash-strapped and increasingly-desperate English clubs, well, you don't give much for the chances of such a league happening.

But, with CVC Capital Partners involved, you can never say never.

What I did find interesting, however, was reading the BTL (below the line) comments from readers, with an awful lot of the contributors, proud Englishman to a man, pleading with the Celts to have nothing to do with the proposals and saying: “Don't touch it, the English will screw you for their own ends”.

When even English fans are saying don't trust us – surely the Irish, Scottish and Welsh have to tak tent and tell them where to get off.

BACK IN the 1950s, when I got into watching and playing sport, it was a simplet world. The first team I followed was the local Junior Football team – Lugar Boswell Thistle. Our dream season was 1955-56, when I barely missed a game, as we went all the way to the Junior Cup Final at Hampden, with an XI which barely changed week-by-week.

My hero, Jock Fraser was the goalkeeper, Captain Davie Love and Charlie Cathie were the full backs; the half-back line was Andy McEwan, Jim Baird and Jim Donnelly, while up front we had Alex Bingham, Jimmy Collins, Sandy Sharpe, Hughie Neil and Eric Wilkie. That team went out, regular as clockwork – although Charlie Cathie did miss a few games with a leg injury, in which case Jock Stirling vame in at left-back.

When I moved on to following Senior Football, Kilmarnock was my team and there was a whole group of us who followed them everywhere, in my pal Curly's Dad's mini-bus. The Kilmarnock team was also a constant: Jimmy Brown; Jim Richmond, Matt Watson, Frank Beattie, Willie Toner, Bobby Kennedy, Vernon Wentzel or Rab Stewart, Jackie McInally, Andy Kerr, Bertie Black and Billy Muir, then Brian McIlroy.

That was Season 1959-60, today the sporting landscape has changed and squad rotation is a huge part of a Head Coach's skill-set. This is particularly true in Rugby Union, given the athleticism and sheer physical intensity of playing that game at professional level.

In professional Rugby Union in Scotland, there is the additional strain for the players of having to serve two masters. They may have signed contracts to play for Edinburgh or Glasgow Warriors, but, the reality is, their ultimate boss is the Scottish Rugby Union and when push comes to shove, the needs of the Scotland International team trump those of the club side.

Received wisdom appears to be that the maximum number of games an elite player can play in over a season, which these days runs from Sep[tember through to early Jue, with perhaps a month tagged-on at the end for a Summer Tour, is 30 games.

The BKT United Rugby Championship runs to an 18-match regular season, followed by, for the top eight teams, a maximum of a further three knock-out matches. Then there are the European competitions: a minimum of five group games, followed by, for the successful teams, a further four knock-out rounds.

If Edinburgh or Glasgow was to have a dream season – there's your 30 games there, with a further possible nine Scotland games (four Autumn Tests plus the five Guinness Six Nations matches) then, in mid-2025, for some there will be the British and Irish Lions Tour to Australia, for others a Scotland Tour of up to four Tests.

Thirty games maximum from a potential 40-match schedule means, for the club coaches, Franco Smith at Glasgow and Sean Everitt at Edinburgh – a bit of juggling when it comes to who plays when.

Edinburgh's player roster runs to 44 players, of whom 28 are full Scotland caps. Glasgow has a 47-man roster, 26 of whom are full Scotland caps. As things stand, Gregor Townsend is always going to select the likes of Finn Russell, who plays for Bath and Toulouse's Blair Kinghorn of course, for the national side. But, if push came to shove and he had to selecta national squad from the playing pools of our two clubs, he could do it without too-much inconvenience to Scotland.

But squad rotation and balancing Scotland's needs with those of the two clubs will remain a delicate business this season, even before the inevitable injuries and knocks come into play.

At the end of the day, Rugby Union is a simple game – the forwards dictate who wins games, the backs decide by how much. But, at elite club and international level, just how the Coach gets to that outcome, that's where they earn the big bucks.

Methinks Messrs Smith and Everitt will be earning their corn this season.

FINALLY – in the course of writing my blog post about the implications for Rugby Union of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, I spok to Alex Mack, who I am sure will not object to me describing him as: “The Heid Bummer” of Hyndland Rugby Club.

Now I can remember playing against Hyndland, on the big pitch at Scotstoun, back in the 1960s, when it was Scotstoun Showground, with the old wooden stand. Hyndland has been playing there for 100 years and Alex has a great story of how, when he won a Rugby Volunteer Award a year or so back, Al Kellock invited him onto “Our pitch” for the presentation, only to be telt: “Son, I've played on this pitch a damned sight more times than you have”.

Well, Alex assures me Hyndland pays something like £8000 per annum to Glasgow Life for the use of the limited facilities they have access to at Scotstoun. In that case, we have to ask: How much is the SRU paying Glasgow Life, for the far-greater use of the Scotstoun facilities which they enjoy – and is this value for money?

If Warriors are going to be even temporarily decanted from Scotstoun to suit the Com monwealth Games, might it not be time for the SRU to look for an alternative home for them elsewhere in the city?

I can think of at least one potential alternative.