An' Forward tho' I Canna See I Guess And Fear

WHAT FOLLOWS is the first part of a series on the governance and future path of Scottish Rugby. The opinions put forward are, as usual, mine, so feel free to argue against anything I am suggesting. I appreciate SCOG – the SRU's Standing Committee on Governance is currently looking at the route ahead and where we go from here, so, hopefully, they might consider some of the options and opinions I will be putting forward in this series. Enjoy.

BROOKLANDS – the spiritual home of British motor sport, closed permanently in August, 1939. With wonderfully English under-statement, the motto of the Surrey venue was apparently: “Brooklands – the right crowd and no crowding.”

I get the impression, after The Arnold Clark Premiership Final, there are quite a few around Scottish Rugby who would like that motto to apply to the top flight of our club game.

Over the years I have regularly pointed out the inadequacies of our club game, but, every time, I point these out, I get huffy replies from club members who have a higher regard for their particular club's place in the game than results over no matter how many years could possibly justify.

What follows is not “huffy”, but a very-reasonable retort from a long-standing reader of this blog to my piece on that Grand Final. He wrote:

“Congratulations to Ayr. The deserved winners of the Premiership twice over. Not a fan of the play-offs to be honest. What is the point?

My sense is you give way too-much power to the CRB. My view is they are of the chocolate teapot variety. Nice to look at. Not fit for purpose. They didn’t stop S6 or create a 12 team league. That was financial in the former and dealing with screaming brat clubs in the latter.

The commentary on TOL is amusing as the Ayr fans pile in to gloat. They have their time in the sun. Enjoy it. This too will pass.

The existential question for Scottish Rugby is how we create effective levels of rugby that support players from social into high performance and professional rugby. Super 6 was never the answer to that. Just Dodsons wet dream paid for by the rest of the clubs.”

My response:

Play-Offs in sport are a North American invention. They work over there because there are so-many different Conferences (leagues) in each sport, so there have to be play-downs to determine the overall Champions. Over here, with just one league, they are an unnecessary addition to the fixture list.

The Club Rugby Board may well be something of a chocolate tea pot, but, that is perhaps down to the low quality of some of the members. However, as the SRU is set-up, they are responsible for the club game, being constituted by representatives of the various leagues and Regions, therefore, as I see it, the buck stops with them.

I note also, England's Rugby Football Union is considering getting rid of their equivalent of the Club Rugby Board, the body famously dismissed as: “57 Old Farts” by Will Carling, all those years ago. Good luck on that, because the 57 are now 63 in number. I shall return to the CRB later.

Re the Ayr fans, I have been around that club in various guises since before they moved to Millbrae. There has always been an embarrassing awkward squad there. A modern-day Robert Burns would find excellent inspiration around Millbrae. For instance, I could identify several 21^st century descendants of Tam o 'Shanter, Soutar Johnnie even Holy Willie, in Millbrae's “Dirty Bar” on a Saturday.

My reader's final point is one which deserves closer examination. We really do need more-effective levels within the Scottish game. Clearer definition around what the clubs, the professionals within the game and indeed, where we are taking the game of Rugby Union Football in Scotland, because we have been like the Israelites, wandering in the desert since the advent of Open Rugby.

I frequently mention The Establishment Clubs in Scotland; those clubs whose members think, because they have been around for ever, they have a divine right to be “National League Clubs” - a self-perpetuating elite, entitled to a seat at the top table. To continue the Burns connection, think of those lines from Holy Willie's Prayer: “Who wha it pleases best thysel' send yane tae Heaven and nine tae Hell, awe for thy glory”. There are still some in Scottish rugby who subscribe to pre-destination. Just who are these clubs, and what gives them the idea they are entitled to National League status?

We begin with those clubs who were in the old Unofficial Championship. This began as an Edinburgh-only competition, overseen by The Scotsman, back in the Victorian era. For the basis of this article, I have restricted membership to those clubs involved since 1909, roughly when it went national, these clubs are:

Edinburgh Academical, Royal HSFP, Edinburgh Institution FP, Watsonians, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh Wanderers, Stewart's College FP, Heriot's FP, Glasgow Academicals, Clydesdale, Greenock Wanderers, West of Scotland, Kelvinside Academicals, Glasgow University, Glasgow High School FP, Hawick, Gala, Melrose, Selkirk, Kelso, Jedforest and Langholm.

In succeeding years up to 1939: Hillhead High School FP, Dunfermline and St Andrew's University, Hutcheson's Grammar School FP and Allan Glen's FP joined.

Post World War II – Musselburgh, Aberdeen Grammar School FP, Boroughmuir, Trinity Academicals, Jordanhill College, Ayr, Leith Academicals, Broughton FP and Perthshire were added to the Championship.

Some clubs have vanished – Clydesdale now sticks to cricket and hockey, the Universities now compete mainly in the BUCS system. Amalgamations have seen the Edinburgh Institution FP become Melville College FP, then part of Stewart's-Melville, Kelvinside Academicals and Glasgow HSFP became GHK; then, for a time, amalgamated with Glasgow Academicals to become Glasgow Hawks, before GHK and Accies started again from the Regional Leagues.

Jordanhill and Hillhead amalgamated, while Hutcheson's GSFP is now a part of GHA. No club should ever think its place at the top table has been secured by what in other businesses and trades is called: “Grandfather's Rights.”

Today's top three divisions equate roughly to that final season of the Unofficial Championship, back in 1972-1973. Today's top clubs are:

Ayr, Heriot's Watsonians, Currie, Selkirk, Melrose, Hawick, Glasgow Hawks, Kelso, Marr, Edinburgh Academical, Musselburgh.

GHA, Stirling County, Glasgow Academicals, Biggar, Gala, Boroughmuir, Jed-forest, Highland, Peebles, Dundee.

Gordonians, Stewart's-Melville, Falkirk, Kirkcaldy, GHK, Berwick, Newton Stewart, Lasswade, Preston Lodge.

Howe of Fife, Allan Glen's, Hillhead-Jordanhill, West of Scotland, Dumfries Saints, Aberdeen Grammar.

So, in the past half century, we have seen 12 clubs drop out of the National Leagues on performance or political grounds, to be replaced by (via performances): Currie, Marr, Stirling County, Biggar, Highland, Peebles, Dundee, Gordonians, Falkirk, Kirkcaldy, Berwick, Newton Stewart, Lasswade, Preston Lodge, Howe of Fife and Dumfries Saints.

One or two other clubs have enjoyed a few seasons in the sun, but, by and large the “Establishment” clubs have tended to be at the sharp end of club rugby since the day the Rugby Union writers and Sports Editors of The Herald and The Scotsman ceded responsibility for identifying the top clubs to the SRU.

In the century and more of the Unofficial Championship, only 23 clubs were recognised as “Scottish Champions” - Edinburgh Academical, Glasgow Academicals, Hawick, Watsonians, Heriot's, Glasgow HSFP, Edinburgh University, Melrose, Stewart's College FP, Edinburgh Institution FP, Gala, Dunfermline, Jed-forest, Royal High School FP, Aberdeen Grammar School FP, Allan Glen's FP, Boroughmuir, Jordanhill College, Langholm, Selkirk, Hillhead High School FP and Clydesdale.

In the just over 50 years of official leagues, 11 clubs: Hawick, Melrose, Heriot's, Ayr, Boroughmuir, Gala, Glasgow Hawks, Currie, Kelso, Stirling County and Watsonians have been crowned League Champions.

In 1995-96 The Scottish Cup was instituted; since then it has been won by: Ayr, Boroughmuir, Heriot's Hawick, Melrose, Glasgow Hawks, Gala, Watsonians and GHA. So, if we look at thse clubs who either through longevity or latter-day excellence, we find the following current National League clubs, by virtue of having won serious silverware, can claim to be Top Scottish Clubs:

Triple Crown Winners (Unofficial Championship, League and Cup winners): Hawick, Melrose, Heriot's, Watsonians, Gala, Boroughmuir.

Double Winners (winning two of the three competitions): Ayr, Glasgow Hawks.

Single Winners: West of Scotland, GHA, GHK, Stewart's-Melville, Jed-forest, Allan Glen's, Hillhead-Jordanhill, Selkirk, Stirling County, Currie, Marr.

We are now in the sixth decade of official competitive Rugby Union in Scotland, over that period, only five clubs have won either the League or the Cup in more than one decade. These clubs and the number of decades in which they have won silverware are as follows:

Hawick (wins in 4 of 6 decades), Heriot's (4/6), Ayr (3/6), Currie (3/6), Melrose (2/6).

Thus, we can see, a number of clubs have consistently been winners over the years. Hawick, Melrose, Heriot's, Watsonians, Gala and Boroughmuir have set the gold standard for the long-established clubs, with Ayr, Glasgow Hawks, Currie and Stirling County breaking through the glass ceiling in the years of official leagues to become forces in the land.

These are the Establishment Clubs. If your club's not there – tough.