I Menton The Red Roses - But Only In Passing

THE BKT United Rugby Championship returned on Friday night, with a workmanlike if not great win for Glasgow Warriors over the Hollywoodbet Sharks, a meeting of last season's third and fourth-placed clubs. Rugby Union's increasingly-crowded schedule did Warriors a major favour here, since the Sharks travelled from South Africa missing a raft of players, some injured, more, their more-stellar players, on Springbok duty.

While I welcome the arrival of the South African sides into northern hemisphere Rugby, I wonder for how long will their bigger names thole virtual year-round playing, between club commitments in the northern hemisphere and Springboks duty in the south. Something has to give and the work-load they are being asked to carry will surely shorten careers.

Mind you, the Sharks' stand-ins demonstrated the depth of quality in the Rainbow Nation and a Glasgos XV, closer to optimum than the visitors had to roll-up their sleeves and graft for victory.

There was a late shock for the home side when Jack Dempsey's injury curse struck again in the warm-up and he had to drop out. But, the squad adapted to get the job done.

Debutant Kerr Yule impressed, as, to a lesser extent did new 10 Dan Lancaster, who seems more of a distributor than a conductor. However, since so-much of Glasgow's more-inspired moments stem from what Sione Tupiulotu does at second five-eighth, we should maybe reserve judgement on Stuart's son, until we see him alongside the Scotland Captain.

Lancaster did enable Warriors' back division to do what they have long done – get the ball wide and attack at pace and once they are all up to speed, I can see it being business as usual behind the scrum.

The Warriors pack had a difficult evening in the tight, with Sharks frustrating several maul attacks. However, being able to bring three Lions off the bench gave the side a second-half boost, just when it was needed, to get the job done.

Premier Sports is clearly trying to jazz-up their coverage; I, being an old dinosaur, have my doubts about trying to turn Ryan Wilson into a sort of Celtic Austin Healey, I don't think John Barclay is fully on-board with this, but, that said, the two Scots, along with Welshman Tom Shanklin do offer a superior level of comment to what is the norm in the over-hyped English Prem.

So, a bonus point win to kick-off the new campaign – onwards and upwards.

SATURDAY MORNING brought an early start, as, courtesy of Sky TV I was off to Eden Park for the cross-ditch battle between the All Blacks and the Wallabies. Having lost by a record margin, to the Springboks, last time out, the ABs were under pressure here to a greater extent than for some time and it didn't help that Beauden Barrett had to leave the field during the first half.

But, they adapted and on the back of having the better of the first half, they held a good half-time lead. However, we all know, these Wallabies are “a second-half team” - a view they reinforced in typical fashion, however, the recent fourth quarter frailties which had bedevilled the ABs were, for once, absent and they held out, before a late penalty try made the game safe.

I thought Referee Andrea Piardi had another excellent game – he is rapidly becoming the Pierluigi Collina of Rugby Union. This cuts little ice with the Australians. There used to be that Australian joke: “How does a blind man at Sydney Airport recognise the British Airways 'plane? That's the one that's still whining after they shut off the engines.” Well - “Whinging Poms” nowadays cannot be heard for whinging Wallabies after a defeat and this one was no different.

NEXT STOP WAS PARMA and another underwhelming
Edinburgh performance. Mind you, they had almost salvaged a draw when the Italian AR on the far side of the scrum suddenly decided, after D'Arcy Rae had spent the time since he came on introducing the Zebre loose-head to his (the Zebre player's) own posterior orifice, the home player should suddenly triumph in the final scrum.

This was yet another blatant example of how wrong it is to use “home Union ARs” in the URC. That was never a penalty and I must admit, young D'Arcy accepted the decision with an insouciance which would have been beyond his distinguished father!!!

I fear for this Edinburgh team. OK, it was their first competitive outing of the season, and at a place where they have struggled in the past. But, again – the final reckoning was no way close to the sum of their parts. There are internationalists in that team who, if that is to be considered an acceptable performance, would clearly not get capped by any other Tier One nations. There were players there clearly running on past reputation, and quite why Mark Bennett is playing in West Region Division One – while those two on Saturday were filling the Edinburgh 12 and 13 jerseys – well, even allowing for my selection bias, it is beyond my ken.

It may be early days, but, I see a season of struggle for the team from HQ.

AT LEAST, the kick-off timings meant, by switching straight from the game in Parma to South Africa v Argentine, I managed to avoid the cheer-leading from Twickenham as our worst fears were realised and the Red Roses did indeed give the RFU a return on all that investment by landing a World Cup.

I do feel for the EBC Sport executives, who have to decide whether to give the SPOTY Team of the Year Award to the Roses or the “Lionesses” - I would, were I a betting man, risk a wager on joint winners this year. Mind you, should Europe go on and win the Ryder Cup, on the basis of them sticking it to “The Donald” and his MAGA mutants, I would give it to that team.

A category which SPOTY doesn't have, but which would be an intgeresting subject for debate is: “Worst and Most-Entitled Fans In the World”. There are some perennial contenders:

• Both sides of the Old Firm divide

• Manchester United fans

• Liverpool fans

• The Ruperts and Nigels in the corporate seats at Twickenham

• The All Blacks fans

• The Springbok fans

• American golf fans

The Bokke were getting a wee bit excited on Saturday, as Argentina refused to lie down and roll over, but, say what you like about their fans, when the current South African squad get it right – as they have done in their last two outings – they are a formidable outfit and deserved World Champions.

Imagine being able to take off a force of nature like Eben Etzebeth, to bring on RG Snyman – that is verging on the unfair.

 

More Clarty Pat's Than Caesar's Palace

HUGHIE McILVANNEY may only have been the second-best scribe in his family, but, he knew his way around this mad world of sports-writing. One of his better observations was his opinion that, both in their nineties and in wheel-chairs, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier would still have produced a battle people would have paid good money to see.

Saturday tea-time's Glasgow Rugby Union Derby, between GHA and Glasgow Hawks was closer to one of the Dear Green Place's legendary 'Stair-heid Rammies' than those unforgettable gladiatorial coming-togethers featuring Ali and “Smokin' Joe” but, I suggest even “The Greatest” would have enjoyed some of the what Young Master Hay described in his Offside Line match report as: “Shithousery” that went on in a typically frenetic battle for local bragging rights.

When the dust had settled, “Gee-Ha” had secured the points and with five wins from their opening five fixtures the Arnold Clark Premiership new boys now find themselves second in the table, tail-gating only the Ayr juggernaut. Next up is a visit to Goldenacre to face a Heriot's squad labouring at the wrong end of the table for them, before they welcome the defending Champions to Braidholm in Match Six. If nothing else, I would caution the Braidholm Bunch to perhaps dial back on the “Shithousery” for those two games.

“Sledging” is an accepted part of the struggle for city superiority between West-End Dilettantes and The Mexicans (from south of the Rio Grande), but it guarantees a painful response from the hard-nosed forwards they will be facing in their next two league games.

But, back to Saturday evening. In truth this was an ugly game, of very few patches of champagne rugby and more sheer effort than elan. Only when Scott Steele came off the Hawks' bench did we see some finesse and control, but, sadly, the former Scotland cap was unable to rescue the game for the visitors.

The defence, from both sides, was superior to the attacking, even if some of it was very-much of the scrambled varfiety, but, the home team just edged it, much to the relief of their vociferous support, who clearly enjoyed the entertainment.

Meanwhile, at Myreside, Ayr did what Ayr do – starting slowly before squeexing the life out of a dogged but short-handed Watsonians to post another bonus point win and remain clear of the field.

Currie Chieftains confirmed they may yet be the greatest threat to back-to-back Ayr titles with a hard-fought win over Melrose at The Greenyards. Kelso came out on top of a typical no-quarter-given Borders Battle over Selkirk, while Hawick and Heriot's shared the spoils at Mansfield Park.

FURTHER DOWN the food chain, Saturday saw the first round of the National Shield. There were supposed to be 17 First Round fixtures played. In the end, only 9 went ahead – in the other 8, one of the teams withdrew before even playing.

This season's early rounds of the Shield were drawn geographically, so the clubs didn't have to trek the length of Scotland for instance, yet, almost half of the clubs who had entered withdrew, for one reason or another. This is unsatisfactory and, it strikes me, if we are seeing clubs pulling out of a national competition in September, the one month of the season when you might expect all clubs to be keen to get out there and play – well, clearly we have serious problems inside Scottish Rugby.

Saturday also saw the Quarter-finals of the East Bowl on the schedule – four games, of which only one was played. In this, Trinity Academicals beat Caledonian Thebans 42-5. Elsewhere, Lismore and Edinburgh University Medics could not raise full teams, allowing Duns and Hawick Linden to advance to the semi-finals, while the final scheduled game, between Edinburgh Northern and Inverleith was postponed, after the visitors could not raise a XV.

The situation was even worse in the Caledonian North Bowl, which was due to get going on Saturday, with seven fixtures on the card. In the end, none were played as seven sides withdrew without playing.

What has happened to Scotland's rugby players, that they do not apparently wish to play the game?

APPARENTLY there was a somewhat important game going on in the Women's World Cup on Saturday. In particular, the English Broadcasting Corporation were wetting themselves in anticipation and going large in the coverage. For my own sanity, I managed to body-swerve the occasion and I feel the better for it.

 

A Lesson In Player Pathways

WE CALL THEM “The Lost Boys” - the Scotland Under-16 Football team who were crudely and cruelly denied the World Under-16 title when, back in 1989, they were cynically robbed by an over-age Saudi Arabian team, who beat them on penalties at Hampden. The boys – with the exception of David Hagen, who passed away in 2020 after contracting MND, are now men aged either 52 or 53 – listed here in squad number order, they are :

Jim Will, Billy Dolan, Jim Beattie, Eddie Conville, Kevin Bain, Gary Bollan, Neil Murray, John Lindsay, Craig Flannigan, Kevin McGoldrick, Paul Dickov, Martin Dickson, Brian O'Neil, Tom McMillan, Ian Downie, Andy McLaren, David Hagen, Scott Marshall.

They were, as their Manager, the late Craig Brown always admitted, the best-prepared Scotland squad ever. They were expected to do well, were given every opportunity to do so and they answered every challenge. But, of the 18, only three: Dickov, O'Neil and McLaren trained-on to win full caps. Of these, Dickov won 10, O'Neil 7 while McLaren is a member of the “one-cap wonder” club.

Elsewhere: Bain (4), Beattie (4), Bollan (17), Hagen (8), Marshall (5), Murray (16) and Will (3) graduated to the Scotland Under-21 team; so, 10 players, just over half the squad went on to have a reasonably-distinguished career – the rest were tossed-out with the garbage.

That was a squad assembled and managed to succeed in a one-of event, yet only 16.7% achieved the ultimate goal of a full cap, while only 55.5% trained-on to a high-achieving career.

Received wisdom has it that “The Lost Boys” under-achieved. Over the years I have written one or two articles on that squad and I maintain they actually over-achieved from the normal progression of an Under-16 squad towards Under-21 and on to full cap status.

I remember an interview with the great former Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger, in which he revealed, if the club got one first-team player out of an intake of apprentices at Under-16, that was considered a good crop. The Gunners had three players in that Scotland squad: goalkeeper Jim Will never made the first team, and returned to Scotland, to join Dunfermline Athletic, before joining Grampian Police – where he advanced through the ranks to Chief Inspector, while playing in the part-time Highland League. Paul Dickov and Scott Marshall did make it to the first team, however, to emphasise how good a squad this was. Both are still involved in football.

Five of the squad were in what was then a prolific youth development programme at Dundee United, yet only two – Gary Bollan and Andy McLaren made it into the United first team, with Bollan going on to have a lengthy career as player and later coach. Celtic, another club with, at that time, an impressive youth development programme, provided three players: Brian O'Neil, Billy Dolan and Jim Beattie, O'Neil had a fine career, both in the UK and Germany; Beattie was allowed to depart to St Mirren, with whom he won his Under-21 caps, while Dolan never progressed beyond the Celtic reserve team, before, after an unsuccessful spell with St Mirren, becoming a postman.

Rangers provided three players to the squad. Neil Murray benefitted from the “Three Foreigners Rule” to feature in their squad which enjoyed a stellar Champions League campaign in 1992-93, he then played around Europe, before finishing his playing career with Ayr United. A qualified accountant, who represented Great Britain at the World Student Games, while a student at Glasgow University; he later worked as an agent and had a spell back on the back-room staff at Rangers.

The late David Hagen also made it into the first team, before enjoying a decent career elsewhere and while the third player, Craig Flannigan never played in the Ibrox first team, but played down the leagues with the likes of Clydebank he retrained as a Strength and Conditioning Coach and is back at the club as a Sports Scientist.

Others have forged impressive business careers after Football and I loved the comment of one of their fathers, who ruefully revealed: “my son made one fatal mistake in his football career – he decided to share a flat with Duncan Ferguson.”

Football has had a recognised career pathway for over a century – where Scottish Schoolboy Caps, on leaving school at 14, then 15, then 16, went south, to work on the ground staff, or – in later years to become an apprentice professional with a top English side – or perhaps to fill the same role with a Scottish club.

But, the sorry fact is, for every Billy Bremner, George Burley or Denis Law – who never won a Schoolboy cap incidently – who went on to become a huge star in England, many more were back up the road before they could sign professional forms at aged 17.

Player Development is an inexact science – many wonder-boys had peaked by their mid-teens, surpassed by the later developer who perhaps took the scenic route to the top. I have in this post, unusually for a Rugby Union thread, so-far concentrated on how Football, which has been professional for far longer and a sport which, you might think, with all the money involved, might have worked-out a player development pathway which worked. Yet, as the above has shown, it's still as much if not more a matter of chance as of working within known KPIs – Key Performance Indicators – as to whether or not a promising boy is ever going to deliver.

So, if that game, with over a century of profesional player development work, is still admitting it's a lottery whether or not the 8 to 10-year-old they take into their development programme will progress all the way to their first team, how much harder is it for Rugby Union, a long way further back in player development, to look for and expect results?

So, while experience has taught me, if Murrayfield has to make choices as to how to run a player development pathway – chances are, they will make the wrong one, we should perhaps give them a bit of leeway with the new approach they have come up with this past week. This approach, parroting an old Murrayfield Junta favourite: “fewer but stronger” might not work, but, the truth is – we honestly do not know which approach will best help us succeed.

Or, as Football has been demonstrating for so long, maybe we Scots are simply not programmed to get it right.

 

English Exceptionalism In It Rawest Form

SUNDAYS WOMEN'S World Cup quarter-final from Bristol was a hard watch; not from the fact England beat us so-convincingly – I mean, not even the most tartan-blooded Tartan Army foot soldier did more than hope we could beat all the pre-match signs and upset the English juggernaut: but from the fact we had to, yet again, suffer a commentary, indeed, an entire broadcast presentation, the thrust of which was: “Aren't our Red Roses wonderful, come and see them put these uppity Jockettes in their place.” (apologies for inventing the word “Jockette” there – just trying to come up with something to demonstrate our second-class citizenship as viewed from inside the M25 corridor.)

We ought to be used to it by now, the BBC has, notwithstanding its guiding architect was Scotsman John Reith, always tended to speak with the accent of and for Middle England. Yes, broadcast geniuses from the Occupied Celtic Fringes – Eamonn Andrews, Cliff Morgan, Eddie Butler, Terry Wogan and the nonpareil Bill McLaren were allowed their seasons in the sun, but from the bridge of that concrete monolith at the top of Regent Street, London – Broadcasting House – the received English has always been that – decidedly English.

We perhaps never really noticed in sport, although my late Father and my Uncles always insisted, the radio commentary we were getting on the Home Service or Light Programme: Raymond Glendinning on the microphone, W Barrington-Dalby summarising, generally bore little relation to what was actually happening on the pitch, since it was seen from a particularly pro-England stance.

But, while nothing will ever come close to McLaren's neutral but still on-point commentary, as his son-in-law, Alan Lawson did a comprehensive demolition job on England in 1976, or one of the boys he had taught to play Rugby Union – Tony Stanger scored the try of tries in 1990, the best BBC talking heads – McLaren, Kenneth Wolstenholme, Henry Longhurst, Dan Maskell, Peter Allis, Peter West, although the latter had his moments when his support for England showed – were paragons of the commentating art.

It's difficult to pinpoint when things started to change – I personally believe it was around tea-time, on Saturday, 30 July, 1966, when, with the help of a goal that never was and an Azerbaijani linesmen with defective eye sight, England beat West Germany in a football match at Wembley Stadium.

After that, BBC sports commentators, and shortly afterwards and even-more openly, their ITV colleagues seemed to morph into “fans with microphones”. The dumbing down and unsubtle support for England has continued and, after the efforts of commenttors Sara Orchard and Katy Daley-McLean, egged-on by Mrs Logan and the studio cheerleaders, I can say, the team will have to go some to beat that show in the remaining games. Oor ain Heathr Lockhart did her best to provide balance, but, to quote Big Tam Connery in his Oscar-winning role – she had: “brought a knife to a gun fight.”

For our own sanity, we can only get behind the Canucks and the Black Ferns, to derail this white-shirted behemoth and gie's peace.

BRYAN EASSON gave up his job as Head Coach of the National Women's Team following Sunday's match. Jade Konkel, Catie Matthewson and Lisa Cockburn also quit the international arena and I fear, we will see other long-serving squad members departing in the wake of our exit and what appears to be another own goal from the Murrayfield Junta – the suggestion that ony 15 of the squad will be awarded contracts for this season.

Jane Austen may have come up with “a truth universally acknowledged” but in the wide world of sport, where opinion is frequently stated as fact, that wee line of Jane's cuts little ice. Given my decades of toil at the coal face of sports-writing, I lang syne realised, a Scottish competitor in any sporting discipline has to be almost measurably-better than an English rival, to be considered the Sassenach's equal, so, while it is true that the majority of the current Women's squad ply their trade in England's Women's Premier League, my impression is, they are mainly seen as “journeywomen” with the English players, particularly if that player is a “Red Rose” viewed as the superior.

Thus, the Scottish girls have to do the harder yards to justify therir contracts and they do not get the benefit of the special measures designed to keep the Red Roses in the best shape for internationals.

Given the financial state of the SRU, it almost certainly suits the Murrayfield Junta to have the English clubs paying the bulk of the players' salaries, but, I don't think having our best talent under the control of clubs from another nation is in the best interests of Scottish Rugby.

The longer the SRU takes to get itself sorted-out, onto a firm financial footing and with management models fit for the 21^st century in place, the more-likely our game is to follow Scottish Football down the stank, as nations we currently view as inferior get their act together and overtake us.

A Super Saturday

IF A CERTAIN Copenhagen Brewer, whose Elephant brand is my lager of choice, did Rugby Saturdays, then Saturday, 13 September, 2025 might well be the one they did. There was an earlier-than-anticipated start, when my night pee alarm (a necessary part of the eighth decade living experience) went off a bit early, but that did mean I was ready to roll from the kick-off in Sydney, as Australia and Argentina went head to head.

The game was a cracker with Los Pumas just holding off a spirited second half fight-back by the men in green and gold. Australia scored more tries, but, I feel they lost because the Pumas, having a central core of professionals who ply their trade in England's Prem had a clearer idea of how Referee Christophe Ridley wanted the game to flow.

Harry Wilson the Wallabies Captain was repeatedly frustrated at Ridley's rulings and it showed. Julian Montoya, his opposite number, with his experience of Ridley from club games, merely got on with things. Mind you, how he kept his head after an Australian try was awarded following the most-blatant forward pass I have seen in many a long day, staggers me. The award of the try was an embarassment for the AR on that side – who I think was oor ain Sam Grove-White – and more-certainly for TMO Glen Newman of New Zealand, who didn't catch it on replay.

BUT THAT WAS merely the appetiser, next up, The All Blacks v The Bokke in Wellington, the latest instalment of Rugby Union's fiercest rivalry. You could see the South Africans winning it, after losing the first round in Auckland a week previously, but I don't think even the Imperial Wizard or whatever he is called in the Broederbond – the Afrikanner version of The Masons – saw a record win coming.

This game was a 15-a-side Royal Rumble of Ali v Frazier intensity. It was also further proof of that universally-accepted Rugby Union truth: “forwards win games, the backs decide by how much”. The Bokke pack, even without that force of nature, the injured Eben Etzebeth, simply over-powered the home eight, and behind them, the slicker South African backs made hay.

The casualty count was epic, 4077 MASH would have struggled to keep up with the queue of walking wounded; it was a breathless 80 plus minutes which leaves both coaching teams, particularly the New Zealand one, with a lot of work to do. Two of the South African replacements particularly caught the eye, if you didn't know before this game how good RG Snyman and Kwagga Smith were, well, ye ken noo.

AFTER THAT – Ineeded a wee lie down before an afternoon of multi-tasking. The morning's events in Wellington laid an additional level of pressure on The G.O.A.T., Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and the other Black Ferns as they prepared to face the South African women in their World Cup quarter-final. It looked ominous for the Ferns early doors, but, it was soon clear, with the South Africans would rely on a powerful pack, the Ferns had the better all-court game and, in teenager Braxton Sorensen-McGee they are developing a worthy successor to the great Portia.

All the chat is that this Women's World Cup is merely a build-up to the big final – Black Ferns v England's Red Roses. Or is it? Canada, ranked second in the world behind the host nation, have been operating under the radar to a degree. They were very good in beating Scotland in the pool games, before moving up a gear to beat Australia in a last eight game which again showed what a terrific referee oor ain Hollie Davidson has become.

Once again, Hollie had a clutch of controversial decisions to make - “tries” which weren't tries, high tackles to adjudicate on and, as ever, she delivered a masterclass in how to handle things.

For me, the star of this tournament has been Canadian lock Sophie de Goede. She's a big lassie, but what an athlete. She carries aggressively, her MAC (metres after contact) figures are through the roof. But, she also scores tries and, shade of the great John Eales – she kicks penaltis and conversions: definitely the female “Nobody”; because, as they said of Eales: “nobody's that good”.

I am not really missing covering live games. Sure, I miss the banter at Millbrae, but, to be honest, Young Master Hay of The Offside Line, no longer requires my personal presence in mentoring him. However, for all their obvious failings around their social media content, Ayr's twitter feed does a terrific job on match afternoons.

As the lead changed hand between Ayr and Currie Chieftains, I realised, I was missing-out on a classic. Fair play to Currie, they are refusing to concede their title defence to Ayr and clearly gave it a real go on Saturday. But, even if they left Gruntz Anderson again doing his Jim McLean impression, they found a way to get the job done. I see another hard week for the squad, as they prepare for what may well be their sternest test of the season, on Saturday, when they travel to Myreside to face Watsonians.

I was a wee bit surprised to see Kerr Gossman named in the Ayr XV on Saturday, I thought, if they had a back three shortage, brother Craig, who is of course on the Ayr coaching team, might be the joker named, but, Kerr justified his place by scoring the final game-clinching try.

 

I Ask A Question

I AM NOT a farmer, but, I do have a few friends who are and to a man and woman they are driven by the core aim of everyone who ever took on, either as land owner or tenant of any farm – to leave their land in better condition than they found it.

In general business matters, we have the issue of “the three generation rule”. This says:

• The first generation starts a business

• The second generation builds it up and expands it

• The third generation blows the whole shebang

However, if you look at the Scottish Rugby Union as a business – and whether or not you agree with this title – in 2024 the last year of which it has published its balance sheet, the SRU had a turnover of just under £74 million; so by any standards, it is a considerable business: it could be said to be entering its third generation.

The long-lived first generation was the Amateurs for whom the game was everything. Guys such as James Aikman-Smith and his successors took a game which was the product of the belief in 'Muscular Christianity' of the likes of Dr Thomas Arnold at Rugby School, they organised it, gave it form, made it popular and ran it as a strictly amateur enterprise.

Then, in 1995, the game went “Open”. By this move, players had to be paid, and, if the players were being paid, obviously the coaches and the backroom staff who enabled them had to be paid too. So, the administrators became the second genertion and were forced to expand the game's boundaries, particularly financial.

We are now 30 years into the Open Era, time for a new generation to take over – so, need we – with the three generations rule in mind – need we be worried? I know I am.

I am frequently told, whenever I bring-up this issue: “but Aristotle, they're different, you're comparing apples and pears”. This happens when I compare the governance model of the Scottish Rugby Union and The Scottish Football Association. These two bodies are responsible for the governance of Scotland's two premier winter sports. Two codes of Football – but very-different games.

Football was over 100 years ahead of Rugby Union in tackling the particular problems of the introduction of professionalism. They might not have got every decision correct, but, perhaps some of the moves Football has made since those far-off Victorian days, can have a bearing on things in Rugby Union in this age of the third King Charles. Rugby Union, however, has the advantage of the lessons of the things they, and Football's rulers, got wrong.

For instance, as my old mucker Bill Lothian pointed-out, in a rare forray onto the BTL comments on an Offside Line story over the Summer: “It is not the job of the national governing body to run leagues”. The SFA was formed in 1873, but the Scottish League now the Scottish Professional Football League, wasn't formed until 1890.

The SRU seems determined to run a broad church – a sort of Church of Scotland with dirty knees – at a time when in every field, from politics to the churches themselves, “broad churches” appear to be going out of fashion and are deemed “no longer fit for purpose in the modern age”.

The SFA is the National Governing Body for their code of Football, just as the SRU is for its. But, whereas every Rugby Club in Scotland is either a full or associate member of the SRU, in Football, the various clubs are members of their particular leagues or local associations:

• The SPFL looks after the interests of the 42 “Senior” Clubs

• The Highland League looks after its 18 Clubs

• The Lowland League looks after its 18 Clubs

• The East of Scotland League looks after its 59 Clubs

• The South of Scotland League looks after its 11 Clubs

• The West of Scotland League looks after its 80 Clubs

• The Scottish Amateur Football Association represents 50 Regional Associations, running 67 Leagues across Scotland

• The Scottish Youth Football Association has a similar remit covering football up to Under-18 level, across Scotland

• The Scottish Schools Football Association looks after football in Scotland's schools.

• The Scottish Women's Football Association does what it says on the tin and organises and runs Women's and Girls' football in Scotland.

Clubs below the professional level SPFL can like the 42 clubs in that elite league become full members of the SFA, but only if they achieve certain standards as regards ground infrastructure and club governance. Around ten years ago, the SFA introduced an English-style pyramid for league clubs. The likes of The Old Firm and Hearts and Hibs are Level One, The Championship teams are Level Two, League One is Level Three, League Two is Level Four; the Highland and Lowland Leagues are Level Five, with the various divisions in the East, South and West of Scotland Leagues forming Levels Seven to Ten.

The Amateur FA clubs, provided they can meet the infrastructure and governance criteria, such as having a fully-enclosed ground, can also join the pyramid, indeed a handful already have and have moved up the levels, while the Youth, Schools and Womens FAs are largely left to run their game as they see fit.

Another difference between Rugby and Football is, while the SRU only has one Annual Meeting per season, where any member club can raise any issue, the SFA has its Congress, which meets quarterly. The current Congress members are:

• SFA Office Bearers: SFA President Michael Mulraney

• Scottish FA Chief Executive: Ian Maxwell

• Scottish Professional Football League: Andrew Dickson, Neil Doncaster, Leeann Dempster, Alan Burrows, Calum Beattie, Michael Nicholson

• Scottish Highland Football League: David Dowling

• Scottish Lowland Football League: Andrew Waddell

• East of Scotland Football League: Alistair Wilkie

• South of Scotland Football League: Richard Shaw MBE

• Scottish Amateur FA: Iain Cowden

• Scottish Junior FA: Alex McDowall

• Scottish Schools’ FA: Alex McMenemy

• Scottish Welfare FA: Chris Connelly

• Scottish Women’s Football: Vivienne MacLaren

• Scottish Youth FA: Gavin McIntyre

• Scottish Para-Football: Ashley Reid

• Scottish FA Youth Ambassador: Kira Henry

• PFA Scotland: Fraser Wishart

• Managers and Coaches Association: Billy Brown

• Scottish Senior Football Referees’ Association: David McGeachie

• sportscotland: Mel Young

• Media: Chick Young

• Supporters Direct Scotland: Alan Russell

These 26 Congressmen and women pretty much cover the entire spectrum of Scottish football. You will note, the professional players have a representative in Fraser Wishart, Billy Brown speaks for the Managers and Coaches, while Charles Young Esq speaks on behalf of the Fitba media (If the SRU ever adopts Congress, I want Chick's job in Rugby). Hell, even the official Scotland Supporters – the Tartan Army – has a representative on Congress.

Imagine a similar body in Rugby Union – the good it could do. Nah! Forget it, the Murrayfield Junta would never allow such democracy.

But, it is quite clear, the current governance model in Scottish Rugby isn't working and needs to be changed. Are the current High Heid Yins going to be like a farming generation, leaving the game in better shape than when they inherited it, or are they going to be the wasteful third generation?

 

Saturday Night Fever

O'MALLEY OUR ginger tom-cat: who allows us to feed him and offer him a warm bed for the night, was asleep on the job on Saturday morning. He was a bit late in wakening me to let him out, so it was already 6-0 to Argentina and 20 minutes in, when I joined the Rugby Championship match from Townsville.

Still, I couldn't complain as the two sides produced a cracking game, with some tremendous tries, lots of good off-loading under pressure and total commitment, to leave me convinced, at their best, the Southern Hemisphere nations play a brand of Rugby Union which only the French at the top of theie game, of the Northern Hemisphere nations can equal. It was glorious stuff, and the Australians can take great credit for their come-from-behind win, particularly for the way they stuck to their guns and went for it in time-added-on. They deserved to take the win.

Mind you, that was merely the appetiser – things were immediately ratcheted-up a notch or three when we “jumped the ditch” to Eden Park and the clash of the World's top two sides.

The Maori choir sang beautifully, before the Auckland Boys Choir lifted the atmosphere again with quite beautiful renditions of both anthems. After that and further evidence of the New Zealand Rugby Union perhaps employing a cultural attache/choreographer to coach the Haka, I would not have been surprised if the two sides had eased themselves into the game.

Aye Right!! Barely a minute played and Beauden Barrett produced a cross-fied kick pass which, while not quite peak Finn Russell, still deceived the Saffa defence; it was brilliantly plucked out of the air by winger Emoni Narawa and the All Blacks were on their way.

After that epic opening, it was Ali v Frasier in the terms and quality of the slug-fest which unfolded. The only down side I could see was, over the 80 minutes we were given further proof that Karl Dickson should never be allowed within ten miles of an elite international – when both sides are moaning about the official at the end, you know he's not fit for purpose.

And, they're doing it all again, in seven days time, in Sydney and Wellington – haud me back!!!

THE BIG GAME of the day, however, was the High Noon shoot-out between the ladies of Scotland and Canada. Now I have had a lot of time for Canadian women rugby players, since encountering with the Calgary Coven back in 1985. I wish I could say more, but, Tour Omerta beats tell-all journalism.

Any way – to the game in Exeter this afternoon. I honestly did not have high hopes for Scotland, against the world's Number Two side. The Canadians duly justified their higher ranking, but, oor lassies gave them a real game, before, quality told.

The Canucks had some genuine talents – why couldn't they have been real Canadians and learned to skate and handle sticks and pucks? Big Sophie De Goede in the boiler-house, for instance – jings, I've met less-scary male “Enforcers” when covering ice hockey – which by the way is simply shinty played on ice.

Then there was their excellent centre – Alex Tessier – ignore the name, the last lassie I saw with hair that flaming red was the Scots-Canadian girl who I married; Ms Tessier has to have Scottish ancestors.

Any way, Canada did what they had to do – avoided a last eight meeting with England, instead, we get to be the afterthought in a week of “Fleet Street” over-hyping their precious Red Roses. Aye well – sound off for that game.

FOLLOWING MY early start, I had an afternoon nap, (it's an age thing); so only switched-on the excellent Rugby Radio live commentary of Melrose v Ayr with minutes to go. Another somewhat ugly win for the Champions, who have still, three games in, to really hit their straps this season.

Stuart Cameron and his team do a tremendous job in selling Scottish club rugby – putting the SRU's own efforts via their failing Communications Department (motto – we don't really communicate) to shame. However, maybe a few more score flashes during commentary would help those, like me, who joined late. It wasn't until the final sign-off that I discovered the result at The Greenyards.

Mind you, such was the quality of the team's coverage of the Arnold Clark Premiership, that, by ten to five, I knew all five match outcomes. Ninety minutes later, the SRU's official results page on their website still didn't have all the Premiership results up.

I appreciate, it's supposed to be the clubs who notify Murrayfield, by 6pm and it seems to be against the religious beliefs of some of the Borders clubs to communicate with HQ, but, come-on, if Rugby Radio can get the results in speedily, why not the SRU?