State Secrets v Transparency And Openness

THERE IS a page on the Scottish Rugby Union's website, in which they list the current vacancies within the organisation – except, they don't list all the vacancies/ For instance, we know my very-dear friend Mr Dodson – TCD as I reverently call him – is stepping down from his post as Chief Executive Officer in the Summer. At the same time, Jim Mallinder is retiring from his post as Director of Performance Rugby.

One might hope the search for successors in these two very-important roles would be ongoing, after all, rhe recruitment process for such highly-paid, not to mention high-profile posts usually takes some time. People in such positions usually have to work through lengthy notice periods, but, a look at the current vacancies within the SRU throws up just one opening – for an Account Manager with Glasgow Warriors.

Maybe what's happening over replacing Dodson and Mallinder is a Staate Secret, or, maybe the posts are being filled on a “jobs for the boys” basis. Either way, I would have thought a wee bit more openness would have been evident and welcome.

ELSEWHERE on the SRU website,I noted my observations regarding the posting of board minutes had brought about some action – with the minutes of the 18 October meeting of the Club Rugby Board now on the site.

You have to laugh at The Junta's obsession with secrecy. They list all those non-board members in attendance at the meeting; well, actually they don't, since the identities of several appear thus:

[NAME REDACTED] (XX)Head of Regional Development

[NAME REDACTED] (XX) Solicitor

[NAME REDACTED] (XX) Business Operations & Support Manager

[NAME REDACTED] (XX) Head of Competitions & Compliance

[NAME REDACTED] (XX) Child Wellbeing & Protection Manager

[NAME REDACTED] (XX) Head of Game Development

[NAME REDACTED] (XX) Head of People & Engagement

[NAME REDACTED] (XX) Head of Rugby Development Operations

Angela McCRacken – Head of Legan and Governance, gets name checked. OK, I can perhaps understand the attending solicitor having his or her anonymity preserved, but the rest? It's surely not a state secret that Julie Gemmell is Head of People and Engagement, or that Faye Henderson is Child Wellbeing and Protection Manager and Gavin Scott is Head of Rugby Development Operations, with Neil Graham being Head of Game Development.

These redactions scream: “We're doing this because we can”; let's hope, once TCD has left the building, we get some grown-ups in to take control of The Junta.

By the way – would somebody like to ask their nearest Club Rugby Board member, what is the difference between “Big Rocks” and “Stepping Stones” - I'm not that fluent in Corporate Bullshit Terms.

The meeting spent some time discussing the 2024 to 2028 Game Development Strategy. This was due to be finalised by January 2024. This might well be the Male Performance Pathway, announced in mid-February, but, I reckon a five-year plan should be a bit more detailed than this was.

One interesting titbit I picked up from browsing the minutes, was the suggestion that clubs which produce players who are awarded Academy contracts, or go on to win professional contracts should maybe get some monetary reward. This already happens in football, although, in that game you frequently hear complaints that the amount of such compensation rarely covers the cost input.

"'Big Rig' - member of Scottish rugby's high performance staff". Now that is one really-savoury item in the minutes which caught my eye and got me wondering: what is going on there?

IN FITBA, each year, when the national knock-out cup comes around, the cogniscenti get a wee bit excited. OK, in the good old days, when the SFA had their square ball and their oval ball, then invariably managed to keep The Bigot Brothers apart and provided one or other didn't meet a Berwick Rangers or an Inverness Caledonian Thistle along the way, well they would meet in the final.

Occasionally, one or other would trip up and some diddy team would have an inspired day and beat them, or, we ended up with two of the diddy teams in what would be dubbed: A People's Final.

The really diddy teams used to set-off on The Road to Hampden in the late Autumn and, like Scottish clubs in Europe, their journey would be over before Christmas, well short of the final destination. The thing was, and in many cases still is, these no-hopers all accept, tis better to travel hopefully than to arrive, and even if they know in their hear of hearts, they are going to get a right good doing at some stage, they enter and compete.

OK, I accept Rugby Union is a much more-physical game and in a Rugby mismatch, there is genuine danger of someone getting hurt, perhaps really badly, so, we have to take greater care around mismatches. But, it does worry me that one or two of today's proposed Scottish Cup games have been called off, because the side on the “We'll do our best but, even before the kick-off, we know we're going to get stuffed” half of the draw have scratched.

In fitba, even some junior clubs, who have no chance of winning the thing, enter and have a go. They even, on occasions such as Darvel v Aberdeen, give the big boys a bloody nose.

Auchinleck Talbot and Cumnock Juniors both play in the West of Scotland Football League's Premier Division; this is Level Six in Scottish Football's pyramid. Both are SFA licenced clubs so can play in the Scottish Cup.

Cumnock Rugby Club, who draw their members from both these wee toons, play in West Region Division One of the Scottish Rugby pyramid. But, whereas “The 'Bot” or “Scumnock” (as I like to call them) could potentially face one half of the big two in the Scottish, there is no way their local rugby club would be allowed a crack at the likes of Hawick in Rugby's national knock-out competition.

So, maybe the SRU should make eligibility to compete at that level even harder. Clubs withdrawing, even when it is taken for the best of reasons – to prevent possible injury top their players, demonstrates, I feel, my oft-quoted belief that we really need to put a lot more effort into raising standards, because we clearly have too-many “National League clubs” unworthy of that description. In truth, even more-so than fitba, our game suffers from a surfeit of “diddy teams” as these withdrawals demonstrate.

 

Pyramid Building For Dummies

THE TROUBLE with pyramid building comes down to which of two theories you believe in; either the best pyramid builders are all long dead, or, having showed the ancient Egyptians and the Mayans how to do it, they buggered-off back to their galaxy far far away, to give these Earthlings a few millennia in which to evolve until they were able to take the concept forward themselves.

It doesn't help either that pyramid selling gets a bad press. However, I really feel, we need somebody to sell the idea, and have the intelligence to then build one that works – a Scottish Rugby Pyramid.

OK, I have no great faith in their ability to properly manage the job, but, at least the so-called intelligentsia of Scottish Football – the 'Blazers' who inhabit Hampden's Sixth-Floor Corridor are trying to build that pyramid. Many of the lesser clubs have enthusiastically supported the move, the trouble is, they have many long-entrenched special interest groups, in particular the two-headed monster which rules the roost, to overcome before the concept works as it should.

As yet Scottish Rugby has not embraced pyramid building, but, I hope, perhaps under the new management which is coming-in, they soon will. Scottish Rugby is an ideal model for a sporting pyramid. Unlike Fitba, we don't have a voracious two-headed monster at the top, determined to be the alpha predator.

Unfortunately, you cannot build a pyramid from the top down. We've got a great peak product – the NATIONAL A TEAM. The next step down – Glasgow and Edinburgh are also in good nick (although they probably need at leas one other team of similar standing). Below that, however, we've got problems:

• weak foundations

• self-interest

• disparity of standards across all levels

• a poor overall game management structure

• no coherent routemap as to where we want to go and how we get there

Whoever we get in to replace TCD, He or She is unlikely to be able to fix all our problems on their own, they will need help and I wonder, at this juncture, if we should maybe import another idea from Fitba. You know how, when a football club and its Manager/Head Coach part ways, generally, the departing Honcho takes his staff with him. Maybe TVD and Jim Mallinder have got a nice BOGOF discount from Pickfords, but, they ought not be the only ones leaving.

I am sure we could all name one or two long-standing Murrayfield Apparatchiks who, were they to accompany the Fat Mancunian out of the front door, their departure would not be met by wailing and ganshing of teeth in the glens and straths. It's never nice, on a personal level, to see someone lose their job, but, there are a few inside HQ who, their being sent on their way to the accompaniment of Jim Reeves' greatest hit would lift the general mood in the game greatly.

(Now, I've got all the Millenialls asking: who the fuck was Jim Reeves and what was his greatest hit?)

Back to business, however. Might I suggest, a commitment to taking a fresh look at the old Agenda 3 proposals and implementing them might be a good early project for the new Honcho. I don't know what the order of business might be, but, if it was me the priorities would be:

1. Get a new Financial Director in and get the finances sorted-out – we cannot move forward if the money isn't there and we don't have a plan for how we make more

2. Come up with a plan for how we upgrade the Murrayfield campus, so we can make visiting it a more-fulfilling experience for the fans

3. Sort out Agenda 3 as the basis for the lower tiers of the pyramid

If we got these three points addressed quickly and efficiently, I reckon we would have made a good start to the next five-year plan.

I'VE NEVER attended Melrose Sevens and I have never felt I have missed something special. It may well have been worth the trip back in the Amateur Era, when clubs such as Melrose themselves, Hawick, Gala, Kelso and the top Edinburgh clubs took it seriously, and the cast list was wall-to-wall with top international talent, as, most-definitely, were the playing rosters of the guest sides.

But, looking at this season's line-up on TOL this week, my first thought was: “Why bother?” The “hook” this season is the presence in the field of “The South of Scotland Barbarians” - I do hope, whoever came up with that title sought and received the permission of The Barbarians RFC to use it, otherwise it comes across as a pretty-desperate measure. “Barbarians Rugby” still stands for something in the game.

No harm to Scott Wight, who, with his upbringing in the short game, will do his damndest to make his squad competitive, but, given all the main South of Scotland clubs are in the field, and will surely wish to have their best players playing in their club colours, I have to question the probably quality of the new side.

Some of the other guest sides, well, let's just say: Fiji, Randwick, Saracens, London Scottish or Cambridge University (when they were top-class sides) they aint. If Melrose is supposed to be a celebration of the best of the club game up here, dare I point out the absence from the field of three Premiership sides.

OK, received wisdom is that while to a degree, Melrose is one of these British sporting occasions – Wimbledon, Royal Ascot, Cheltenham, Henley Regetta for example – where it's as much about being seen there as the quality of the entry, but, I get a sense, the host club is maybe trying too-hard to keep an event which gets less relevant with every passing year, still in the front line.

Of course, as the original Sevens Event, Melrose ought to have a special aura around it. It should bring together the best of the best short-game exponents.

That, to me, means getting Murrayfield to extract the corporate finger and strong-arm World Rugby into getting the event onto the World Rugby/HSBC tournament roster. Make it the Sevens equivalent of the US Masters Golf. Take it seriously and promote it as a very special weekend indeed.

Of, if that;s going to take more resources to make happen than can possibly be returned, time for the SRU to take Sevens seriously, and have a proper Sevens Series – with Melrose as the series equivalent of Super Bowl.

As things stand, I fear a long, slow, lingering death for the event.

Entertaining Rugby Union - It Might Catch-On

THAT CRAFTY old buzzard Hugh Barrow, this week shared on Facebook an interesting post, from the great David McNair, intimating that a few tickets, priced £50 a pop, are still available for the West of Scotland Rugby Referees Society's annual dinner, to be held at Hughenden, on Friday, 26 April.

The man with the whistle will be Wayne Barnes, with oor ain Jim Fleming as AR1. You don't have to be a referee to realise, this is a quality bill and I urge speed in contacting Mr McNair if you want to be at what promises to be a richt guid nicht.

To continue on my avian/legal trajectory; the lovely legal eagle what cares for my second grandson – PC Big Yin – drew me in the wider family Secret Santa draw last year. However, she missed my hint that Wayne Barnes' autobiography would be a good present.

However, she came up trumps with that tome for my recent birthday, and mid-way through it, my regard for the now retired Barnesy has grown. It's a cracking read, with one or two laugh out loud moments, particularly when he recounts adventures involving him and Nigel Owens during down time.

It's a cracking read, which I commend to the House.

TOONY TOMBOLA, that's the name some of the less-generous commentators on our game have given to our esteemed National Coach's selection policy.

We saw yet another game of this on Monday, when the latest round of selection hokey-cokey played out in a press release from HQ.

INTO the International squad came: Rory Sutherland, Javan Sebastian, Marshall Sykes and Jamie Dobie.

OUT went WP Nel, Alex Craig and Sione Tuipulotu.

I still feel the longer the SRU stalls on:

1. Reintroducing an A team

2. Getting them REGULAR AND MEANINGFUL games

3. Having a properly-managed and working pathway between the Under-20s and the A team and that squad and the international one

The worse it will be for the long-term good health of Scottish international rugby.

Let's take Alex Craig as an example. OK, his career has been hampered by injuries, but, he vanished off the radar, following his initial two caps, won during the 2021 Six Nations. He's not the only player to seemingly be cast aside then recalled.

Marshall Sykes won his only cap, against Tonga in Autumn 2021, then he too vanished, only to be recalled on Monday, having seemingly, in the process overtaken his club-mate Jamie Hodgson in the pecking order. There has to be more-consistency of selection, which means, a proper Scotland A programmme.

It goes, I feel, without saying, that a third professional team would also be an asset in squaring the circle of proper preparation v game time from a limited number of players.

GREAT BRITAIN'S Sevens squad operates so-far beneath the radar, they could give our Trident submarine fleet lessons in how to avoid public scrutiny. So, it was nice to see them reach the final of the latest World Rugby HSBC Sevens Circuit tournament in Los Angeles.

Media interest, of course, centred on what we must now I suppose call: The Dupont Effect, with that man Antoine continuing his one-man transformation of his nation's hopes, as he led Les Bleus to victory in the final.

We try to sell Rugby Union as the ultimate team game – a game for all shapes and sizes, then along comes this French superstar to show what a difference one man, with sufficient individual talent can make.

Reaching the final was a terrific boost for the Tam GB squad, which includes several Scots: Robbie Fergusson, Ross McCann, Kaleem Barretto, Matt Davidson and Jamie Farndale. Former Ayr and Glasow man Fergusson, the Team GB Captain, pictured below, even made it into the Team of the Tournament.

 

One more point from the three remaining tournaments will see them confirm their place in next season's roster, while they have a terrific chance of also clinching a place in this year's Olympic Games in Paris. Timing and momentum is everything and, after a third place finish in Vancouver, and the runners-up spot in LA, things are building nicely for the team.

THESE DAYS are past and in the past they must remain, but, for all the advances in technology since then, I fear the broadcasting coverage of Rugby Union has gone backwards since the Golden Era of Bill McLaren, Cliff Morgan, Nigel Starmer-Smith and BBC coverage.

Certainly, successors such as Eddie Butler, Brian Moore and Andrew Cotter and Lee McKenzie have excelled, but, against that, we've had talentless oiks such as Woodward, Dallaglio, the insufferable Inverdale, Claire Thomas and a coterie of myopic English and Welsh talking heads foisted on us, as different broadcasters have chased each other down-market.

I felt Amazon Prime did a passable job in covering the Autumn Internationals, but I see they appear to have been out-bid by TNT Sport for the 2024 series. This is worrying. I accept they do a sterling job in their coverage of the Gallagher Premiership, but, they are very-much a London-based organisation, apart from Manchester, everywhere north of the M25 is a case of: “Here be dragons”.

I fear we are going to largely, be subjected to a diet of everything English is wonderful and the rest of us barely matter – even from their Irish contingent.

Roll on Independence and those games involving the Scotland national team being free-to-air. An old man can still dream.

 

Confirmation - Murrayfield Couldnae Run A Minauge

I HAVE lately all but given-up on commenting on our club game, as poor weather and the considerable distraction of the Guinness Six Nations got in the way. The fact the village I currently call home is sometimes referred to as: “The perineum of God's County” and The Coven have taken away my driving licence, and we have poor public transport links also means, I find it difficult to actually get to live games these days.

But, like everyone else, I was interested in what the outcome would be in the Premiership play-off semi-finals. Received wisdom was that Kelso would hold on for so-long, before being flattened by The Green Machine, while Marr's Fortress Fullarton would stand-up to the assault of the Currie Chieftains.

A quick check of the respective X feeds at half-time showed a tight first half at Mansfield Park, with the home side leading 10-9. However, my expectations of Hawick pulling clear in the second period were realised as The Greens going on to win 25-9.

Up at Troon, the visitors were in the box seat at the interval, but only just, leading 12-7. With one of my favourite Irish immigrants, the ageless Paddy Boyer, pulling the strings at nine, however, the Chieftains pulled away in the second half to set-up a repeat of last season's final.

I fear, this defeat may be a seminal one for Marr. I am certain Billy McHarg's spreadsheets will already be telling him which Ayrshire Bulls players he can keep at Millbrae next season and that addition of quality to an improving First Team squad at the club will see Marr put back in their box as the second side on the West Coast next season.

Elsewhere in God's County, Garnock surrendered their long unbeaten record, when they went down by a single point 25-26 at Strathmore, a set-back which leaves them still one win away from promotion.

This now leaves Ardrossan Academicals as (I think) the last team with an unbeaten league record, and on the verge of a return to the National Leagues, since they are well clear at the top of West 1.

THE JUICIEST piece of current gossip in the intellectual hot house that is my home village is refereed to as: “The talk of the Tap store” (the Co-operative branch at the top of the village). I trust the legend that is “Pundy” Thorburn can keep me right on this one, but, I suspect the argument around the date of the Premiership Play-Off Final is maybe “The talk of the Station Bar”.

It seems ridiculous to me, that the big show-down between Hawick and Currie Chieftains may not happen until 4 May. This certainly appears to be the date being favoured – two days short of nine weeks hence.

That is a ridiculous gap. If this does turn up to be the chosen date, it will be later even than the Scottish Cup Final, which we have, for some time, been promoting as the big finale to the Club season.

This needs sorting-out, the overall seasonal calendar needs to be sorted-out, and soon – perhaps starting with cutting into that ridiculous nine week gap.

Maybe time the Club Rugby Board grew a pair and goat whoever has what they call in the muck-shifting world: “the loudest squawk” around HQ to “Get the finger oot and get the gemme played”. (Forthright instructions like that sound better and are more-effective in broad Scots.)

Watching the BBC coverage of the World Indoor Athletics Championships from The Emirates Stadium in Glasgow, I was intrigued to hear International Athletics Federation President Lord Sebastian Coe say that his organisation is giving serious consideration to ending the outdoor season with the World Championships. Thus, each season works towards a definite conclusion – the big finish.

I have long maintained that, in Rugby Union, THE important part of the overall game financially is the International Season – which in the Northern Hemisphere means the Guinness Six Nations.

The Six Nations – back when only five nations were involved -was traditionally seen as ushering-in the new calendar year. Back in those sepia-toned amateur days, the first game was always France v Scotland, played usually on the first Saturday in January; while the final game was always England v Scotland.

Scotland's international diary back then was written on stone: France, Wales, Ireland, then England. But, they decided to much about with tradition and the fixtures were juggled. Mind you, maybe it's something to do with being a professional paid Buftie, rather than an enthusiastic amateur one, but, they decided this season, the away team rather than the home one would change strips in the event of a colour clash.

Certainly, it suited the game's rulers – as television began to become a factor in promoting the game – to have the tournament as a staple of the winter programming. Today, with the broadcast media's obsession with football, rugby's pull has decreased, perhaps it is time for change.

If the likes of Lord Coe can see the sense in having the major global championship as the finale to the season – perhaps it is time Rugby Union looked at rescheduling the Six Nations.

Get all the club tournaments out of the way, then finish with the Six Nations. On the firmer pitches and in the better weather of April and May, we might even see better-quality rugby. How about:

The Professional Game

• Run the domestic club game (Gallagher Premiership, URC, Top 14) in the first half of the season (by December).

• Hold the European games (with a football-style third competition for the lesser sides) in January, February and March

• Play the Six Nations in April and May

The Amateur Club Game

• As with the professional game – have the leagues played off in the first half of the season (by December)

• Play-off the domestic cups in January and February

• Play the Inter-District Championship in March and April with sevens or tens tournaments for the non-District players who still want a run-around.

 

Of Hard Knocks And Hard-Fought Wins

MY INTENTION, when I sat down to write this post was to concentrate on the Edinburgh and Glasgow games in the BKT United Rugby Championship. These reports follow below. However, on Saturday morning, I chanced upon an excellent article, on The Guardian's website, penned by Sam Peters, which tackles the highly-contentious subject of the fear of head injuries in the game, and how this is affecting the numberes playing at schools and youth level.

It's a very-interesting and perceptive piece, which I commend to the House. Rather than pontificating on it, I suggest you follow this link to The Guardian and read it for yourself.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/mar/02/there-is-another-way-how-schools-are-tackling-rugbys-head-injury-crisis

ONCE UPON a time, for fans of any random sports team, it was sufficient simply to win. That requirement still applies to at least one significant club we could name, but, elsewhere these days, the Celtic/Manchester United disease is spreading. It is no longer acceptable simply to win – your team is required to win with a bit of elan and style; otherwise, the fans go home grumbling. Professional Football, of either of the two main codes in these islands, is no longer about sport – the game is now part of the entertainment industry.

In which case, looking at professional Rugby Union in Scotland, whereas the Weegies and West Coasters who follow Glasgow Warriors are generally content with the level of entertainment their team provides, not to mention the high percentage of victories, at the other end of the M8, happiness is not so-readily achieved.

Take Friday night at The Hive for instance. Visitors Ospreys haven't won away from home in the BKT United Rugby Championship since it had a different name and was a South African-free zone. OK, you can never say never, but, this was always a game Edinburgh was going to win. So, how did they manage to make such a fist of the job, that, as the clock ran down, they were desperately defending on their own line?

Against a visiting team most of whom weren't household names in their own households, 'Burgh contrived to huff and puff and stagger across the line, thankful for Ben Healy's expertise off the kicking tee, as they were out-scored in the tries count by their callow visitors.

In “a game of two halves” Edinburgh won the opening period 16-3, but lost the second 3-12 to hang-on for a 19-15 win. A squad with 14 full internationalists among the 22 players who got onto the pitch really should be winning more-easily than by four points.

To be honest, Edinburgh – not for the first time this season – made too-many unforced errors. Their attack lacked penetration and pace and their usually more than competent maul misfired badly.

For instance, the Mark Bennett who played at Glasgow would make penetrative runs on lines which no other Scottish centre ran. The Mark Bennett who plays for Edinburgh doesn't do this. Being an old Cumnock RFC man, I love Marko to bits, I just wonder what Edinburgh has done to him.

Chris Busby is one of the better of a phalanx of good, young officials coming through, but, in this game, he didn't impress. Edinburgh, whose scrum was dominant, more-so after Javan Sebastian replaced WP Nel, maybe didn't get the reward from the referee which their dominance deserved, but, even when they did get a penalty and a line out in a promising position, that long-standing Achilles Heel of the two Scottish pro sides – a messed-up throw, stymied their hopes.

It wasn't all bad. Young Harry Paterson gave another mature performance, Glen Young, Sam Skinner, Bill Mata and Man of the Match Hamish Watson all produced international class performances, but, too-many others were little better than competent.

If you like an ugly win, you perhaps went home happy, but, on the night genuine entertainment was only fleetingly on the menu. Still, a win is a win, for the good people of Edinburgh will have had their tea.

GLASGOW'S trip to Treviso on Saturday was a case of two high-flying sides checking-out their respective squad depth in the midst of the Guinness Six Nations, since their respective national coaches had kept some big hitters from both sides back in camp, preparing for next week's more-important Italy v Scotland clash in Rome.

As with Edinburgh the previous day, it was a game of two halves, Glasgow winning the first half 12-0, before losing the second 9-7. However, in terrible conditions, which mitigated against champagne rugby, the team showed the necessary grit and determination to get the job done.

Warriors certainly made every effort to play Weegie rugby, getting the ball wide at every opportunity. However, Benetton defended really well, to make things tough for their visitors,

Glasgow's two first-half tries were both down to excellent anticipation, Johnny Matthews pouncing on an overthrown line-out to plunge over for the first. With the two young locks: Max Williamson and Alex Samuel both getting up well to challenge on the Italian throws, as well as charging around to good effect in the loose, Glasgow continued to hold sway and it was no surprise when, late in the half, superb anticipation enabled skipper Stafford McDowall to kick through and fall on the ball for the second try, converted by Ross Thompson.

The half-back partnership between Thompson and Jamie Dobie was another heartening aspect of the win, I should add.

But, things went awry after the break, as Glasgow increasingly fell foul of the referee and three penalties from Joseph Umaga fairly perked-up the home crowd. It didn't help that Glasgow's discipline faltered. Frederico Sordoni was perhaps lucky to only see yellow for one ruck clear-out, and, while the younger Glasgow players all stood-up to be counted, once again Oli Kebble, who had come on for Sordoni, looked like a man who is desperate to get home to South Africa.

Glasgow were, to a degree, hanging-on to a three point lead as the clock wound down, but, late on, Dunky Weir called a set move, dinked a wee kick over the blitz defence and skipper McDowall fed Tom Jordan for the crucial third Glasgow try, converted from in front of the posts, by wee Dunky.

It was a bit scrappy, hardly surprising in the conditions, but, the win was perhaps more “plain” than “ugly” - but, you don't get extra points for being entertaining and, at the end of the season, wins such as this can prove vital.

 

I Have Been Thinking Again

I MUST ADMIT, in my capacity as The Voice of Reason in Scottish Rugby, I am rather enjoying sitting back and reading the gallons of pish being spouted in the main supporters' forum in Scottish Rugby – the BTL (below the line) comments on THE OFFSIDE LINE.

With the mainstream media now treating Scottish sport comment as virtually Old Firm gossip, Big David Barnes is truly a hero, for providing this platform for discussion, where we can air views which bring out reactions going from: “that makes sense” to: “what the fuck has he been drinking”, and all stops between.

The ongoing: what do we do post-Super Rugby debate is the current hot ticket on TOL, and the BTL comments offer the expected panoramic vista of often clashing opinions.

Mind you, this is Scottish Rugby we are discussing, and, after some reflection on what has already posted, I fear, our leaders may once again get it wrong. What replaces Super Rugby is just one small part of the overall picture; it's an important part, but, it doesn't answer the main question – where are we going with the game in Scotland, and what is the best route there.

I have long said, we are now in a two stream game – the professional and the amateur. They are different games, requiring a different approach; the problem is, when it comes to management of these two different games, there has to be some sort of joint approach, and that's where we have problems.

As that auld Burns' quote Scots says: “Facts are chiels that wanna ding and downa be disputed” . But, in the modern game, there are a lot of commentators who like nothing better than disputing facts. For instance, The only area of the game of Rugby Union which makes real money is the international one; so why the fuck did the Six Nations' committee give away a considcerable, if minority share, of the proceeds to CVC?

The management model as far as the SRU is concerned is: the money which the international team generates is re-invested for the good of the game. Hell, they even got it written into the statutes that the Club Game – the amateur part – would be subsidised by a set per centage of the income each season, with the rest going to running the overall Union.

The fact it is a two stream game is confirmed by the SRU's management structure:

1. Scottish Rugby Union Board – the nine members (The Custodians) of which have on behalf of the SRU and its members, oversight of how Scottish Rugby Union Limited undertakes their responsibilities.

2. The Scottish Rugby Limited Board – also having nine members - is responsible for the ongoing management and operations of the Scottish Rugby Union Group. It reports quarterly, through the SRL Chair, to the SRU Custodians on the main aspects of its operating role, including strategy and financial and various other significant topics.

3. The Club Rugby Board – which has 16 members – is the voice of the member clubs. Now, whereas in the “About Scottish Rugby” section of their website, the SRU lays out the duties and responsibilities of the other two boards, it doesn't tell us what the Club Rugby Board is supposed to do, and where it fits into the overall management model.

We have been told for generations: “The clubs are the Union”. That one is apparently set in stone, except, these days, Scottish Rugby Limited is tasked with running things, and while the Club Rugby Board is indeed the voice of the clubs – each of its 16 members representing the clubs in a particular division of the leagues, part of a region, or special interest group (schools, referees, women's rugby etc).

While two of these 16 Club Rugby Board members, The President and the Vice President (currently Colin Rigby and Keith Wallace) are Custodians – members of the main SRU Board, they are NOT members of the Board of SRU Limited. So, the Clubs, who are supposedly the main stakeholders in the Union only have one voice on the Board of the main money-making arm of Scottish Rugby, through the happenstance that Club Board member Hazel Swankie is an “independent” member of the SRL Board.

• There are, as listed above, three boards in Scottish Rugby

• These boards have a total of 30 Directors

• No Director is a member of all three boards

• Four Directors are members of two boards

• The other 26 Directors are only members of one particular board

• The only SRU EMPLOYEE to be on more than one board is the Company Secretary, who sits on both the SRU Board and the SRL Board

• The Chief Exectuive only sits on the SRL Board, on which the Personnel and Finance Directors also sit

• The Director of (Performance) Rugby does not sit on any board

• The National Head Coach does not sit on any board

• Only 15 of the 30 Directors are directly elected by the Clubs (the stakeholders)

I am no expert on company organisation or management, but, I would suggest, that the stakeholders only have half of the total board places is a weakness in the management structure, as is, not-withstanding the SRU Board's oversight responsibilities, the lack of cross-fertalisation across all three boards. This is a matter we should perhaps address.

Half of the overall body of Directors are “appointed”. Who by? What are the qualities we are looking for in Directors? How are these appointees recruited? Should not the stakeholders – the clubs, have more of a say in who gets appointed to the two boards – the Custodians of the Board of the SRU and the independent or non-executive Directors of SRL?

This is no implied criticism of Hilary Swankie, but, should not the SRU President and/or Vice President also be members of the Board of Scottish Rugby Limited? Also, surely the Director of (Performance) Rugby should also be on the board of SRL.

However, I firmly believe the reality of the Amateur game, as governed by the Club Rugby Board, and the Professional/Performance game, as governed by the board of Scottish Rugby Limited should be recognised.

With the current Chief Executive Officer and the current Director of (Performance) Rugby both leaving, we have perhaps the perfect opportunity to reset things and come up with a management model more-befitting the present day and the days to come. Can we, will we take this opportunity?

WHAT I WOULD DO

1. Ignore the “We cannot afford it” calls and set-up at least a third full-time professional team – NOW.

2. Follow the Irish template, give the professional sides, playing in the URC more freedom from central control and at the same time, allow these sides to be at the apex of rugby in each of their Regions, giving them the opportunity to build a better regional identity.

3. That said, there could, finances allowing, be a case for a limited number of central contracts being offered to the very-best Scottish players (British Lions possibles).

4. The full-time professional sides should be responsible to a greater degree for the development of the best of our young talent, with an improved and enhanced Academy system, offering not only better training and development opportunities, but, as-importantly, tackling the big failing of the present system – the fact our best young players simply are not playing often enough.

5. Super Rugby was supposed to be the tier at which we caught the players who missed-out on advancement along the pathway – the late developers etc. With Super Rugby gone, we have to make the Inter-Regional tier that catchment level.

6. This means, Inter-Regional coaches have to be independent of the clubs, the squads need more games and there may be a case for making Inter-Regional rugby primarily an Under-23 competition.

7. Agenda 3 needs to be looked at again. There were some very-good ideas in there, but, it was, for various reasons, never fully-implemented.

8. There is a case for, in conjunction with implementing an improved Agenda 3, bringing in a club licencing scheme, similar to the Scottish Football Association's one. As I have said before, if we had a strict club licencing scheme, some clubs, currently riding high in the National Leagues, would be back playing Regional Rugby.

9. We really work at getting Rugby Union back into the State School sector.

10. We drastically reduce the number of “National” Leagues. We have too-many clubs claiming “National League Status” who are unworthy of this.

Note: The SFA has 124 Licenced clubs; i.e. clubs which have met minimum standards as to finance, governance and infrastructure. Of these 42 clubs (33.9%) are “National League Clubs) playing in the four-division Scottish Professional Football League.

The SRU lists 138 clubs playing in SRU-recognised Leagues, national and regional. Of these 50 clubs (36.2%) play in national leagues. I would suggest (not for the first time) we have too-many national league clubs.

To a large extent these comparisons are a definite case of apples and pears. The 124 football clubs quoted are “licenced” clubs, who have met a certain standard of governance. They do not include the many amateur clubs, playing in very-local leagues.

For instance, these figures do not count the 50 regional associations and 67 leagues administered by the Scottish Amateur Football Association, which claims to administer over 35,000 amateur players across Scotland.

Take them into consideration and those 124 licenced clubs – far less the top 42 - are a much smaller percentage of the overall number of clubs in Scotland.

Another way in which Football and Rugby Union differ in Scotland is in the area of youth development. Not so-long ago, the enthusiastic and hard-working High Heid Yins in the Scottish Schools Football Association used to claim, with the certainty only an old-school Scottish teacher could muster: “We are not here to provide boys for football, but to provide football for boys.” That may no longer be the case, with closer proximity between the SSFA and the SFA, and with the establishment, over a decade ago, of seven Schools of Performance across Scotland.

Of course, the SRU also has several “Performance Schools” - Merchiston, Fettes, Stewart's-Melville, GeorgeWatson's, Edinburgh Academy, Glenalmond and Dollar Academy, to name but a few. The way these “Establishment” schools have been allowed to scoop-up talent and dominate youth rugby is a stain on the SRU and its absurd #As One claim.

A broadening of the playing field, and more opportunities for other ambitious schools and clubs to test themselves against the current elite might work wonders for youth development in Scotland.

I would like, for instance, to see more co-operation between schools and clubs; teach the fundamentals in schools, where there is a captive audience, but, have the more-enthusiastic and talented young players fast-tracked into better-organised, funded and supported club academies. And, let's do away with that absurd rule (supposedly thought-up as a bit of self-protection by the “Establishment Schools” - whereby boys cannot play for a club and their school over a single weekend).

These are just a few of my observations and thoughts. Let's hope, we may see, sooner rather than later, the necessary changes made to Scottish rugby.