Once Wally Barnes Was A Player - Now He's A Referee

FOR ME, the quote of the rugby season came early-on, it appeared in (I think) the esteemed Tom English's Scotland on Sunday column and read: "One thing is certain, at some time, you'll get screwed by Wayne Barnes". You know Wayne Barnes - he was the future of refereeing, until he missed a forward pass and France beat the "unbeatable" All Blacks in the 2007 World Cup.

Since that fateful night, the Barnes star has been on the wane, dipping even more in the aftermath of Saturday's English Premiership Final, when he failed to red card , or even yellow-card Leicester's Manu Tuilagi for a tip tackle on Harlequins' Danny Care.

Now, I accept the sanction for a tip tackle is the subjnect of much debate, since the Sam Warburton incident in the World Cup semi-final against France, but, IRB guidelines are clear - the referee starts at "red card" and works backwards. But, to give a penalty, and nothing else, as Barnes did on Saturday - well he should be back refereeing Old Shirtlifters' Extra B XV v Soddom and Gomorrah College FP Vs until he learns the error of his ways.

When I was a boy, Arsenal had a great Welsh full back, Wally Barnes - now he was a player; today's "Wally" Barnes is a referee - how times change.

As it stands, Barnes' inaction means we will have an RFU citing commission, Rob Andrew and the other 56 Farts will get involved, (hopefully) Tuilagi will miss the summer England tour and the Forlorn Four (Guardian, Independent, Telegraph and Times) will have another subject to keep the rugger buggers of Middle England going on-line all summer.

I have covered a lot of sports in my life, one constant I have found is, regardless of the game - English referees are shit, Barnes is not alone.

I MET Tommy Bowe, the Irish wing, last week. He was doing a bit of pr work for RWE-npower Renewables, one of Ospreys' sponsors - and right well he did it too. The kids from Cumnock Academy and Cumnock Rugby Club whom he met hung on his every word, while, like almost every Paddy I have ever met, he was great craic in the clubhouse, even admitting that my 45-year-old kidney operation scar knocked his much-newer "keyhole" one for six. I wish him all the best next season for Ulster, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions (except when he is playing against a Scottish side).

If you've ever wondered about how-much bigger players are becoming, how about the comment from Ronnie Boid, the middle-man in the fearsome Jordanhill Colege McLauchlan, Boid, McCallum front row of the late sixties and early seventies. Meeting Bowe at Cumnock Rugby Club the bold Boid said: "He's a winger - I had smaller second rows behind me".

IT IS nice to see so-many promising young Scots being awarded Elite Development Contracts by Edinburgh and Glasgow this week. Most have already made an impact in Premiership One, and will do so again in the new season. I just hope they get a proper chance in the Rabo Pro 12; nothing against foreign mercenaries, they are a necessary evil, but as has happened in football, I hope they don't become the preferred pick ahead of young, native talent, it is a tough call to make for the best.

It's English, But I Like It - So, Where's Our Coverage?

I HAVE a secret vice: I ought to be ashamed of it, I ought not to confess to it, but feel I must - I enjoy ITV4's Monday night coverage of the English Aviva Premiership.

There, it is out in the open, I feel better now. Some might ask, why don't I go the whole hog and buy the Sky package which would allow me to watch as much rugby as I wanted, as often as I wished?

Simples, I refuse point-blank to help fund the Dirty Digger and his offspring's life-style and attempts at world domination, so, Sky is beyond the limits for me. No, I happily wait until a Monday night, then enjoy watching the Aviva coverage, plus the odd bit of European rugby which they also show.

I also enjoy the BBC Alba coverage of the Rabo 12. The fact I do not have the Gaelic is a minor inconvenience, I can tell what is going on without having verbal heedrum-hodrum in my lug-hole.

I have said before, it is a disgrace the level of coverage Scottish rugby gets, even the Pro 12 games involving Edinburgh and Glasgow. With Rangers perhaps being banished to the outer darkness - maybe the BBC in Scotland or STV can next season, be persuaded to give rugby a bit more coverage - or why doesn't the SRU take Scottish Rugby TV in-house, throw some money at it and give us the quality and depth of coverage which might make a difference either on-line or on some digital channel?

We have a good product at senior club level - it is simply crying-out for more exposure.

I SEE Tom Smith is moving to Toulon, in part because the SRU has been slow off the mark in offering him a new contract. I suppose he will be replaced by some non-Scot, bought-in from elsewhere, Really, the SRU is for me not doing enough with its remit to encourage and grow the game in Scotland, by pushing through more talented Scots coaches. Smith ought, for my money, to have been kept in Scotland.

And, while I am at it, Jason White is coming home - get him involved, please.

AS BIG Jason comes home, another Scot, young McAndrew, heads over to Clermont Auvergne, to joing their Academy, where he will be alongside Mark Bennett. How I wish we had a decent Academy structure in Scotland. The two pro sides cannot do this alone, the top Premiership sides have to do more - perhaps by making their 2nd XV League an Under-23 one.

Something needs to be done to create a better growth environment for our future stars, but, that will cost money, something in short supply in Scottish sport.



NSQ = SRU Nae Clue

YOU might have thought that, after 17 years of mostly getting things wrong, the SRU would by now have had a re-think and come up with a viable business plan for professional rugby. Maybe they have, but I cannot discern it anywhere.

Take this whole business of current recruitment policies for the two SRU-owned professional sides. We have seen a stream of NSQs (non-Scottish qualified) players being recruited. One or two may be young enough to eventually make it into the national side, but ah hae ma doots. Maybe Sean Lineen is going to move back home to NZ and spend his days poring over birth certificates and genealagy sites to find promising young SQs (Scots-qualified) players who might be exported to Scotland to develop.

Or maybe, as some of us increasingly feel - the SRU hasn't a clue.

Better by far I feel to spend money on developing the game here in Scotland, raising standards, improving the coaching pool and getting good, young Scots fast-tracked into the national squads.

For instance: why don't we make more use of the Club International XV as a means of giving the pro sides' Academy and fringe players - many of whom spend more time playing in the Premiership than in the Pro 12 - a chance to play together.

Let the Club XV take-on some of the lesser FIRA sides in Europe, or, in the summer, send them to take-on some of the New Zealand provincial sides who play in the Ranfurly Shield, the level below the Super 15. Make this a mainly Under-23 side, with some experienced ballast, and who knows, maybe the young talent would come through quicker.

At home, as I have argued before, why not make the Premiership a sort of franchise league? Insist, and if necessary hand-out SRU-undder-written loans, to be used under strict guidelines to improve facilities and coaching rather than player recruitment, to sort-out the grass-roots and make certain we can identify the talent early enough and give it a chance to flourish.

Scottish football is dying, Scottish rugby, if it can put its house in order, has a great chance to flourish in the 21st century.

Let's see some out of the box thinking and let's be the architects of our own salvation. Good luck to the NSQs who are coming up here, but, I'd rather see guys who can definitely play for Scotland, getting the first chance.

WELL, Sean Lineen has had his pre-match team talk written for him, by those Leinster men who are openly talking about "three games to go". I must admit, I wasn't looking forward to the trip to Dublin on Saturday, but, I now believe Glasgow has a real chance of shocking Leinster.

I HAVE a mate who went over to the Dark Side many years ago - picking up a whistle and becoming a referee. To be fair to him, he has done well, without reaching the upper echelons of the game and, given his inate sense of fair-play and neutrality, he merits the description a good referee.

These past 15 years he has been living, working and refereeing in England. Now, his spell in the missionary service behind him, he and his good lady have retired back to that Ayrshire village from whence they came. Perhaps he missed the twang of banjoes in the morning, I don't know, but not even counselling could dissuade the couple from returning.

He has decided to retire from refereeing and has spent the last couple of months in the lower levels of Glasgow District rugby, during which he has doled-out two red cards and six yellows: "More than in 15 years in England".

What does that say about the bottom feeders of Scottish Rugby?

"They will not take a telling, then, when you penalise - they argue; there is simply no discipline and a refusal among some clubs to accept even the basic principles of discipline".

This guy has put in the hours in refereeing, he cares about the game, when he feels like this - we have a problem Murrayfield.

It's The Hope That Keeps Us Going

SPAIN - we lost to fucking Spain!!!

Not the Spain of Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol and Fabregas, but a Spain of a bunch of guys who are not even household names in their own households. Come on, it's not so long ago that Cumnock Rugby Club could go to Spain and return unbeaten.

How low must we sink before the Murrayfield Mafia either gets real about Sevens, or drops the Sevens programme completely?

Still, the Blacks stuffed England, so Scotstoun 2012 wasn't all bad news.

IF YOU only read the Daily Telegraph, or the Times, or watch Sky and ITV you will no doubt believe the guff about the superiority of the English Premiership. If you are Irish or Welsh, you will believe that their game is far-superior to the rugby we play in Scotland. If you are Scottish, you perhaps think we really are not-very-good.

But, as the Warriors and Edinburgh have shown this season, we are not that far away from being good at rugby. Of course, we are still operating from too-narrow a base; we still rely too-much on a handful of good players and we will always be vulnerable in these days of professionalism to the greater financial clout of England and France and the  better player-care regime of Ireland.

However, we've got some great young players coming through - in spite of the  organisaional failings of Murrayfield and, who knows, we just might be competitive come the next World Cup in England.

Going Out On A High

SO, THERE I was, just about to decamp for Firhill, when Bossy Daughter informed me, she needed my car, as she had been called-out to work. So, nae banter in the back row of the Jackie Husband, instead, it was BBC Alba.

I am, I must admit, still getting to grips with the Gaelic, but, I can see what is happening, so it's not such a bad deal having a stream of ochone, ochone droning in my ears. I never had any doubts about Glasgow doing Connacht and they put on a good show to bid farewell to Firhill - which incidentally has been one of my favourite grounds since I first went there, back when they still held greyhnound racing there, more than 50-years ago.

Of course, taking-on Leinster, in Dublin, is a hard game, winning an even bigger ask - but, these Warriors just might do it.

Anyway, I know politics is involved, but, I just wish we could have an English commentary on BBC Alba, indeed, that channel really ought to be used more to showcase indigenous Scottish sport, with English commentaries.

In fact, since they will not (should Rangers go under) not need quite so-many retired Old Firm players as over-paid, under-educated pundits next season, why doesn't BBC Scotland divert the vast sums they would save into putting sports other than fitba on BBC Alba. They could show-case the many excellent club games we have in Scottish rugby; they could show minority sports such as hockey and basketball.

In fact, somebody should tell the BBC in Glasgow, there are sports other than the SPL, the odd bit of curling and the occasional round of golf, which are played to a fairly high standard in Scotland.

SORRY - got slightly side-tracked there. I cannot help feeling, Sean Lineen and his squad have thumbed their noses nicely at murrayfield of late. It is probably too-late now, but, quite why Lineen has to leave Glasgow, having done so well, and to make way for the still comparatively-untried Toony Townsend is still a mystery to me. Townsend, assisting Lineen, makes far more sense than Townsend on his own. Or, is Robinson playing the old Craig Brown game, with a coach rather than a player - in inviting Townsend to fail, to show he never had it in the first place?



Grounds For Improvement

THERE was a piece in today's Scotsman to the effect that the old, fading Meadowbank Stadium - scene of the 1970 and 1986 Commonwealth Games - was to be re-furbished as a home for Edinburgh Rugby, the capital's professional side. A good thing say I, although I am not 100 per cent in favour of putting a rugby pitch in the middle of a full-sized athletics track.

Certainly, playing at Meadowbank would be greatly preferable to continuing to play at Murrayfield, which is a pretty soulless place unless nearly or completely full. Given that Edinburgh will never adequately fill the National Stadium for anything less than a Heineken Cup semi-final, moving the club to Meadowbank makes sense. However, is it the right move for Scottish rugby?

I think not, in fact, with the imminent move to fewer Premiership teams I feel that, rather than spending a lot of cash on upgrading Meadowbank, the SRU ought to have given more thought to broadening the appeal of semi-professional rugby (and you cannot tell me that clubs such as Ayr, Gala, Melrose, Boroughmuir, Aberdeen and Dundee are anything other than semi-pro sides,

Better I feel to splash the cash via long-term, low-interest loans to the leading semi-professional clubs, provided that cash is spent on ground improvements, including TV-quality floodlighting, pitch protection measures, better stands and terraces.

The reduction in the number of Premiership clubs will mean those clubs which are established in Premier One will become powers in the land. OK, it might well be sad that the across-the-board strength of the Border clubs will be diluted by the fact they cannot all ge into the top flight. Melrose are in with the bricks, Gala rapidly getting there - all we need is an outbreak of common sense in Hawick and the realisation that a return to the old days of everything being geared towards the Green Machine (I know, I'm not holding my breath) and Hawick can be back where they belong too.

The semi-pro clubs, competing for places in the British & Irish Cup, will become a good underskirt to the two pro sides and, as such they need to provide a better standard of spectator facilities. With better grounds for the semi-pro clubs, the pro teams home games could be moved around these grounds, spreading the gospel of SCottish rugby.

I think it might work - now, about other changes to the organisation of the game up here - WATCH THIS SPACE.