We Could Probably Learn From The Welsh When It Comes To Change

WHAT follows is an extract from the seasonal message, delivered by Welsh Rugby Union Chairman Gareth Davies. Mr Davies is, of course, talking about Welsh rugby, but, I feel there are passages in there which could equally-well refer to Scottish Rugby.

 Wales's Gareth Davies

It is pretty-well accepted that, since the game went professional in 1995, the SRU and the WRU are the two major unions which have had the most-difficulty in finding a system which works for them.

England went down the route of giving the major clubs the main task in driving the game forward, Ireland went with their tried and trusted Provinces method. The unions in Scotland and Wales have turned like weather vanes, searching for the system which will work, without as yet, getting there.

I make no comments on Mr Davies's message, other than to highlight a couple of points which I feel are crucial, and, commend that the body of the kirk in Scottish rugby reflect on what he is saying.

“We are at a crossroads in the game in Wales in two vitally important areas, as we evaluate the competition structure which supports our club game and, elsewhere, propose changes which are set to significantly modernise our Board and the governance of Welsh rugby in general.

If we get things right in the weeks and months ahead the history books could earmark the 2017/18 season in Wales as the one in which Welsh rugby was re-born.

That may sound like a grand claim, but I cannot stress enough how important the decisions we will make in Wales in the next few months will be for the future of our national game.

Our role as a Union is to ensure that anything we do works in the 'here-and-now', is the best solution for 'today', but will also safeguard the future of Welsh rugby.

The balancing act which must be performed is to ensure that decisions are made with both head AND heart.

Nowhere is this more evident than with regard to our own Governance and in terms of the Competition review we are currently undertaking in the club game.

We are currently in the process of reviewing the competitions that support Welsh rugby below the Guinness Pro14 level - the club game in Wales - and are deeply concerned with bridging any potential gap that may exist between the amateur (club) and professional (regional) game.

We are progressing well and have completed research with players, coaches and club representatives. We are also working with those responsible for the performance pathway, which identifies and nurtures future professional players from the club and age grade game, and two clear principles have been agreed:

Firstly, we need to improve the connections in our pathway, so talented players can be identified and managed. We need to ensure the right amount of quality games, structured conditioning and opportunities are provided to players so they can progress and become the best senior players possible.

We do not have a massive player pool and it is vital that we create the best environment possible for talent to flourish and connect our club game directly to the professional game, the regions and our representative sides.

Secondly, and fundamentally, we need to respect the history and heritage of the club game.
There are times when these two ambitions feel at odds and, make no mistake, we are currently at a hugely important fork in the road.

We need to take our time and work with everyone involved to ensure we come to the best outcome for Welsh rugby.

This is not a unique challenge to Wales and it is something every union has wrestled with since the start of the professional era. We have no desire to impose a new structure on the game, but we are working together on a solution which will make us a better union of clubs. There will be no rush to put something in place that we may come to regret in the future, but it is vital that we get the next step right.
I have spoken at length about proposed governance changes recently, but make no apology for stressing at every opportunity the importance of modernising our Board and the District structure we have historically had in place.

We need to streamline, so that we have the best possible structures to ensure we can run the game for the betterment of everyone involved. Our proposed governance changes are aimed at achieving one thing, making the WRU more effective. Change is always hard, but we would rather be proactive than have change forced upon us from the outside or react to failure when it is possibly too late to do so.

On the administration side of the game, we are busy working on projects that will make the running of clubs easier. We are well aware of the efforts of the volunteers without whose efforts the club game would struggle. We want to make their lives easier and will announce a series of new initiatives soon.”

Reading this message, it appears to me, the Welsh RU are looking to carry the club game with them, while the SRU – or at least the paid professionals inside BT Murrayfield seem, to me, to be adopting a: “We ken best an' ye'll dae whit we tell ye” approach.

As I have said time and again in recent posts – it is time for the Council members, the guys who represent the clubs, to either stand up and be counted on behalf of the broader membership, or to do the honourable thing and stand down.

I have yet to meet anyone outside Murrayfield who thinks Super Six is a good idea; I have met even fewer people who think buying Worcester makes sense, so, before we are much further into 2018, how about calling a halt – consulting the clubs, and then coming back with something which might work.

We have already fannied around for more than 20 years, it is time we stopped doing this and got things right.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The North Stand Was More Likely To Catch Fire Than The Game - And It Was A False Alarm

HERE we are, standing at the gate of another New Year, wondering what it has in store for us, and reflecting on the year which will be consigned to history, when the clock strikes 12 tonight.

Spectators leave Scotstoun following the fire alarm alert

But, before we write-off 2017, some reflections, starting with yesterday's second leg of the 1872 Cup. What a pity, the thing this particular game will be most remembered for will be the false fire alarm, and the 35-minute delay this caused. More to discuss here than the 80 minutes of play perhaps.

I didn't see the game, since, as regular readers will know, I refuse to pay Uncle Rupert's “tax” by taking out a Sky subscription, and, I know the old so-and-so has supposedly sold his shares in that company.

I had to make do with the BBC Shortbread commentary, and, while the trio of British Lions on duty - John Beattie, Scott Hastings and Peter Wright were entertaining, Wrightie, as ever being great in his analysis of referee Mike Admason's performance, something was lacking.

Scott Hastings is a far-better summariser than commentator, but, I was disappointed in Beattie. He is a good TV commentator, not so hot on radio. Now, I know Scotstoun well, I know where the commentary position is, but, Beattie's description of the play occasionally had me lost. He would describe play moving left to right, only to, a couple of sentences later, give the impression it had actually gone right to left.

 Bill Johnstone - we were spoiled by having him

Maybe I've just been spoiled by Bill Johnstone, who was a wonderfully descriptive commentator. Bill painted such great word pictures, you were there.

Glasgow won, without playing as well as they can. They took advantage of Edinburgh's propping problems in the tight – young Kieran McDonald-Seran stood up to be counted while Hamish Watson appeared to spend the game on the wrong side of Mike Adamson – of which more later.

Glasgow has this reputation as an off-loading team. I reckon this is a throw-back to the Nakarawa days; for me, they have not off-loaded as well in the two seasons since the big Fijian left, than they did when he was here. In fact, while Dave Rennie may, in time, bring a degree of hard-nosed New Zealand professionalism to the team, I don't think Rennie is getting as much out of the players as Toony did.

Also, I am starting to question some of Rennie's recruits. We were led to expect great things from the likes of Kebble, Gibbons and Masanga. Yes, Gibbons delivered in the early days, but, these three marquee players seem to be spending a lot of time in the treatment room.

Might there be something awry with the strength and conditioning regime at the club?

Certainly, Edinburgh seems to me, to be getting more out of their new coach than Glasgow is from theirs. I am looking forward to seeing Mark Bennett and Darcy Graham being launched onto the scene in 2018, with, hopefully, the injured front line props back to boost the Edinburgh pack.

Now, we turn to Mike Adamson. It is no secret, Project Mikey has exercised the SRU's refereeing department greatly over the past two years. Their desperation to get a referee up to Elite International level is palpable, and Mikey is the chosen vehicle for this.

 Mike Adamson - had a difficult night on one or two levels

He's a cracking Sevens referee, as is Sam Grove-White, the current number two in the Scottish refereeing pecking order. But, controlling Sevens is different from controlling the 15-a-side game, and, as yet, Mikey has a bit to go in the traditional game.

He struggles with the breakdown – as did Grove-White when I saw him take charge of a recent Premiership game. Also, as a former Glasgow player, Adamson was on a hiding to nothing being given that game. He gives the impression of trying too-hard to show his neutrality, by maybe penalising Glasgow unfairly at times.

For me, our best 15s refs are Lloyd Linton and big Andrew McMenemy, by the way, while I like the way Cumbrian Ben Bain is adapting to Scottish rugby.

That said, I am becoming more and more convinced, Rugby Union, at the top professional levels, is becoming more and more unrefereeable. I have been told by top referees, you penalise the one offence, of the several being committed at any breakdown, on the basis of that being the one which has the most-material effect on the game.

That is one of my main hopes for 2018, that John Jeffrey and his World Rugby committee get a real grip on the Laws. By all means, as has been suggested – simplify them, but, make them enforceable, and then, get the referees to risk unpopularity by enforcing them. Sure, they will cop the flak at first, but, in the long run, they could save the game.

AND – AS I KEEP SAYING: BRING BACK REAL RUCKING.

THE other big issue of this last week of 2017 has been the news that Newcastle Falcons' Gary Graham has been named in England's pre-Six Nations training squad.

Gary Graham - if the SRU Performance Department did embarrassment - his England call-up would be embarrassing

I appreciate being named in a training squad is still some way away from being capped, but, I don't suppose there will be any red faces in the SRU's Performance Department at the news that a Scotland-Qualified player, the son of a Scottish internationalist and former SRU staff coach, who is already a Scotland Club and Under-20 Internationalist, has been called-up by England.

No, the SRU Performance Department, like several other departments within BT Murrayfield, apparently does not do “a big reddie.” I love wee George, Gary's Dad, he's a breath of fresh air in the game, but, the fact Gary has, apparently more chance of being capped by England than by Scotland is maybe a case of the perceived sins of the father, being held against the son.

I mean, the boy used to play for Gala – Toony surely knows about him. Shakes head in wonderment.

AND finally, can I wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year when it comes. See you in 2018.

The Wee Wan's OBE A Nice Prelude To Star Wars II

SCOTTISH sport, and the city of Glasgow, stages the 21^st century version of clan warfare today – with the Old Firm football match and the second leg of the 1872 Cup rugby matches making for a very busy afternoon for Police Scotland's Glasgow Division.

Of course, in the rugby match, which follows the football skirmish, we can guarantee, the violence will be confined to the field, where it belongs – sadly, we cannot with any certainty say this about the football one.

Ian McLauchlan, leading from the front in celebrating victory in the 1971 Centenary International win over England at Murrayfield. Now he has an OBE to celebrate too.

And, even before the kick-off at Scotstoun, both sides have something to celebrate with the news that one of oor ain, the Wee Beastie himself, Ian “Mighty Mouse” McLauchlan has been made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, for his services to Rugby Union and charity.

The wee bugger deserves it – now, you wee so-and-so, how about earning a knighthood nomination from the body of the Scottish rugby kirk, by telling Dodson and Co where to sling their crazy plans for buying Worcester and setting-up these daft franchises?

Ian is from Tarbolton, a South Ayrshire mining village famous for four people/things – Robert Burns' Bachelor Club, McLauchlan, former European boxing champion – the late Evan Armstrong, and Kris Boyd.

McLauchlan was a member of the legendary unbeaten Ayr Academy rugby XV which included three national captains at different sports – McLauchlan, who led Scotland's rugby team, Mike Denness, who captained England's cricket team and Ian Ure, who captained Scotland's football team. He went on from there to play with distinction for Jordanhill College, Glasgow, Scotland and the British Lions – where, in New Zealand in 1971, he was dubbed “Mighty Mouse”.

However, Ian has lived most of his life in Edinburgh, which gives them a claim to a piece of the reflected glory, and, I will be amazed if he is not in receipt of many, well-earned good wishes at Scotstoun tonight. Having OBE after his name will not change Beastie, but, again, congratulations Ian – you deserve this accolade.

ON TO tonight's game, and, I do not think it is over-gilding the lily to say: this is a “Must Win Match” for Glasgow.

I have to agree with the Sage of Selkirk – Allan Massie, who, in his Saturday Scotsman column, put forward the notion, in the first leg, Glasgow expected victory to fall into their lap; more-so after Simon Berghan's early brain fart had reduced the home team to 14 men.

But, it didn't happen, so, you can guarantee, Dave Rennie will have used his considerable powers of persuasion, to guarantee Glasgow, if they do win today, will have earned it, rather than expected it.

My own reading is, Glasgow will do the business this evening. They flung it away last time Edinburgh came calling – they flung it away in the first leg a week ago – I don't see them being that profligate again.

Finn Russell - Glasgow need him at his gallus best today

Rennie has made five changes, and the guys who have come in all have to step-up. I expect, having had his chain yanked by his coach's decision not to start him last week, we will see the real, gallus Finn Russell running the game today, while, outside him, Nick Grigg has a point to prove in replacing Huw Jones at 13.

Up front, the Glasgow pack needs a huge 80 minutes, since I actually feel, the Edinburgh eight is maybe marginally the stronger. Rennie needs international-class displays from his front row, while young Kieran McDonald-Seran, stepping in for Scott Cummings, has to be at his galloping best and make the hard yards.

I fear, however, Edinburgh has the stronger back row, where Glasgow will again miss the talismanic Callum Gibbins. I am sorry to have to say this, but, I don't think the young flankers, Matt Smith and Matt Fagerson are quite ready for this level of play, and if, as I expect they will, Edinburgh's trio start to win the breakdown battle, a second successive Scotstoun success might be Edinburgh's.

Mike Adamson - leads an all-Scottish refereeing team

How refreshing, by the way, to see an all-Scottish team of match officials, with Mike Adamson on the whistle, Sam Grove-White and Keith Allen on the touchlines and Neil Paterson in the television truck – good luck to this third team on-duty.

The match is a sell-out, and congratulations and well done, to the unsung heroes who cleared the snow off the pitch and the surroundings yesterday so the match could go-ahead.

Austin Healey Speaks Sense - Honest

THERE has always been a cross-over, whereby retired players move seamlessly into the press or commentary box.

When I first began to go to Murrayfield internationals back in the 1950s, there was always a programme piece by Jock Wemyss – a legend for being capped pre-World War I, going off to the Western Front, losing an eye, returning to play for Scotland in 1919 and being told by the legendary Aikman-Smith – when Wemyss asked where his Scotland jersey was - “You should still have yours from 1914.”

 A young Bill McLaren with Jock Wemyss

My early love of the British Lions was fostered by the reports and books on the tours, in the pre-TV days, written by the great former Cardiff and Wales back Vivian Jenkins. People tend to forget, but for contracting tuberculosis, Bill McLaren might well have worn the thistle, he was, by all accounts an excellent flanker. Cliff Morgan was a magical stand-off, turned great broadcaster. Coming more up to date, John Beattie has made the switch without problems, as has Eddie Butler, but, since professionalism, the media has seemingly adopted a policy of never mind the quality, feel the width, and, not every formerly great player can become a great broadcaster.

Television tried hard with Gordon Brown, but, much as I loved Big Broon, the media never got the best out of him – that was seen when he became one of the very-best after-dinner speakers.

Two who have been surprisingly good in their second careers are Brian Moore – who for me is THE match analyst, and Austin Healey. Now, that pair, as players, were two of the more-annoying examples of Englishmen we Scots loved to hate, unlike their colleague Jerry Guscott, who is as big a nuisance in the commentary box as he was on the field, Moore and Healey have developed into exemplary commentators (in the broadest sense) on the game.

 Austin Healey

So, today, I wish to draw your attention to a piece which Healey wrote in the Tory party's house journal – the Daily Telegraph – on cheating in Rugby Union.

Healey does not miss the target and hit the wall; his piece should be required reading at all levels of the game. It is a timely warning, my only hope is, persons in authority who can do something, actually extract their digits and sort things out.

I have an old rugby friend, sadly called to the great pavilion in the sky far-too soon. This guy was old school, a Merchistonian, who played in the London Scottish Schools v Richmond Schools match – back in the day when that was seen as the Scotland v England schoolboys game. He took over the family firm, was elected to the R&A at St Andrews, and after playing for and captaining his local club, he was for many years one of the stalwarts of the committee.

This guy resigned from his club the day after rugby went open. He said it was the beginning of the end and he wanted nothing to do with the game.

He stuck to his guns. Sure, he missed the companionship of the bar, but, he never went back. On reflection, I think his fears were a bit over the top, but, as I look at today's game – he had a point.

Look at the average top-flight game. The scrums are a mess. Remember, the scrum was devised as a way of restarting play after a non-penalty offence. The scrum was never intended to be a means of winning penalties. Still at the scrum, we have today's fashion for feeding the ball almost into the second row; sure, the recent law changes have brought back a form of hooking, but, speaking as a former hooker: it's a lot easier to hook the ball when your scrum half puts it in to sit by your back foot, so all you have to do is heel it, whereas, once, we had to hook out into the middle of the tunnel.

What happened to the line-out requirement for the thrower-in to have his feet behind the touch line. Some throwers-in today fire their “arrows” from about a yard into the playing field – they couldn't do that in darts. Squint line-out throws are penalised (good), squint scrum feeds are not (why not?)

The breakdown is an absolute lottery – I have had more than one top referee tell me: “There are so-many choices of incidents to penalise at any breakdown, you have to decide which is the most-significant and penalise that.”

I say – yet again: BRING BACK REAL RUCKING, THAT WILL SORT IT OUT BY AND LARGE.

 Nigel has a serious word with Hoggy back in 2015

Then we have the slow cancer of professional football-type conduct. It is over two years since Nigel Owens famously – and properly - pulled-up Stuart Hogg for “diving”. Sadly, that hasn't ended the practice. A spate of yellow cards just might sort this out.

Healey also draws attention to the increase in football-style “card waving” at the referee, when a player feels an opponent is deserving of a yellow.

Please, please – Nigel and Wayne (Barnes), as the two most-likely. Why not, next time some player brandishes an imaginary card at you, say: “You are quite correct sir – such conduct does deserve a yellow card, go and sit over there for ten minutes.”

A couple of incidences to that and the message might get through.

Rugby remains the greatest team game, but, there are issues which require addressing, so, kudos to Austin Healey for an excellent article which highlights some of these.

Over to you World Rugby – let's see some leadership on this.

Talent Spotting And Encouragement Problems - Will Super Six Solve These Issues

MY recent unflattering remarks apropos Scott Hastings's talents as a commentator has brought me a wee telling-off from another of the dinosaurs of the Scottish rugby media.

Scott Hastings - badly let-down by the production team

He agreed, Scott, wonderful player though he was, is never going to be in the front rank of match commentators, but, my mate did still chastise me. Apparently, Scott was rather hung out to dry by BBC Shortbread when he did the English language commentary on the first leg of the 1872 Cup.

No co-commentator, only one set of headphones, were just two of the items on the list of things whereby the BBC let Scott down. OK, sorry if I appeared hard on you Scott, but, these mitigating factors merely underline how correct I was, when I said BBC Shortbread was treating Scottish Rugby badly.

I remember back in the day, when I was covering football, arriving at Somerset Park, Ayr, to discover we regulars, who were there every home game, had been evicted from our regular press box seats, to make way for a BBC Shortbread team, covering that night's match. By my count, there were 1 BBC guys inside the ground, plus God knows how many more in the production truck outside – this for a lower league game.

Overkill for fitba – why, we were even honoured with the presence of Mr Charles Young. Mind you, I have always felt, if BBC Shortbread got rid of half the hingers-oan, and concentrated on nurturing talent, they might do better – the same thought applies to the SRU, by the way. However, in many ways, given their obsession with fitba and two Glasgow teams in particular, I suppose their management style makes sense.

SO, Edinburgh has signed Samoan international prop Jordan Lay until the end of the season. How many international loose-heads does one club need?

 Edinburgh new boy Jordan Lay

I mean, they already have Alasdair Dickinson, Rory Sutherland, Allan Dell and Darryl Marfo competing for the number one jersey – every one a Scotland cap, with Dell indeed, a British and Irish Lion.

With WP Nel injured and Simon Berghan possibly looking at a lengthy suspension, I might have thought they had more need of an additional tight-head. Lay apparently can play on both sides of the scrum, so, perhaps we will see him in the number three shirt.

Nothing against Lay, who I wish well at Edinburgh, but, once again, I wonder just what a young, ambitious Scottish player has to do to get a game with either of our professional sides. Like the majority of Scotland's top football teams, when it comes to recruitment, they only appear to look at home-grown talent, if bought-in, non-Scottish talent cannot be recruited for the position causing problems. Maybe Super Six will sort this out - or maybe not.

Anton Bresler - off to Worcester

At the foot of the Edinburgh Rugby press release confirming Lay's arrival, there was a paragraph saying Anton Bresler had left the club with immediate effect. OK since becoming Scotland-qualified in the summer, and being named in Gregor Townsend's early season training group, Bresler's star has waned somewhat. He leaves the club having slipped to fifth-choice lock, behind Ben Toolis, Grant Cilchrist, skipper Fraser McKenzie and Lewis Carmichael.

Maybe Richard Cockerill doesn't rate the big Namibian, but, for the SRU to have invested so-much in this “project player”, only to release him almost as soon as he has become Scotland-qualified, well that's yet another worrying indicator that, maybe, they don't always know what they are doing inside Murrayfield.

Or, just maybe, the fact Bresler has gone to rejoin former coach Alan Solomons at Worcester Warriors is another indication that the Murrayfield brains trust is hell-bent on this crazy purchase of the loss-making and up-for-sale Sixways outfit. Oh! The intrigue.

BBC Shortbread Is Treating Scottish Rugby Badly

OLD Auntie BBC likes to proclaim itself the world's best and most-trusted news-gathering organisation, shouting loud and long about its fiercely-guarded independence, before going out to, at least where matters Scottish are concerned, demonstrating clearly its strings are being pulled by Westminster.

 BBC Shortbread - better at some sports than others

I have recently been called to order for describing the BBC's sports-output as being London centric. Just because it's now produced from Media City in Salford doesn't mean it isn't London centric – the really big decisions are all made from Broadcasting House in the Imperial Capital.

BBC Shortbread, from their big, expensive base in Govan, is, I often think, merely there to produce propaganda, destined: rebellious Scots to crush, and to “put a kilt” on London views. Their sports output, for instance, consists of, mainly the usual Old Firm guff – although, to be fair, when they, as they occasionally do, Pacific Quay decides to cover a “minor” sport, they put the mainstream print media – another Caledonian offshoot of the London media – to shame.

I have been listening to the BBC since the days of the Home Service and the Light Programme – I was in hospital, recovering from having a kidney removed, that morning Tony Blackburn played Flowers in the Rain and the broadcasting universe tilted off its axis.

Rex Kingsley of the Sunday Mail

I can remember when BBC Scotland's sports output was led by Peter Thomson and George Davidson, with RE "Rex" Kingsley of the Sunday Mail brought in to do the big commentaries such as the annual Scotland v England game. And, while they did have, long before he bestrode the world game as THE Voice of Rugby, the broadcasting God that was Bill McLaren. BBC Scotland has never taken the Scottish game seriously enough to appoint a Scottish Rugby Correspondent.

You will get few complaints from me about BBC Alba's coverage of Glasgow and Edinburgh in the PRO14, other than to plead – PLEASE, PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE, give Scott Hastings his P45, and either restore John Beattie, or bring over the wonderful, if lightweight “front row” of Messers Paul Mitchell, Colin Grigor and the fabulous Peter Wright, and their Irish “scrum-half” Tom English, from BBC Shortbread's radio department, to do the English language commentary. Hugh Dan, by the way, does a cracking job in Gaelic; while my old mate Dougie Vipond has grown into such a consumate professional broadcaster, few of us now think of him first as the drumming, driving force behind Deacon Blue.

Dougie Vipond, more than just a drummer - a consumate broadcasting professional

But, the BBC Sport Scotland website, and what purports to be its Scottish Rugby page, jings, crivvens, help ma Boab.

When I last checked, not half an hour ago, this page had 15 stories up, split 7-5 in favour of Edinburgh, with one about former Edinburgh coach Alan Solomons taking over as Director of Rugby at Worcester, one of Women's Rugby – the welcome news that Hollie Davidson had bagged a Women's Six Nation game and one story, an old one about the 1872 Cup becoming a best of three games series, which you have to say is Edinburgh/Glasgow neutral.

What's wrong with that, I hear you ask – that's a lot of stories about Scottish rugby. Aye, fair enough, at this time of year we can forgive the fact most of them were a bit dated – lacking the immediacy you expect from the broadcast media, but, 13 stories about two teams, does that reflect the reality of Scottish Rugby in 2017.

Super Six – nothing. The Worcester purchase – zilch. Most criminally, club rugby – what's that? As far as BBC Shortbread is concerned, Scottish Rugby, to a greater extent even than Scottish Football, is all about just two teams.

There are many great stories out there in clubland, and, there is one particular young journalist working for the BBC in Glasgow, who I think, if encouraged properly, could be great for the game. But, not even by him, are some great stories being told.

Even the local papers, their staffs cut to the bone, are reliant more and more on the clubs doing their jobs for them by providing free copy. Great if you have amongst your club membership, an enthusiastic unemployable “media studies” graduate, who is learning the hard way, such degrees are no preparation for life at the sharp end of news-gathering, and is prepared to learn on the job by producing stuff for either the local paper, or the club website.

Or, maybe you have a cub member who has retired from journalism and is happy to keep his or her hand in by generating copy. Otherwise, your club's story will not be told, either locally, or nationally.

One of the sometimes overlooked minor details around Super Six is, should the SRU ever find six clubs or groupings mad enough to get on-board, each of the six will be expected to “sell” their brand of semi-professional rugby to the media.

Pardon me for being (again) cynical, but, if the mainstream media is loath to buy into covering the current Premiership, where we have publically-recognised “brands”, with lengthy histories – Hawick, Heriots, Melrose, Watsonians etc. – how can they be expected to, of their own free will, buy into artificially-produced new brands, whose names we do not yet know.

There will be no expensive media promotion of Super Six

And remember, the SRU, the umbrella body, will not be mounting a massive publicity campaign to get these newcomers up and running.

If McDonald's, or Burger King, or Costa or Starbucks open a new franchise somewhere, they throw money at the newcomer during the first crucial weeks of that franchise's life. The SRU does not have that sort of marketing budget, far less the desire, or expertise to utilise it – just another example of how ill-thought-out this whole nonsense is.

Of course, this Murrayfield/Pacific Quay inertia benefits some workers, but, David Barnes and I, we cannot be everywhere, but, in 2018, we will keep trying to cover the stories nobody else is keen to touch.

The Ghosts of Christmases and Ne'erdays Past

ONE of the relatively-unsung heroes of Scottish Sport is Hugh Barrow, once the fastest teenage miler on the planet.

 The Young Hugh Barrow

To his eternal chagrin, Shuggie failed in his ambition to become the first Scot to run a sub-four-minute mile; he had his problems with injuries, but, he became a stalwart of Scottish Athletics – holds membership number One in the British Milers Club and today, in his eighth decade, having switched sports, he is one of the High Heid Yins at Glasgow Hawks.

Without guys like Shuggie, Scottish sport could not run as well as it does, and, should Hawks be daft enough to fall for this Super Six nonsense, they may well have to employ about three guys to do the currently unpaid work Mr Barrow gets through.

Who became this old so-and-so

Right now, Shuggie, as befits an “Eccie”, some of whose school athletics records from the 1950s still stand, has been one of the driving forces behind this afternoon's rugby extravaganza at Old Anniesland. Now, this double-header get-together, and the annual game up in Aberdeen, are but two of a handful of holiday-specific matches around Scotland over the festive season.

One of the problems is, albeit slowly, we heathen Jocks are becoming more “English” inasmuch as we now treat Christmas as the major mid-winter festival, when, once upon a time we concentrated our energies on the Bacchanalian delights of Hogmanay.

Indeed, back in 1963, my first year as a wage-earner, I actually had to work on Christmas Day – it was an official working day in Scotland. Well, as I recall, I worked half a day. That year I was working in a tyre distributors in Anderston in Glasgow and, following our morning's graft, we retired to a hostelry at Anderston Cross, whereupon the rest of the guys discovered I, not yet age to be legally drinking I should add – could sink pints of heavy in a very short space of time. So, I was representing the firm in speed pint-drinking contests.

The foreman did well out of backing me, but, by the time we got back to the depot, I was tucked-up on a work bench, and still had not slept-off the effects of my drinking when my parents came to collect me. I don't think my Mum spoke to me until New Year!! Black affronted, so she wis.

But, I digress. Back then, when boots and balls were leather and sturdy; when scrum caps were mere leather skeletons – and trendier forwards such as I was back then had taken to aping the French and Irish fashion for scrum bandages, there were New Year traditional fixtures, dating from the early, Victorian days of rugger. Mostly, however, they were held over New Year.

Indeed, back in the day, the Scotland Trials were often held over the holiday period, since the opening Five Nations match against France was normally held on the second Saturday in the New Year.

They didn't serve pints in the Marine and Curlinghall Hotel

Ayr regularly played Greenock Wanderers, and I still fondly recall the year when, coming back from a good victory at Fort Matilda, we decided to have a pit stop at the old Marine and Curlinghall Hotel in Largs. Nineteen of us trooped in, with President, the late Dr Gordon Kennedy in the van. Doc, if you scratched beneath the veneer of his Glasgow University education/Royal Infirmary training, was a Whitehill FP boy – a barely-tamed East End hard nut of a flanker in his playing days.

He ascertained what we we all drinking and approached the bar – ordering in pints, only to be haughtily-informed by the rather toffee-nosed barman: “We only serve half pints in this bar, Sir.”

With the mental agility for which he was famed, Doc adjusted the number of pints, multiplying by three – to leave the barman wondering where he was going to get that many half-pint glasses in a hurry. Doc's reasoning was: “We tend to drink half-pints faster, so, better to order three at a time.”

The following year, the fixture was at Mllbrae, and followed the annual Ne'erday Cocktail Party. On entering the dressing room, the Ayr team found a stranger curled-up in a ball in the corner, obviously the worse for wear.

Enquiries: “Who him?” were finally answered by fixture secretary Alastair “Speedy” McMillan, who explained the stranger was a Hillhead HSFP player, who worked in London and played for London Scottish. His parents had retired to Ayr and since he was up visiting, Scottish had asked Speedy if he could fix the player up with a game.

The rest of the team had some doubts, but, since the newcomer was a winger, he was handed a strip and staggered onto the park. Then, about five minutes in, he caught a pass in his own 22, flicked a switch and scorched away for a try.

I cannot remember his name, but, he repeated the trick, twice going round the outside of his immediate opponent to score classic winger's tries – at Hughenden, against his old club, Hillhead, on the Saturday.

I appreciate, the weather can intervene – I remember my former brother-in-law, a very good Ayr number eight who, but for injury, I am sure would have got close to a cap in the 1980s, having to come off with hypothermia during one Ayr Ne'erday game. However, weather permitting, I would love to see a growth in celebration fixtures over the holiday period – old boys and exiles games for instance.

We have maybe become so-committed to league and cup fixtures, we have lost sight of one of rugby's finest features – the good fellowship which exists between players playing such a wonderful game.

Maybe it's professionalism, the need for even the top clubs playing National League and Premiership rugby to attract gate money, but, in many ways, rugby is no longer: “a players' game”. I feel we need to get back closer to this old-fashioned concept, with, fewer watching and more playing the game.

I am old enough to recall, when the National Leagues were introduced in the early 1970s, the SRU committee of the time was keen that league play should not put an end to long-standing “traditional” fixtures – but, sadly, the clubs failed to adhere to this fine principle.