It's Only A Game But A Seemingly Foreign One To One Scottish Newspaper Which Should Know Better

I WAS brought-up on a diet of top-quality writers about Scottish rugby. Essayist supreme, Norman Mair in The Scotsman was the go-to man, after all, he had played with the bulk of the then SRU committee, knew how they thought and was always ahead of the game.

 Norman Mair - THE Scottish rugby writer

Bill McMurtrie, across at The Herald was not as good a writer as Norman, but, he was a diligent hard worker, who, along with John Downie and Glen Stirling made certain, nobody farted in Glasgow rugby, but, The Herald could smell it. Bill's dry sense of humour took a bit of working out, but, it is good to see him still beavering away for the good of the game over at GHA – and, his views are still worth listening to.

Then there was our weekly dose of Bill McLaren, who wrote as good a game as he talked – and that's saying something, while later we had - at various times, Chris Rea and John Beattie, while, both at the Express, when it was a serious newspaper, and later at The Herald, Brian Meek was always a class act, as was Bill Lothian, but, I didn't get to see the Edinburgh Evening News too-often.

Today, well, big David Barnes is playing a blinder with his Offside Line website, Duncan Smith is growing into the job at The Scotsman, while I have really high hopes for a couple of the kids who are still making their way, and I will not burden them with expectations. But, all is not well in Scottish rugby journalism.

The Scotsman's sports team, under Graham Bean, is trying to maintain standards in extremely-difficult circumstances. But, I fear The Herald has totally lost the plot. It seems to me, they have decided, beneath the two professional sides, Scottish rugby is not worth bothering about.

Well, this sort-of mirrors their approach to covering all of Scottish sport. It appears to my jaundiced eye, “Sport” seems, to the weans now running things at the top of Renfield Street, to consist of -covering the Bigot Brothers of Scottish football, the Scottish national football and rugby sides, the two pro rugby teams, golf and Andy Murray, nothing else matters.

This is the wrong approach and, no wonder their circulation is plummeting.

I suppose, trying to sell your sport in Glasgow is a wee bit like being the SNP press secretary. You have good stories to tell, you are trying to tell them, but, the press is not listening.

 Herald readers missed Gary Hutchison of SNS's picture of the Premiership launch in Glasgow yesterday

Take yesterday, the new season's BT Premiership was launched in Glasgow, at BT's Scottish HQ, which is about half a mile from The Herald offices. I looked in-vain for an item on this on the paper's website – nothing, zilch, nada. It clearly did not happen.

Sad, that's an awful lot of pissed-off rugby fans, in my view.

NIKO “The Magician” Matawalu – the original “Weegie frae Fiji” is back at Scotstoun, which is great news all round. I never thought Niko was a good fit for the more-structured English game. Our Saxon neighbours have never been comfortable with free spirits in any sport, and Niko is definitely a free spirit.

It's an old sporting aphorism: “Never go back”; yes, sports history is full of examples of returning heroes falling flat on their faces, but, I sincerely hope Niko works for Glasgow. The Warrior Nation is definitely excited at the great man's return.