Tora Tora Tora - All Aboard For Oblivion

I stayed away from Silver Saturday; at my age I can no longer do these all-day affairs, but, my spies kept me informed of events.

 EXCLUSIVE - the original six club representatives line-up at Murrayfield 

Apparently, Stupid 6 could become Stupid 8 by the time the SRU press release hits my inbox on Tuesday. Iain Morrison, in a disappointing non-committal piece in Scotland on Sunday yesterday referred to “rumours of an eight-club set-up”. I am told these rumours will be confirmed on 1 May. Mind you, I hae my doots about the rational for this: apparently the SRU's franchise sifting board were so-impressed by eight of the bids, they felt it would be unfair to not select them all. Aye right!

If they do go with an eight-club set-up, I think the “suits” are opening an even-bigger and messier can of worms than they originally did with Stupid 6. For instance, received wisdom has it that one or two of the 12 bidders whose applications were considered only applied because they felt they had to; their applications had all the reality of some of the hopeless case “Scottish” Labour “paper” candidates who were on the ballot sheet for the last General Election.

I hear for instance the “South” Borders franchise, into which all the Borders clubs except Melrose – who are above that sort of thing – had bought, fell apart after the usual suspects, whom I cannot name, but, they play in green, suddenly decided to go it alone.

One or two clubs didn't fancy the hassle of a six-club set-up in which they were to a degree at the mercy of Murrayfield for some of the big decisions, but, would have applied with a bit more determination and thought, had they known there would be eight places up for grabs.

Again, one or two clubs who didn't apply because only six places were up for grabs, might well have gone after one of eight places. The apparent last-minute SRU change of mind could well open the “suits” to some hard questions come the AGM.

This takes little or no cognisance of the fact, the whole shebang was ill-conceived, inadequately researched, the clubs were never consulted and it was a nonsense from the start. Again going with eight, and I am assured this is what will happen, raises as many unanswered questions as it answers.

As I have said before, with the PRO14 planning this Development League, and the Welsh presumably putting only their four new Regional Under-23 sides to take-on the four Irish Development sides – and these eight sides being full-time professional outfits, there is NO WAY the SRU would have been allowed to enter all six franchises – there is even less chance of them being allowed to put in eight teams. Whaur's yer cross-border games noo?

One of the reasons we were given for Stupid 6 was the perception, the ten-club BT Premiership was: “unfit for purpose” - when it came to preparing players for the PRO14. Spreading the available full-timers, either “professionals” or “Academy prospects” across ten clubs was unacceptable – better to have them across six. (Mind you, originally the Academy players were not going to be made available to the franchises, then they were).

Is an eight-club set-up superior to a six or a ten one?

Eddie Pollock - ahead of his time in pushing for an eight-club league

There again, an eight-club top-flight to the club game has been mentioned before. Stirling County's Eddie Pollock first floated this about 15-years ago. The SRU first started looking at the Premiership back in 2013-14, it came up then, as it did again in 2016. Then, it vanished from conversation, along came Stupid 6, now, suddenly, it is back.

As someone with whom I was discussing this yesterday suggested: “Surely they are making this up as they go along.” Is flying by the seat of your pants such a good idea, given the momentous nature of the changes being made? Any way, enough speculation for now, let's see what Tuesday brings.

I referred above to Iain Morrison's Scotland on Sunday piece, which he led on the uncertainty facing Glasgow Hawks – who, of course, are fighting for their Premiership lives when they take-on Jed-forest, at Lasswade, on Saturday, 5 May.

I like, on a personal level, the Hawks High Heid Yins. These guys have worked damned hard to make their hybrid club work. As originally conceived, Hawks was, as I understand it, an effort to transfer the time-honoured and successful Border “toon” system, best demonstrated back in the days when Hawick were all-conquering, to Glasgow.

As it was, in Hawick back in the day: the “semi-junior clubs (PSA and Albion) fed into the junior clubs (Harlequins, Trades, YM) with the omnipotent “Greens” cherry-picking the best players for their weekly match-day squad. But, changes to the league “pyramid” plus the way the local economy around Hawick has crashed have hurt this model. Just look at the number of Hawick lads playing in Edinburgh for instance.

With Hawks, the grass-roots and community side of the club would be done by Accies and GHK, with Hawks taking the best players to play at the highest level. Only, some backwoodsmen at the two original clubs decided they wanted to see Accies and GHK playing in the national leagues and Hawks have suffered.

If they cannot win Gold, Silver or Bronze, why give them a franchise?

As I have said before, since the SRU publicised their plans for the introduction of “Gold”, “Silver” and “Bronze” level clubs, we have to assume – the six, now eight franchises will surely be required to meet the Gold standard. Hawks cannot possibly meet that standard; not that they are alone, I can think of one or two others among the 12 franchise applicants who could not get near the Gold standard, as outlined on the SRU website.

If a bidding club cannot meet Gold standard for normal clubs, why should they be considered for the special status of a franchise? If that club is as financially-stretched as Hawks are, and has such an inadequate infrastructure behind them, why should they be considered for a franchise?

But, if no Hawks, what happens to Glasgow? It is inconceivable that there is not a Glasgow club involved in Stupid 8, as it now seems to be. And,by the cack-handed way they have handled this whole issue, there is no chance now whereby another Glasgow club could bid for one of the now (we presume) eight places.

The SRU couldnae run a menauge – that's my take.

If It Was Junior Football Warriors Would Protest

WE learned one thing from yesterday's 1872 Cup clash at Murrayfield; that is, we now have two pretty-good professional sides, of roughly-similar standard. OK, Edinburgh get to keep the trophy for a year by virtue of winning two matches to Glasgow's one, but, on points aggregate, Glasgow won 53-42, while over the three legs, they out-scored Edinburgh by six tries to five.

 

Edinburgh celebrate last night

Maybe the SRU should, as the likes of Ayr and Stirling County have done with the quaich they play for, put the trophy up for competition every time the teams meet, the victors get to keep it until the next match – this works too with the trophy which Scotland and Ireland contest.

I had to listen to the BBC Shortbread radio broadcast of the game, which was no hardship; Messers Mitchell, Gregor and Wright form a bloody good “front row” - I mean, where else would you get Acker Bilk and Sydney Devine name-checked in a rugby commentary? Wrightie saying the Blessed Nigel got a scrum collapse call wrong was priceless – I, by the way, will side with Peter over even Nigel Owens in such calls, any day.

And, well done too to the wee teams who made Silver Saturday such a success. In particular, congratulations to Carrick, for completing a hat-trick of Shield wins, by beating Hawick Harlequins. Now, they need to go on and do the double, by winning West Division 1, to give themselves a shot at the League Cup next season.

Congratulations too, to Melrose, who completed their Double, by adding the BT Scottish Cup to their BT Premiership win to confirm their status as Scotland's top club. They now hold three of the big four club trophies – the Pemiership trophy, the Scottish Cup and the SRU Charity Shield. Next step I suppose is to wrestle the Bill McLaren Shield off Ayr and they will have the full set.

Their win yesterday leaves the SRU with a wee problem, who plays for the Shield as the new season opener? Silly me, that's a club rugby issue – not important enough to tax the intellectual powers of the “suits”.

IN A recent blog post I mentioned my intention to have a look at the general health of the club game, which is not good. In particular, can I have a wee go at a articular bee in my own bunnet – club status.

From my many years at the coal face, covering fitba, I can tell you, while one or two of the top Premiership sides – Ayr and Melrose are the prime examples – are the equivalent of football clubs in the SPFL's League One and league Two, most of our National League clubs – ie teams in the Premiership and National Leagues 1, 2 and 3 are no better than Junior football teams in the financial and spectator-attracting sense.

I have long held, 42 “Senior” football teams in Scotland is maybe 20 too many. So, how, given rugby's smaller “footprint” across the country, can the SRU justify having 46 clubs playing in “National” leagues? I believe they could certainly do with scrapping National League 3, and probably National 2 as well.

I know the SFA's governance system is not perfect, but, as I have said before it strikes me as being a lot more fit for purpose than the SRU's. At Hampden the “Senior” clubs are run by the Professional Game board, the rest are overseen by the Non-Profesional Game Board while governance is further sub-divided and devolved to the affiliated FAs.

OK, unless there is a major outbreak of common sense at the 2018 AGM, and the daft Stupid 6 notion is booted into the long grass, come August 2019 we will see Murrayfield, via the Board, running the national sides, the two PRO14 teams and the six franchises.

Different levels of clubs have different governance needs 

This will leave the Board's “poodles”, the Council to look after everything else. But, the demands and needs of the National League sides are different from those of the Regional League sides, so, it stands to reason – even a competent Council could never hope to look after everyone properly.

Under Agenda 3, we will have three levels of clubs: Gold, Silver and Bronze. Would it be too-difficult to have the Stupid 6 and the National League sides required to meet the proposed “Gold” standard, and be governed by one board or body; clubs which meet “Silver” standard perhaps treated a rugby's equivalent of the junior football sides and governed by another body, while the “Bronze” level clubs could be seen as the equivalent of amateur football clubs.

Each level could then more or less run itself with a small central core of paid officials, but, mainly volunteers, elected to office. If we had fewer National standard clubs, and more-local competitions, it would be easier to run clubs and interest would be greater. We would, in effect, be going back to Districts, which is something I think a lot of guys in Scottish rugby would relish.

But, it's all about who has control

Of course, this would mean, Murrayfield would need to cede a lot of control back to the clubs. Now, I knew there was a bloody big elephant in the room. I can see no way that Dodson and Co will be keen for this to happen. They are total control freaks, who will fight tooth and claw to preserve their control.

So it's up to the clubs, they have to suddenly grow a pair and take on Murrayfield, but as one club official to whom I broached this subject said to me last week: “I would be loath to stick my head and my club's head above the parapet at the AGM and tell them they were wrong.”

Apparently, clubs and club officials that rock the boat are treated rather like the chap who lays the honey mead wine before the King in the “dilly-dilly” beer advert on TV, and are immediately invited to go and inspect the Pit of Misery with Sir Howat.

Silver Saturday - That's Not A Stupid Idea

I AM not going to mention Stupid 6 today, after this opening paragraph. Well, it is Silver Saturday and I really should, via the fellowship of rugby players, allow Lance-Corporal Trump, the esteemed SRU President, and the Warmington-on-Sea Home Guard, the SRU Council, have their day in the sun, without having to worry about the blogging wave machine based in Hole in the Wall, East Ayrshire.

Rob Flockhart, Mark Dodson and Scott Johnson line-up with some of the SRU Council for a pre-Silver Saturday picture

I feel sorry for the real rugby reporters today; guys like The Offside Line's David Barnes – and by the way, kudos (again) to Big Barney for the immense job he is doing in publicising Scottish Rugby – who will have to cover back-to-back games between the Bowl Final kicking-off at 10am, and the 1872 Cup being presented at around 9.45pm. Whichever Stockbridge wine bar Barney decamps to, to unwind tonight – he deserves his glass of Pinot Gricio.

When Keith Anderson led that great team at Sunday Times (Scotland), back in the Kinning Park days, he used to dole-out the Finals Day games to his whole team. So, we all got a piece of the action, by the way.

But, to this day. Some Wigtownshire and Ross Sutherland fans will surely have been up half the night. Well, they will have had the ki to milk, then the byre to muck-out, before changing and setting off for a 10am kick-off in the BT Bowl final at Murrayfield. Nothing quite sums up the breadth of the appeal of rugby than to have finalists in a national competition coming from opposite ends of the country; Invergordon to Stranraer would be one hell of a drive.

Good luck to both sides, enjoy your day out but, I hope the guys from Ross Sutherland will forgive me if I reveal my leaning towards 'Shire. I hope all those Parkers, Drysdales and so forth are celebrating tonight.

They are followed onto the international pitch by Carrick, hoping to hold onto the BT Shield, and Hawick Harlequins. Another interest to declare here, when, 50-years ago in June, I got married, our first house was in Maybole. So, had we lived there longer our daughters would have gone to Carrick Academy. As it was, the late Roy Alexander, when Head of PE at Carrick got me involved in coaching rugby – although Carrick RFC was already up and running.

An old Cumnock Academy team mate, Ian McClung, was one of the pioneers of Carrick, while I count some of the other older Carrick boys such as Euan Kennedy and Kenny Fucking Young (to give him his full title) as friends. So, I am in the Carrick corner. However, old romantic that I am, I would not be averse to that great servant of Hawick rugby, Gavin Douglas, and his fellow imminent retirees from the Hawick Harlequins squad, taking the Shield home with them.

Gavin Douglas of Hawick Harlequins, wants to go out in a blaze of glory. (picture courtesy of Alistair Learmonth and Offside Line)

The third of the five games on the big pitch today will be the Sarah Beaney Cup final, the show piece Women's event, which features hot favourites Hillhead-Jordanhill and Watsonians. The Watsonians gels face an uphill battle, and, while we ought to be rooting for the underdog, it is difficult to see anything but another Hill-Jills win.

Then, we have what, in any other year would be the big one – the BT Scottish Cup Final, with Melrose going for a league and cup double, against Stirling County. Much a I would love to see the likes of Ross Curle, Kerr Gossman, Pete Jericevich and Jonny Hope pulling-off a surprise and taking the cup back to Bridgehaugh, it is difficult to see the 'Rose not blooming.

 Will Melrose skipper Grant Runciman be kissing a cup again tonight?

Right from the afternoon, back in August, when they arrived at Millbrae and departed with the Charity Shield, Melrose have set a very high standard in Scottish Rugby. They lost to Watsonians in their own Sevens final, I do not see them losing again today and deservedly taking the cup back to The Greenyards. They really have been the Team of the Season and to not do the double would be strange. But, County will take them to the wire, that is certain.

 Or can Jonny Hope and his County colleagues surprise them?

There are a couple of minor Women's finals on the back pitches, both kicking-off at 11am, with the Plate being an all-West affair between Glasgow University Women and the ladies from Greenock Wanderers. My grand-daughter, who is just completing her first year at Gilmorehill, went along to a try-out night for the Uni girls back in September, but decided not to take-up rugby: “Some of these girls are scary,” she said.

The Women's Bowl final features two teams from the fringes of Scottish rugby, with the heiresses to the Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie Oh, from Garioch, taking on the girls from Oban Lorne – who will surely have support from the higher echelons of Murrayfield, in the person of VP Dee Bradbury.

But, the eight hours of rugby in those six games are merely the warm-up, for the main attraction, at 7.45pm, when Edinburgh and Glasgow kick-off in the 1872 Cup decider. By the time they get underway, Edinburgh will know the result of the Munster v Ulster clash, and whether they face an eyeballs-out, we MUST win this 80 minutes of if they can relax and play rugby, with their Guinness PRO14 quarter-final spot guaranteed.

Of course, it is Edinburgh v Glasgow, so local bragging rights are at stake but, I would like to see both sides turning on the style for what looks like being a near 30,000 crowd. By rights I should be backing the Warriors, but, I would quite enjoy Mark Bennett coming off the bench to score the winning try for the capital side.

 I'd love to see Marko come off the bench and do something special tonight

But, if you cannot get to today's big festival at Murrayfield, do consider popping down the road to watch your local club – there are some big games today particularly in the West Region, and, club rugby deserves more support than some of the Murrayfield “suits” seem to be giving it.

A final thought – will the Lesser-Spotted Johnson be seen around HQ today before the 1872 Cup match kicks off? Since he seems so-determined to fuck-up club rugby, it would be nice if he actually watched some.

Make Your Mind Up Time Is Almost Here Folks

The try line is looming for Bill Gammell and his committee

AS DEAR old Hughie Green used to say on Opportunity Knocks: “It's make your mind up time folks – which act do you want to see come back next week.” Today, however, it isn't the general public who get their say, but Sir Bill Gammell's tribunal of the great and good – who will need to tell the Ayatollah Dodson and his Murrayfield minions which six clubs will be allowed to inhabit the new, sun-kissed uplands of that land of milk and honey: Stupid 6.

With the big reveal scheduled for Tuesday, the worker bees deep in the bowels of HQ have to have everything tied-up by Monday; and, with Silver Saturday getting in the way, they don't have much time left.

Yesterday, I mentioned Ayr's small problem with Millbrae's somewhat rickety infrastructure. Now, as at least two distinguished Scottish rugby writers could tell you, my suggestion as to a way round this seemed fanciful. Indeed, one went as far as to tell me: “Nobody else would dare think that Aristotle.” But I was not alone.

Yesterday, on a Facebook thread, John McHarg - former Glasgow lock, elder brother of the esteemed “Big Al” McHarg and himself the Godfather of those capped Ayrshire locks – Brother Al, the Broon brothers, “Gulliver” Cuthbertson and the Gray brothers, distinguished coach or adviser to most of the Ayrshire clubs at one time or another – came up with the same notion as I had: Rugby Park, Kilmarnock.

Rugby at Rugby Park - why not?

OK, several of the Millbrae “Silverbacks” would have a seizure at the thought, but, consider this. One of the planks of Billy McHarg's franchise plan was to brand the Ayr bid as being a “South West District” bid, based on the Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway clubs involved in Bill Nolan's SWARC proposal – South West Area Rugby Clubs. Indeed, when Billy first spoke to me about Ayr bidding for a franchise, he stressed it would be as something like “Ayrshire Bulls”, rather than “Ayr”.

Ayrshire Bulls, playing at Rugby Park, with its 3G pitch and excellent corporate hospitality facilities might be a move too-far for some Millbrae stalwarts, but, on some levels – it makes sense. And, the esteemed Mr McHarg and I were not the only guys who thought this might be worthy of consideration.

THE Murrayfield “suits” are, I would suggest, somewhat troubled by this blog's persistent poo-pooing of the concept of Stupid 6. A wee bird telt me, this week's meeting of the National League 2 and 3 clubs was preceded by a Trump-style denunciation of the “Fake News” Aristotle is allegedly punting; delivered in presidential style by “Rob Who?” Our current leader – the only current President I can think of who can make The Donald look fit for purpose.

President Rob had a message for the National League 2 and 3 clubs this week

If the writings of one seventy-something semi-retired old hack can worry the High Heid Yins that much, then they clearly hae their doots aboot their new product. Or perhaps, it's: will we really get away with this?

IN MY continuing quest to give a platform to those worried rugby men whose concerns about Stupid 6 are not being met by the mainstream media's policy of turning a blind eye to this, here are some of the comments posted below the line following yesterday's blog post.

Another disgruntled club official posted:

“The capital investment required to upgrade facilities to the level required far outstrips the financial investment that the SRU are asking the clubs to commit to in terms of funding their squads.

And to be asking clubs to achieve that in a tight time-scale when they don't have the money and when things like planning are completely out of their control is ridiculous.

Clubs are being bullied into submission - time to collectively stand up and walk away!”

Clubfan posted:

“May you live in interesting times
 

I always took that to be more a curse than good wishes.

It’s the details that always get in the way.

As someone who lives in an area with several floodlit 3G pitches I can attest to the light pollution these cause.

The question is how will the clubs find the £500k required for the 3G pitch? And additional cash for floodlighting. On top of the cash required to fund their super 6 side. Tricky one that.

And what’s Sportscotlands view on all this? What largesse do they have to support 6 3G pitches and what projects (more worthy?) will be downgraded or canned to fund these?

I mean these types of problems were unknown and not foreseen before this concept kicked off.

I always had a sneaking admiration for Donald Rumsfeld and his unknown unknowns quip.”

Disgruntled Club Official posted:

“I don't know what more to add other than " I told you so " I can't see Dodson or the weak council ably led by Corporal Jones ( Flockhart) letting this stupid idea die of natural causes.

They will need to blame:

1. The Clubs for being indecisive.
2. The Clubs for submitting sub standard applications.
3. The Clubs for not having suitable facilities.
4. The Clubs for relying on the pro draft etc etc.,!

Karma is a strange thing ! If as I have previously stated stupid 6 is a non starter ! Collect your jackets at the door, walk away and let people who are committed to Club rugby take charge of Council and exercise their power of holding the board to account for their reckless actions,!

No more hiding behind the articles for Howatt and co. New broom sweeping clean!!”

I said from the moment Dodson announced Stupid 6 at the AGM, it was a nonsense. Then, when he began to flesh-out the details, it became clear, this is a blatant power grab, designed to disguise the failings of the “suits” and to give Murrayfield greater control of the leading clubs – it will do nothing for Scottish Rugby.

The proposals to start the Celtic Development League are a torpedo to the engine room of Stupid 6; the WRU's proposed Under-23 Development squads further demonstrate the SRU is applying an Elastoplast, when other similar Unions realise it is reconstructive surgery which is required.

This will all end in tears. Stop Stupid 6 now.

Millbrae - Greenyards - You Have Problems

THIS time next week, we should know who are the “lucky” six clubs who will be operating the SRU's new all-singing, all-dancing, bells and whistles attached franchises – of Stupid 6 as we prefer to call it.

 

This franchise plan is stupid Captain Blackadder

But, typically of a scheme which even Private Sodoff Baldrick would dismiss as too far-fetched to work, there are a couple of late wrinkles to be smoothed over, before the big reveal at Murrayfield on Tuesday.

Speaking of which, I wonder who will turn-up to unveil this latest example of how the SRU treats the club with even less respect than our current Conservative government displays towards those troublesome North British clans located beyond the Solway and Tweed estuaries.

I understand representatives of the successful bidders will be there, handed a script and told to stick to it regardless of whatever nasty questions the press pack come up with. But, will the Lesser-Spotted Johnson be seen? After all, it was his insightful insistence the BT Premiership was not fit for purpose which started-off this whole shooting match.

Will the Ayatollah Dodson deign to appear, or will this, since it does not directly involve the national or the two full-time professional sides, be deemed a minor matter – which can be delegated to the Useful Idiots - and Rob Flockhart and Stevie Gemmell wheeled-out? Will Sir Bill Gammell, who, having made billions clearly knows a thing or two about what does and does not work, be there to explain how he was persuaded to back this whole pig in a poke notion.

But, back to those wrinkles. A wee bird tells me questions have arisen and require to be answered by the two big hitters for the franchises – Melrose and Ayr – before they can be anointed by Murrayfield.

For Ayr, it is the uncomfortable fact, Millbrae is a bit of a slum, not a No Mean City rats and rickets “Gorbals” type slum but, it has to be admitted, the Alloway ground is a bit like a crumbling old stately home before Restoration Man George Clark or Grand Designer Kevin McCloud or super chippy Tommy Walsh first walks up the drive.

Who's Billy McHarg going to call: Kevin McCloud, George Clark, Tommy Walsh or maybe Escape to the Country's Nicki Chapman?

Apparently Billy McHarg has been telt: “Get a new gaff, very-quickly, or ye're no getting tae play wi the big weans.”

This could be a problem for the Millbrae Men. A move to Dam Park has been mooted except, it's a wee bit sparsely-equipped, there is nowhere to host the corporate hospitality experience which is such an integral part of an Ayr match day, and the current main users of the ground – Ayr Seaforth Athletics Club, which probably has more junior members than Ayr RFC, and Whitletts Victoria Junior FC, will not take too-kindly to being shunted out to make way for a bunch of egg-chasers.

There has been talk of a brand new home, on an already-identified greenfield site, just off the A77 Ayr by-pass, but, there is no way this could be ready for the big kick-off in August 2019. South Ayrshire Council, the local planning authority, are in any case notoriously incompetent and slow to get going on facilitating new enterprises and, as I understand it, Murrayfield does not want to see “accidental slippage” in any time frame which might see Ayr lingering longer in the shadow of the Burns Monument.

Melrose's problems stem from the time frame for delivering their prestigious Legacy project, and in particular overcoming what we understand is strong local opposition to the provision of floodlights. These are seen as necessary for franchise acceptance.

In addition, with the demands for a 3G or 4G pitch, government-funding for which can only be obtained if there is an element of “community use”, dictates you need lights, so the general public can access the facility at night, and the "Nimbys" in Melrose are not at all keen on having the picturesque surroundings of the Greenyards blighted by unsightly floodlight pylons.

The proposed Legacy Greenyards - Wot, no floodlights

Those pitches offer further potential for disruption, I understand Murrayfield wants to see artificial surfaces in use within three years of Stupid 6 kicking-off, rather than by the end of the initial five-year franchise agreement. So, everyone playing on plastic by 2021 rather than 2023.

But perhaps the biggest fly in the ointment is a large problem which affects every single on of the 12 wannabees – nobody's figures add up.

I am told, every single bid has a financial shortfall. Now pardon the cynicism, honed by years of seeing sports clubs coming-up with grandoise plans which could not be financed, but, I doubt very much if the likes of McDonalds, or Starbucks or any of the other High Street names who operate by selling franchises would countenance a franchise bid by anyone who did not have enough finance, plus some reserves, to make it work.

I doubt, even more, that any reputable bank would allow someone to take forward a franchise application without it being properly funded.

• Are the 12 clubs' bankers entirely happy with the current situation?
• More importantly, are all the members of all the clubs happy with each club's proposals?
• Is each club putting forward a scheme which has the backing of a majority of their membership?
• Has each bidding club properly consulted their membership?

Because, remember, if Stupid 6 goes tits-up, it is the membership of each club who are together responsible for any indebtedness incurred in the scheme.

Then there is the as yet unseen elephant in the room – the proposed Celtic Development League. One of the sales pitches for Stupid 6 was “cross-border games”. These, it was assumed, would see the six clubs return to the British & Irish Cup. Unfortunately, after Ealing Trailfinders and Leinster A contest the 2017-18 final, scheduled for 12 May, the B&I Cup is consigned to the dust bin of history.

Can you honestly see the IRFU and the WRU allowing six Scottish clubs into the Celtic Development League, when they will only be entering four teams each? No, me neither. So, we can assume the Scottish entrants to this league will be Edinburgh A and Glasgow A.

This means either, the younger full-time professionals and the Academy players will not be released to Stupid 6, since they will be playing a full season in the Celtic Development League, or, the SRU does not participate in the CDL, or, we go back to the early days of the B&I Cup and we see a new version of “Gael Force” with two squads chosen perhaps from the ranks of the Stupid 6.

The more you look at the ramifications and potential pit-falls of this franchise plan, the stupider if gets. Mark Dodson – you are in a hole: STOP DIGGING.

Never mind - at least "Baldrick" got knighted

And Your Points Were, Callers

I told you Stupid  6 was the future for Scottish Rugby

I HAVE received some interesting feedback from readers following yesterday's blog. A couple of these, in particular, hit nails rather firmly on the head, so I reprint these below for your consideration.

'Clubfan' – a regular contributor to the blog's comments section had this to say:

“This has been a case book study in how to hoodwink the “electorate” in this case the member clubs on the need to do something about professional rugby and open the way for external investment.

There was zero discussion about the impact of this on the wider club game. So the suits played a blinder.

What is more curious is the complete absence of any external investment in the two pro sides. It’s almost as if the investors had a look and discovered a large money pit and rapidly backed away.

I think the correct label would be donors. There is no investment in Scottish Rugby as there is no possibility of a financial return. What the SRU are looking for is someone else to shoulder the losses.

I say again - what will it take for the clubs to bring the SRU board and council into check? I fear we’ve already passed that point.”

'Clubfan' certainly makes some valid points, with which I am in full agreement. The Murrayfield “suits” might not have entirely fulfilled old Abe Lincoln's dictum about fooling all of the people some of the time – but they certainly appear to be fooling most of the people, most of the time – ergo, they are playing a blinder.

His point about the lack of investment I have touched on before. They cannot attract outside investment, so they are selling back to six gullible clubs, something they already have – the right to play at the highest level of the club game. And, by buying into the Stupid 6 franchise, these half dozen clubs are handing over controls they already have on such things as their choice of coach, to a bunch of unelected staff at Murrayfield.

'pegj' another regular btl commenter, had this to say yesterday:

“I'm getting the distinct impression that Clubs are happy to toe the party line being peddled by their Council members.

The vast majority of Clubs are run by volunteers whose primary interest is playing rugby or supporting their "local" rugby Club. When it comes to the politics side of things and what's happening in the wider game, they sink there heads and sigh, and leave it up to others, trusting that their Council reps are looking after their best interests. The only time they get animated is when something is going to affect them right here, right now.

Agenda 3, is not currently a “right here, right now” issue, whilst being told that it will mean that all Clubs will receive more investment - so that's all Clubs need to know.

Added to that, their Council reps are telling them it's ok as it won't really "affect Clubs at our level".

Oh really:

• "Fewer, but stronger" has the potential to decimate local rugby Clubs - who will decide which Clubs should survive (and get access to the increased investment), which should fold and which should merge?
• Will Clubs who lose players due to strict amateurism be monitored so they don't poach players from smaller Clubs?
• Will Clubs withdrawing from "competitive" leagues to play in "friendly" leagues affect participation payments?
• What happens to S4, S5 & S6 school players when there are no local U16 & U18 Club teams, or will it not matter because any decent players will already have been identified and fed into the local Super 6 franchise?
• What happens to schools rugby when Cashback funding runs out, and Clubs can't meet the youth rugby criteria of the minimum operating standards?

And another one, not related to Agenda 3 & funding - what happens on 25th May when GDPR comes fully into force, and Clubs "shouldn't" pass personal data to a third party (that includes the Union by the way) without having that persons "explicit consent" to do so, and without knowing specifically how the 3rd party will process that data.

So let's think about that, that's the "explicit consent" of each and every player, from each and every rugby Club in the country, and don't forget Committee member details, coaches, referees and any other volunteer who the Union has details about. Before we can get the "explicit consent", the Union needs to tell Clubs how each bit of personal data is going to be used. Reminder, this comes into force on 25th May 2018 (1 month).

Just a few of the issues which our trusted Councils reps should be dealing with, yet seem unable to answer.

Clubs need to step up to the mark and challenge their Council reps on these and many other issues, but they won't, just as they never have done.”

Some serious issues for the clubs to tackle there. As I have said from the start, this whole Stupid 6 – Agenda 3 business has been badly-handled from the start. The paid officials have been allowed to trample freely over the clubs, the Council, the guys elected to look after the interests of the clubs appear to be doing nothing, or to have been neutered by the guys they ought to be managing.

The silence of the mainstream media has been disgraceful – we are heading for disaster and, like a downhill rolling snowball the impetus toward that disaster is growing.

Of course Stupid 6 is important, but, it is important to more than just to the six clubs involved. The knock-on effect will hit every club; the ramifications of Agenda 3 will hit even harder, but, the clubs appear to be happy to let it happen.

Scottish Rugby – for fuck's sake waken up. You're on the Titanic, that iceberg is dead ahead, there are not enough life boats and while the Council and Board are First Class passengers – most of you are in Steerage.

And Captain Dodson and Bosun Johnson will not go down with the ship – which, in case you've forgotten, is owned by YOU, not by them.

Call International Rescue - Stupid 6 Is Go!

WITH only one week to go before the big reveal, we hear the Ayatollah Dodson remains Hell-bent on seeing Stupid 6 happen. The names of the “lucky” half dozen bidders for the controversial franchises will be announced on 1 May, and, notwithstanding the PRO14's plans to implement a Development League, the word is – Dodson has said it makes no difference – Stupid 6 is go.

The six franchise operators are poised for take-off

I understand 9 of the 12 potential franchise operators have been invited to attend a meeting at Murrayfield this week, perhaps indicating confusion still rules, we understand over who will get the “Edinburgh” franchise – where all of next season's capital teams in the BT Premiership: Boroughmuir, Currie, Edinburgh Accies, Heriot's and Watsonians are bidding.

It appears as if Hawick and Gala have missed out in their challenge to red-hot favourites Melrose for the “South” franchise. Hawick's John Thorburn confirmed the Greens have not been invited to this week's meeting but it seems other factors are in play with regard to Gala.

The Braw Lads are on Murrayfield's naughty step, having recently been fined £2500 and seen two club officials severely reprimanded for: “conduct which has the potential to bring the game into disrepute and not in accordance with the Bye-Laws, rules and regulations of Scottish Rugby.”

President Bob Sneddon and Secretary Duncan Scott have been reprimanded for: “Provision of false information in relation to the clearance and proposed registration of two incoming players (including breaches of SRU regulations and Code of Conduct).”

These sanctions are in respect of Gala's signing of South African players Michael Faught and Carlisle Jordaan. Breakaway forward Faught was formerly with University of the Western Cape while Jordaan was formerly with University of Johannesburg.

But, to return to Stupid 6 and the PRO14 Development League. Murrayfield sources are saying nowt about this, but, there have been suggestions something similar to the hugely-embarrassing “Gael Force” experiment of the first year of the British & Irish Cup might be cobbled together, with players from the six franchises being syphoned-off into “Edinburgh” and “Glasgow” B teams for the Development League.

That was a marvellous success first time round; Gael Force's record was: Lost 8-29 to Cornish Pirates at Camborne; lost 0-15 to Exeter at Sandy Park; lost 5-27 to Newport at Rodney Parade; lost 0-25 to Plymouth Albion at Bridgehaugh and lost 22-33 to Leinster A at Bridgehaugh. Played 5, lost 5, points for 35, points against 129, bottom of their pool. What's that about repeating past mistakes in the hope of a differing outcome and madness?

There is no way the PRO14 Development League will allow all six franchises to enter – which rather knocks a hole in the SRU's “cross-border games” claim, so the two professional teams will either have to have sufficient depth of squad to field A teams, or we go down the “Gael Force” route. Which is the more-professional option?

Mark Dodson and Scott Johnson arrive at Murrayfield for a Stupid 6 meeting 

The more I look at Stupid 6 the more-convinced I become, this is not about taking Scottish Rugby forward, or growing the game – this is all about the SRU controlling more of the game, and having more control of the money in the game.

IN checking-out the Gala fine and reprimands, I found myself in a section of the SRU website I had not previously had cause to visit – I will call it “the bad boys list.”

Here you will find listed all the players and officials who have fallen foul of the SRU's disciplinary procedures over the season, and what sanctions they received. It's a great read too, with the stark minimum information leaving ample room for the imagination.

Just what, for instance, caused the touch judge with one Ayrshire side to, as they say in these airts: “pit the heid oan” a spectator to the extent, said touch judge is now banned from rugby for 130 weeks, up until the end of the 2020 season. That guy s clearly in the wrong game – he should be in Ayrshire Junior Football, where such conduct is positively encouraged.

The list includes 29 cases of “abuse of referee”, which I must say is a surprisingly-small number. Worryingly, five of these cases concerned players in youth games. Mind you, if they're going to abuse referees at that age, we probably don't want them in adult rugby. Several of the cases of referee abuse concerned club coaches, which demonstrates the stresses these guys are under at times.

Mind you the best disciplinary case I have ever read came in ice hockey, as I put together a match report on an Under-16 game between Paisley and Fife, from the game sheet. I noticed at one point, the Paisley number 6 and the Fife number 10 had been sent to the sin bin for “roughing”. The Paisley player received a 2+2 (4 mnutes in the sin bin), the Fife player a 2 minute seat – which indicated the Paisley player had started the fight (“roughing” is best described as “handbags” - just short of a helmet and gloves off punch-up – which is “fighting”).

Do not mess with a Paisley lassie - it could get messy

Checking the game sheet, I saw, Paisley 6 was the solitary girl in the team so, clearly, even at that Under-16 age group not a lassie to tangle with. She was already a full Great Britain international, went on to win an ice hockey scholarship to play in one of the top women's teams in North America, and today, she is still playing internationally and for a Swiss team which is one of the best in Europe. She remains, in every respect, a lady.

But, imagine being that teenaged Fife boy, having to go home to Kirkcaldy and admit: “A lassie hit me during the game.”

Or, speaking of referee abuse. There was the Irvine Meadow full-back, up before the Ayrshire Junior FA “beaks”, after threatening to punch the referee who had sent him off. After he was given his six-weeks suspension, the player was told by the committee Chairman: “Son, you were wasting your time threatening that referee. He's the manager at Cumnock “buroo”, he has to tell genuinely hard guys – ex-miners, their “buroo money” is stopped. You couldnae scare him.”