Bring Back It's The Knock-Out

I AM told, I spend too-much time on Facebook, and ought to get a life. That criticism might have a point, but, just occasionally, Facebook throws up something which can be useful.

There was such a moment yesterday, when under a picture of a  Stirling County Under-18 team, celebrating at Murrayfield, the question was asked: “When was the last Glasgow KO Cup played, and who are the current holders. The notion is the last final was in 1988-89 and Clarkston beat Dalziel, making them the current holders. I believe  that font of all knowledge, Bill McMurtrie,(left), is perhaps the only man alive who can  answer the question.

Any way, what a wonderful competition the old KO Cup was. As I remember, the first two or three rounds were played midweek, in September. This sorted the wheat from the chaff, with the competition going into hibernation until the Spring, when it was played, again mainly in midweek, once the clocks had changed to BST.

Leaving aside our disastrous Murrayfield visit for the Bowl Final, three years or so ago, the greatest moment for Cumnock Rugby Club came in March, 1969, when we lined-up against West of Scotland in the KO Cup semi-final, at Old Anniesland. Now, back then, Cumnock's friendly fixture against West was with their 3^rd XV, so, here we were, about to line-up against their first team, the newly capped Gordon Brown (pictured above), packing down in the boiler-house with the veteran former England cap John Currie – of Marques and Currie fame; another England cap, Lionel Weston at scrum-half, with future Scotland hooker Quintin Dunlop and Scotland B caps Ian Murchie and Alex Wilson, who like the Browns had taken the drove road from Ayrshire to Burnbrae.

At least, West didn't have Sandy Carmichael, with that great and versatile Burnbrae man Jim Dinsmore in the number three shirt. But, without Sandy, our pack proved very obdurate and we were actually winning, with ten minutes left – when Murchie decided: “I'm fucked if I'm losing to Cumnock,” to single-handedly drag West over the line.

Now, Cumnock should have kicked-on from there, unfortunately, within 18-months, 16 of the 18 of us who had been in that Old Anniesland dressing room had quit the club and it took a couple of generations for the club to recover. But, the point of that long-winded story is, memories such as that are what the old KO Cup was all about.

Ayr were a “semi-junior” club when, in 1962, they reached the KO Cup final. That got some guys in the club thinking – are we happy to play on Council pitches at Heathfield, or should we maybe look for our own ground and clubhouse? Alistair “Speedy” McMillan, who interrupted a Caribbean honeymoon to play in that 1962 final, in his day job in the family law firm, was asked to sell a market garden in Alloway, so he did. That market garden was Millbrae, the rest is history – but, reaching the KO Cup final was a factor in the club's rise.

Another factor in its appeal was, every year, at least one junior club generally made it through to the later rounds and the big clubs: West, Accies, GHK, Ayr etc, quite often got a close look at talent they could attempt to entice to higher things.

The competition also kept players who maybe didn't play Sevens involved into April, as did the now discontinued County Cups. Today – and I appreciate the horrible weather of this winter has been a factor, we will still be playing into May, but, generally this does not apply. Any way, as I said, these local competitions such as the KO Cup and the County Cups were usually midweek games.

Rugby is a players' game - so, allow them to play

We keep hearing: “Rugby is a players' game.” Well, give them a canvas on which they can play. With their fixation with the top levels of the game, the international side and the two pro teams, and now they are angling for a say in the club game through Stupid 6, I fear the Murrayfield “suits” have lost sight of what this game is all about – which is, you train, you go out and play, you and your opponent knock the shite out of each other, then you retire to the bar and buy each other a jar or three.

If we lose that, we are all doomed!!

Clearing out a storage box last week, I came across my stats book for the early 1970s, when I was combining part-time freelance journalism with being Ayr RFC's first team touch judge. One season, the first XV played - between 1 September and 30 April, which were the set-in-stone start and finish dates for the season – a total of 41 games, in which tight-head prop John Burston played in 38 (a tight-head playing every minute of 38 games, how quaint).

This season, between their first pre-season friendly against GHA on 12 August, and Saturday's BT Premiership Grand Final at Melrose, the Ayr first team has played just 23 games. Burston, unlike his present-day successor Steven Longwell, wasn't being paid to play for Ayr.

Those 1970s fixtures were split roughly 50/50 between home and away games, so, 20 home games at Millbrae, and no players to pay. This season, 23 games, 12 of them at Millbrae, players to pay – ok, paid admissions, which wasn't a factor back then, but, not so-many busy Saturdays for bar income today. I don't know if fewer fixtures is an advancement.

I hope, some time soon, the Murrayfield “suits” will realise – yes, we need income-generating fixtures, specifically the internationals. Sure we need the national team and the two pro sides as the shop windows of our game, but, the bread and butter stuff is the players who turn-out, unpaid, week-in, week-out, to play rugby because they enjoy it.

They need games to play, and people to play against. Fewer clubs, nothing but league games is not the way to do this and support and encourage club rugby.