Hard Though This Is For Me To Say, But, Jones Sometimes Speaks Sense

SINCE “Jones the Jobbie” was elevated to the position of Obergruppenfὒhrer in charge of England's national team, I have tried to observe a vow to ignore the little shite.

However, and painful though it is to write this, in his short weekend rant about the ills of the game, fair play, he hit the nail on the head, more than once.

In his widely-publicised rant, Lance-Corporal Jones made six key points:

1. We need to speed-up the game
2. There should be fewer stoppages
3. Fatigue is no longer a factor in the final quarter
4. Discussions with the TMO are becoming too-long and tedious
5. We need to perhaps restrict the number of replacements
6. Rugby Union is not the NFL

There are several modifications we could immediately make, which would achieve his first point – and speed-up the game.

1. Cut “kicking time;” If a player/team cannot get the kicking tee on, set up and a kick taken inside 30 seconds, then Hell mend them. (Just watch the average penalty being taken in a professional game, what a carry-on):
   Captain-kicker indicates they are going for goal
   On comes the tee, carried by the water boy
   Kicker has a long drink, perhaps while speaking to the water boy
   Prolonged and very careful placing of the tee and ball
   Carefully measures the run-up
   Long mental adjustment/visualisation process
   The kick is taken, usually having taken the alloted time right down to the wire
   A game is supposed to last 80 minutes – well, make that 80 minutes BALL IN PLAY TIME
   This could be achieved by stopping the clock when the referee's whistle is blown or the ball goes dead, Re-starting it when the ball is back in play.
   This would also cut out the nonsense at lines out, when the pack having the possession has to hold a lengthy committee meeting, prior to even forming the line out, then the loose-head prop has to trot over and pass-on the relevant instructions to the hooker.
   There might be a case for adopting the protocol of some other sports, where the team restarting play after a break only has a certain amount of time in which to get the ball back into play.

Jones' second point – the need for fewer stops; that one is more-difficult to enforce. The increase in the number of rucks is not an edifying spectacle. When a ruck is formed, the game has not actually stopped, the ball is still technically in-play. However, it could be argued, a coaching concentration on teaching teams, when defending, to slow-down opposition ball, has given the impression of play having stopped.

I honestly feel, going back to “old-fashioned” rucking – whereby the ball had to be played by a foot following a ruck, and in the process outlawing “jackaling might speed things up.

One thing I would do to cut the number of stoppages is – be a bit firmer when it comes to the physio coming onto the park. OK, a physio can already come on when a player goes down, even though play is continuing. The game can then be stopped if the physio and the player he or she is treating is then in danger of being caught-up in the game – that's fair enough, nobody would argue with that.

But, if a player needs the on-field attention of a physio and is unable to return within a certain time – say one minute. Then he/she has to go off for ten minutes, but can be replaced. This would be a safety factor, but, it would also cut-out those wee incidents when a tight forward from a team under pressure on their own line needs the attentions of the physio before they can continue.

Jones' third point is a good one – tiring players make mistakes, mistakes lead to tries, so, by clever use of the number of substitutes allowed, good coaches can reduce player fatige, then mistakes and have a better chance of winning games.

So, the answer is obvious, you cut the number of replacements allowed. To be able to replace more than half of your starting XV is ridiculous – unless we want to go down the NFL road of huge squads, with totally different teams for defensive and offensive periods of play.

Mind you, there might be something to be learned from better player preparation – do all the front row players need to be the size they are these days?

Debate when the TMO is involved is another solid point which Jones makes. Football is still having teething troubles with VAR, and some of the decisions, particularly marginal offside calls, are still causing bother. But, it seems to me, when VAR is called-in, they seem to settle the issue being debated far-faster than some of the lengthy debates in rugby – allbeit rugby, because it is the more-complex game to manage, does have issues of what one leading Scottish refereeing official terms “materiality” than football does.

To explain, as he did to me: “At every breakdown, you may have multiple laws being broken at the same time, your job then is to decide which infringement had the most material affect on the game, and penalise that one.”

To clarify – the obvious ones, knock-ons, high tackles etc, are easy to deal with; it's the grey area calls which cause prolonged pauses in play. Maybe adopt the NFL approach, all TV reviews done in real time – that would speed things up, no need for ultra-slow-mo, frame-by-frame reviews of incidents.

The replacements point we have tackled, which leaves Jones' final one – that Rugby Union is not the NFL.

Some, particularly English club owners, might wish it was – since professional grid iron club owners make an awful lot more money than their Rugby Union counterparts. I can actually see an NFL level of the game, played by the very-best and highest-paid players coming along. Only that level will be for international teams – since it is only the international game which has a chance of making real money.

This would mean the highest levels of the club game would become like US college football – where the big schools still make a lot of money, from tv deals, catching and keeping hold of well-heeled “boosters” and building and maintaining fan loyalty.

I can never see rugby regularly attracting the massive 90,000 or 100,000 crowds of the top colleges, but, if the game is sold properly, and the clubs were managed properly, at the very least, it would wash its face and not be the financial drain on the owners that the English club game is today.

And how do the big football and basketball schools operate:

• They recruit the best young talent
• They nurture that talent properly
• When they are ready – they pass them on up the food chain to the real professionals

Maybe club rugby should try that.

Not Long Now - But, I Wish They Would Hurry Back

AS THE wonderful and much-missed Mama Cass Elliot, while with the Mamas and Papas, memorably sangin 'Dedicated To the One I Love': “The darkest hour is just before the dawn.” So, while we are so far away from rugby, let's just say a little prayer for the game – and hope we will soon be back playing normally.

However, in hoping that, we must acknowledge, a second wave of Coronavirus could yet come along and put the game back some weeks and months, and make the inevitable fall-out from the pandemic even worse. But, while we wait, life is very difficult, particularly when your thing is writing opinion pieces on the game.

ONE THING rugby-related I did get to write this past week, but rather wished I had not had to, was to pen Easton Roy's

obituary for the one Scottish newspaper which still publishes freelance-generated obituaries.

The late Easton Roy

As the world's oldest active player, Easton certainly deserved to have his passing marked, and it was a joy to speak with his daughter Sheila when getting the story done. What a man – a player for 75 years and a real inspiration to us all. Easton will be sadly missed, particularly around Stirling County, the club to which he gave such sterling service.

What I did like about him was the way, in spite of being so old he was entitled, when playing in Golden Oldies Rugby, to wear the purploe short – which indicated he could not be tackled, Easton refused to accept this right and take his chances with the younger players.

Sheila told me he was still mentally-shapr when he passed, not as a result of illness, but merely because he was worn-out. He certainly lived his long life to the full and was a genuine inspiration to us all.

That anonymous Welshman, the fellow RAF man who persuaded Easton to try rugby, to pass the time when on war-time service in the Bahamas, perhaps never knew what he had started, but, rugby owes him a great deal.

Rest In Peace Easton, thou wonderful servant of the game.

I WAS involved in a wee bit of a Facebook discussion last week, sparked-off by the latest bit of gum-bumping by James Haskell. Now “The Hask” is one of these England players I have never taken-to. Yes, I accept his record deserves respect, but, for me, he's one of the many English players over-hyped beyond his true status by the fact, he played the English media well.

Had he been one of the game's Celtic Contingent, he would never have been so highly-rated in the media. I also believe, had he been Scottish, he'd never have got near the British Lions.

Any way, The Hask was having a moan about the way rugby is treated by television these days. I listened to the relevant podcast, and am still trying to work out what his point was. The late James Sanderson, “Wee Solly” of fond memory would surely have cut him to ribbons – but, there are few broadcasters of Solly's class around these days.

My take was, The Hask is merely trying to appear still relevant and is trying (probably too hard) to get his share of the perks of being a talking head. He's just another has been trying to still be relevant.

The problem, as I see it, with present-day rugby is:

• The players have become too-fit and too-skilled
• The space which was there in days of yore has all but vanished
• We no longer see the errors which produced the great tries of the past.

I recall, some years back, John Beattie saying how unimpressed young Johnnie Beattie had been when watching clips of the game in his Dad's day. John Senior agreed, he and his contemporaries would have been unable to keep up with young Johnnie and his pals, who were so-much fitter and faster.

True, probably, but, the fact is, the more players are coached and the better they become at the basics, the fewer mistakes they make and the duller the game becomes.

For instance, if every player plays to his best, every game would end in a 0-0 draw, since the players would cancel-out each other. You need individual errors to be made, to force breakthroughs and to score tries. As a result of better coaching and conditioning, the game has become a war of attrition – we seldom see the great individual turn-overs and break-outs such as that wonderful try which Roger Baird initiated when he gathered a mis-cued kick and ran out of defence in Cardiff in 1982.

(On a wee point about that game – which was shown recently. Has Scotland ever played as well away from home in any internaitonal? I think not, we scored some fantastic tries that day).

I honestly feel, if rugby is not to stagnate into the sporting equivalent of the Western Front, World Rugby really needs to get their collective fingers out and radically overhaul the Laws, with the sole intention of making for a more-entertaining game.

And, once they have done that, whoever gets Alain Rolland's job at World Rugby, MUST insist – his referees control games to the Laws.

IT IS no secret that I don't have a lot of time for the SRU Media Team. When the weakest link is the one at the top, any team will have problems. But, fair play to them, for the excellent story on Cumnock's Dillon Naismith which is currently featured on the SRU website.

I don't know Dillon – there's one wee nyaff whose near-constant presence at the bar at broomfield keeps me away from the club – but, his story of a near-death experience on the field, and his recovery and return to the game in a coaching capacity is one worth telling.

And well done to wee Rab Donald for his on the spot first aid to Dillon when he went down.

A Couple Of Interesting Route Maps Back To The New Normal

YOU FIND me in a happy, playful mood today – the cares of being locked-down these many weeks, since I am (seventy-plus with an ongoing medical condition) considered: “vulnerable.”

Yesterday, with 'The Coven,' - four daughters plus grand-daughter otherwise distracted, I escaped for a few hours of freedom in Ayr. This was great fun, but, it meant I missed out on receiving the details of the latest route map out of lockdown for the most-important people in Scottish Rugby – the ordinary clubs.

Can I say a heartfelt: “Well done,” to everyone who has had input to the two proposals, best explained in another great piece of work by David Barnes and The Offside Line. I am not going to outline the proposals here, I could do no better than copy and paste what Barney has written, so, look it up on that excellent website.

Basically, IF everything goes as the Scottish Government and the SRU hope it will, we could be back playing by 31 October. This would enable us to play a full league campaign, however, there would not be sufficient time available to play the various cup competitions.

This scenario could be described as Option A, but, is dependent on the Scottish Government's route map being implemented, any spike of secondary wave of Covid-19 cases and it will not happen.

Option B, should we see a hic-cup in the Government's plans, will see the resumption of play put back until the end of November, at the earliest, in which case we would see more-localised groupings of clubs playing each other. I think big David has, somewhat incorrectly, described this option as offering: “ad-hoc friendlies.”

Hawick and Gala do not do "friendlies".

Sorry to argue Barney, but, when you look at some of the potential fixtures: Heriot's v Watsonians, Gala v Hawick, Ayr v Marr, to pick three at random – these clubs simply do not play each other in “friendlies.”

I am actually more excited by the potential in Option B than in Option A. I reckon they offer the potential for better rugby. And, if, as the constraints of time and space did not allow Barney to, you get down to the Regional Leagues, there are some cracking games in prospect.

Indeed, I reckon, if we did have to go down the Option B route – we could well be seeing the benchmark for the future shape of Scottish rugby.

I honestly feel, and have done so for some time:

• We have too-many national leagues and national league clubs

• We need to have greater regionalisation, as in the days of the old Districts

• In “the new normal” of post-pandemic Scotland, in rugby, we could well see district league groupings, within the wider regions.

Interestingly, while the new arrangements as outlined have been driven by the national league fora, there is no mention of how the FOSROC SUPER6 may operate. The SRU has put too-much time, effort and money into S6 to merely let it die a death, or even lie dormant for a season. Certainly, what happens regarding the cross-border element, well that's outwith the SRU's hands, but, I still maintain, given the new reality of hard times and belt-tightening, there will be a place for S6 in the game – we just don't as yet know what that place will look like.

I dare say, quite a few people will be happy if S6 is dropped, but, I think they are in for, as we say in the West of Scotland, a guid gunk.

I Like The Cut Of Mallinder's Jib

BEING still a Non-Person in the eyes of Buddy the Elf and the dwarves of the SRU's Media Department, I didn't get the chance to hear the recent pronouncements of Director of Performance Rugby Jim Mallinder, but, from what the hacks who have kept their noses clean enough to be granted access have written, I like the cut of the chap's jib.

When we do finally get back to playing rugby, perhaps by October or November for the guys who are paid decent money to play – maybe early next year fot the semi-professionals and the “amateurs” at the top of the club game – we seem likely to be witnessing more young Scottish talent given the opportunity to show what they are made of. That has to be welcome.

The sad thing is, we may have missed the boat when it comes to getting Edinburgh and Glasgow A teams into that cross-border competition involving the Welsh Regions' and Irish Provinces' A teams. But, if the desire to make it work is there, maybe hypothetical A teams could get sufficient matches, perhaps against their Celtic Cousins, maybe against selected English teams, to certainly give our youngsters more game time than in the past.

Also, perhaps we will see a properly-organised FOSROC Super6 season in 2020-21, giving the young guns still-more game time. And, with the new protocol, whereby the Academy Stage III players will be seen as more than tackle bag fodder to the two pro sides, the sky is the limit for young Scottish talent. And, about time too.

I LIKE the idea of the ongoing Aotearoa tournament in New Zealand, and I wonder, might not this be a good way of organising things, if, and I see this as a possibility, it takes us longer than we might wish to get rugby below the professional level going again.

Suppose the easing of the lockdown regulations in England does lead to a spike in new Covid cases, and the Scottish Government's inability to close the border leads to that spike spreading north – well, it might be that hopes of getting the PRO14 restarted are dashed, and consequently, it takes longer to get the ordinary club game up and running again.

I could see us still being unable to play until well into the winter, perhaps not even until next year – in which case, there might not be time to play a full season at club level.

In that case, why not regional aotearoa-type competitions across our four regions. I reckon this would work; localised groups, making use of local rivalries. Who knows, this might well even be the future for Scottish rugby.

I can see huge changes coming when we begin to get back to “normality,” I would like to think some left-field thinking is being done around Murrayfield at the moment – we should rule nothing out when we return.

THERE must be a rational explanation in there somewhere, but, as with so much that goes on with handling the players via the SRU's Performance Department, the recent movement of locks between Scotstoun, Murrayfield and the revolving door at HQ has me flummoxed.

When I watched Scott Cummings and Andrew Davidson as a boiler-room pairing for Glasgow Hawks, I thought this was the future. Scott has had a relatively straight-forward rise to international status, while Andy has gone on something of a magical mystery tour.

Both are Glasgow boys, as I see it, they ought to both be at Scotstoun still, so, just how come Andy is now at Murrayfield, and Hamish Bain is at Scotstoun – nope, that one makes no sense to me.

SPEAKING, as I was in the last item, about Glasgow Hawks, they have just introduced the first of what we hear will become a series of regular newsletters, called Hawks Onside, as a means of getting the Hawks' message out there.

The launch edition is an impressive body of work, edited by that stalwart of GROGS, Alasdair Graham. Well done Al, and, more power to you and your team's elbow. I would like to think, given the way the mainstream media is contracting back into itself – with ever-more cuts to the editorial staff at The Herald Group last week – the days of the clubs becoming their own rugby media are fast-approaching.

ROBERT KITSON on today's Guardian website, is getting a wee bit concerned in case Manu Tuilagi takes himself off to a nice big salary in France, following his fall-out with Leicester.

A cross-channel hop will render him ineligble for England, so now Kitson is suggesting the RFU should do what the English do best – waive the rules to suit their own needs.

I am all in-favour of seeing a nation's best talent playing for a club within that nation, but, this doesn't always happen. We in Scotland are well used to this fact of life. Even in the amateur days, we always had a good sprinkling of Anglo-Scots playing for us, and the road to High Road to Richmond was a tempting prospect for many a Scottish internaitonal.

Even today, we have arguably one-third of our “first-choice” XV playing beyond our borders, and, we get bye. A professional sportsman has a short time at the top, when he can earn big money, so, if he chooses to follow the cash, it is hard to think anything other than, good luck to him. After all, even the best is only ever one bad injury away from having to look for a new way to earn a living. You have to make hay while the sun shines.

Doddie Hits 50 - We Should All Give Thanks

I BEGIN this post with heart-felt good wishes to the legend that is Big Doddie Weir. Happy 50^th birthday big man; and I sincerely hopes that your magnificent fund-raising efforts on behalf of MND ensure that you do enjoy many more birthdays.

Happy Birthday Big Man

Doddie has been, and continues to be an inspiration well beyond Scotland's rugby family and all I can say is: “Gaun yersel' Big Yin.”

And, while I am at, and I hope this does not force my old mate – and keen follower of this blog - Dominic McKay to choke on his Corn Flakes: but, well done to the SRU for granting Doddie a richly-deserved birthday present, by inducting him into the Scottish Rugby Hall of Fame.

THE DAY cannot I feel be long delayed, before THE GUARDIAN vanishes up its own arse in a puff of smoke. At least, the Serious Person's Serious Newspaper remains “free to air” online – you are expected to pay to ingest the right-wing propaganda from The Times, Telegraph, Herald and Hootsmon. Other than that, it hasn't a lot going for it.

From a rugby perspective, the dear old Gruinard has been totally bought over by the Gallagher Premiership clubs in general, with a particular fixation with Danny Cipriani – the poor man's Finn Russell – and Saracens.

Right now, however, because they cannot see a left-of-centre bandwagon without wanting to get on board, their rugby columns are obsessed with the question of whether or not the “Barbouratzzi” at Twickenham should be belting out “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” whenever England begins to get up a head of steam.

I am not particularly bothered, or moved, by Black Lives Matter. Of course slavery was a gross evil which must be decried, but, I am a wee bit more concerned about the evil and indignities perpetrated on my Scottish ancestors, whether through the horrors of forced eviction via The Clearances, or the slavery by any other name which was the lot of my mining and iron-working ancestors at the hand of The Company. In this respect – All Lives Matter.

Andy Bull, one of their better sports writers, this week penned a piece on the issue of “Swing Low,” and, in a lengthy dissertation, he only briefly touched on the reality of how the song came to be sung at Twickenham.

It has long been a staple of apres-rugby in English club houses. The first time I ever heard the old spiritual in a rugby context was in the bar at Carlisle RFC, following a cross-border battle, which the Scots invaders won. The singing and the gestures which were and still are such an important part of the rugby version of the song, were led by the Carlisle right winger (how appropriate I hear you say.)

In the simpler times of the 1960s, nobody tried to politicise the song, it was good, harmless fun. I am positive it features on one of The Jock Strapp Ensemble's vinyl lps. My grandson: the failed flanker with the Bsc first-class honours degree in disc-jocking, from 'Paisley Polytechnic' – in his capacity as Keeper of the Family Vinyl – probably still has my cherished copies of the Ensemble's output, but, I cannot be ersed checking.

Without the gestures, Swing Low is nothing. Yes, perhaps they ought not to sing it, but, if I know the average Barbour-wearing, replica England shirt sporting England fan, the last thing you want to try, to stop them doing something, is try to ban it.

It's like those Rangers fan who relish being up to their knees in Fenian blood, it might well take a complete change in the education system, perhaps a Nazi-style breeding programme and a few generations to breed the stupidity out of them. And, during a global pandemic, there are more-important issues to be worried about.

I DO NOT SUPPOSE there is a right way or a wrong way of doing things, but, well done to the SRU for getting the arrangements for the 2020 Annual General meeting out there.

Apparently, it will be a two-stage affair, with the first, on 15 August, getting the essential business of getting Ian Barr installed as President, conducting the vice-presidential election and the other core tasks over and done with.

Then, at a date still to be announced, part two will deal with what is in essence: Any other business. Fair play to the SRU, it is difficult to argue with their plans, however, since that's what I am apparentloy here to do.

Scotland's two biggest football teams, the clubs which Andy Cameron identifies as: “The DIBS and The DOBS” each has such a large shareholder base, they hold their annual meetings inside their stadia. The shareholders sit in the main stand, with the High Heid Yins on a dais on the park.

Assuming we are still under some sort of social-distancing constraints come 15 August, surely the SRU could cope with the stakeholders at their AGM being seated in the main stand at Murrayfield, and we could get the meeting over and done with in one sitting.

Just a suggestion chaps.

A WEE oversight on my part – I forgot to pay tribute last week to Grant Anderson, when the Ayrshire Bulls full back announced his retirement from rugby.

No more tries for Grant Anderson

“Gruntz,” has given exceptional service to Ayrk, since arriving from Greenock Wanderers. Over 11 seasons he has won everything there is to win at that level, leagues, cups, Scotland Under-20 and Club XV caps, he must have covered an incredible distance travelling from Greenock to Ayr to train and all over the place to play.

I wish him well in retirement, such a pity, however, he never did learn how to pass the ball!!!

There Is No News LIke Old News - The Murrayfield Media Mantra

REGULAR READERS of these ravings will need no reminding, I hold the SRU's Media and PR Department in particularly low esteem. In a tough field, I believe Chief Elf Buddy and his minions far-better exemplify the SRU's paramount ambition of being: “Not fit for purpose,” than any of the other mini-empires within what the Murrayfield Minions describe as: “The Big Top.”

It was, therefore, somewhat uplifting to see this department's inability to do the basics properly confirmed on the SRU website on Monday. This was brought on by their posting of a tribute to the late George Russell, former President of Moray House RFC.

George died on 9 May; a couple of days later, it was suggested to me that I might care to pen his obituary for The Scotsman. This I agreed to do, but, between getting the go-ahead from the paper's obituaries department, contacting George's family for the required details, then sourcing a picture, the obituary was not filed until 20 May, and finally published on 29 May.

Meanwhile, the news of George's passing was reported to Murrayfield, and yon failed faux-Viking politician who is now our Head of Public Affairs, or whatever, had promised some of George's many friends in the Edinburgh rugby community, that an appropriate tribute would be published on the SRU website.

As I wrote above, it finally showed-up on Monday: 50 days since George's passing and one calendar month since the publication of his obituary. The piece contained no information which was not in the obituary, which, to me shows just how far behind the times they are in that particular department.

Still, better late than never.

On the subject of the website, I continue to be unimpressed by the speed with which it is updated. For instance, surely the news of the new approach to developing our Stage III Academy players should be featured on the website, not hidden in the News section. While if David Barnes' Offside Line – the go-to outlet for Scottish Rugby news – can have an interview with new Glasgow Warriors' Head Coach Danny Wilson as its “Splash,” and when, within the constraints of having staff working from home, so too can the venerable Hootsmon, why cannot the SRU website?

Silly question, Big Barney is a proper journalist – he'd never get a job at Murrayfield.

On the subject of the new set-up regarding the Academy – whereby the Stage II “students” will be more-closely-aligned with the two full-time pro sides. I sat through a rant on this subject, delivered by another of the Corps of Scottish Rugby Writers' senior NCOs, this afternoon.

While praising new Director of Performance Rugby Jim Mallinder's part in setting in place this new arrangement, my fellow hack ranted:

“FFS, I have been saying they should do this for at least the last three years; why haven't they gone the whole hog and initiated Edinburgh and Glasgow B teams.”

“But, they don't have the balls to do this,” he continued.

While welcoming this new development, Ah hae ma doots about it. For a start, the Stage III players have been training full time with the two professional sides for a number of seasons. In addition, I cannot help but feel, the training demands on professional players may not be the same as the necessary demands on young Academy players.

Then, there is the guidline that the Stage III Academy players will also be aligned to the six FOSROC Super6 franchises. Will they be expected to put-in a full day's training with Edinburgh or Glasgow on the days when their Super6 side is also training? Or will alternative arrangements be made for those two or three days of the week?

Might they become “over-trained,” or perhaps over-tired. How will the conflicting demands of the two teams be met? Only time will tell, but, if it brings players through quicker, and better-prepared for the rigours of the full professional life – then all well and good.

Let's wait and see what transpires.

On adjacent thread, I see that member of the Beattie Clan, London Scottish's Bobby Beattie, once a Glasgow Hawk, and also a former Scotland Sevens cap, has resigned for Scottish – on a part-time deal.

I have long held that Scottish is maybe our best bet for where to put the mythical third professional side, but, if they are going part-time at Richmond Athletic Ground, it rather kicks into touch for the moment, thoughts of the third pro team.

INTERESTING piece in The Guardian this morning. Apparently, even with the “safe distance” in England being reduced to one, rather than two metres, when they finally get Twickenham re-opened, hopefully in the Autumn, there will be a 30,000 crowd limit.

This will mean, only corporate tickets will be sold – another boot to the goolies for real rugby fans. I honestly believe, when, as we surely will – some day, we get back to something approaching “normality,” rugby's suits may find, they have finally pissed-off the true grass roots fans.

When that day comes, we may find, Private Fraser was an optimist.