Promotion For Pat As The Bulls Prepare To Roar

TO THE surprise of nobody, Ayrshire Bulls announced that Pat McArthur would succeed Peter Murchie as Head Coach of the Ayr-based FOSROC Super6 franchise.

Pat is genuine Millbrae royalty. He learned the game at Ayr, since his school, Prestwick Academy, does not have a rugby history. He broke through into the Ayr first team, won Scotland age group honours and a Club XV cap, before joining Glasgow Warriors, where he is one of the club's centurions, with over 100 appearances for them. He also went on to win six full Scotland caps – and probably should have had more.

 

Pat McArthur - pic courtesy of Craig Watson

 Pat then stepped back down to Ayr to pass on his knowledge as a player-coach, before spending last season assisting another very-good Ayr hooker, Stewart Fenwick in running the Ayr Club XV in National League 1, while also helping-out Murchie with the Bulls.

He has learned his trade along the way, working under some good coaches, and, since he is so-familiar with the Ayr rugby scene, I think he will be a good appointment. I wish him well.

As yet his coaching staff has not been announced, but, I would expect to see Pat's good friend Frazier Climo involved.

With this latest appointment, it is becoming clear, the SRU is viewing S6 as a development tier for coaches as well as players, and this, I feel, is to be welcomed.

Alex Dunbar

Alex Dunbar, another long-time Warrior, has this week announced his retirement from rugby, aged just 31. Sadly, Alex's final seasons were absolutely ruined by injury, otherwise he would surely have won more than his 31 Scotland caps. At his peak, his was one of the first names on the national team sheet.

He has announced he will be returning to his roots, going back to farming, to finally make use of the qualifications he obtained at the Scottish Agricultural College, before being diverted into professional rugby.

Hopefully he will, once he has settled into his new career, be able to devote some time to passing on his knowledge and experience to the next generation. I wish him well in his retirement from playing.

TEAM GB began their build-up to the Tokyo Olympic Games at the weekend, with an international tournament at St George's Park, Burton-on-Trent, the FA's official training ground for the England football team.

The Men's tournament involved Team GB, Ireland and the USA, while the Women's event involved Team GB, Ireland and France. There were 12 Scottish players involved: Alec Coombs, Jamie Farndale, Robbie Fergusson, Paddy Kelly, Ross McCann and Max McFarland in the Men's squad and Megan Gaffney, Rhona Lloyd, Helen Nelson, Chloe Rollie, Hannah Smith and Lisa Thomson in the Women's squad, which will be coached by oor ain Scott Forrest (pictured below).

The squads in action at Burton-on-Trent were extended ones, not all those taking part will make the cut for the games proper, in July, where Team GB will be looking to do as well as the 2016 squad in Rio, who won an unexpected silver medal and featured two Scots, Mark Bennett and Mark Robertson.

I would like to have told you how the squad got on over the weekend, but, I didn't have time to watch the you tube stream, and cannot find written results anywhere, not even on the Team GB website.

Get your act together Team GB – this isn't good enough, we are not all anoraks with nothing better to do than browse the internet for results.

ONE OF the joys of listening to BBC Radio Shortbread's coverage of professional rugby, is waiting for Peter Wright to implode at some refereeing howler. I pity the poor BBC engineer charged with monitoring the live feed, to cut-off any Wright explosions of industrial language when he feels the referee has messed-up.

 

Andrew Brace, or is it John Lacey?

Peter came away with an absolute belter on Saturday night, during the Edinburgh v Glasgow match, when he described referee Andrew Brace as: “The new John Lacey.” There is damned with faint praise, and being given a new handle by Wrightie. I suppose, Mr Brace will survive.

Another Of The Giants Of The Past Has Gone

 

Eddie McKeating (centre) with fellow Scotland caps, from left: Ken Scotland, Arthur Smith, Ken MacDonald and Ian Swan.

 

WE LOST Eddie McKeating last week. It was a sad day for those of us who remember him in his prime in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Eddie was something of a boy wonder, the performances of Eddie and his life-long friend Ken Scotland in a very good George Heriot's School XV had the world of Scottish Rugby salivating at what these two young men might accomplish for Heriot's FP, Edinburgh and Scotland.

The national selectors wasted little time in capping the pair, they debuted together in Paris in 1957, Scotland winning 6-0 in what has since become known as: “Ken Scotland's Match.”

Eddie was kept in-place for the second international of the season, a 9-6 Murrayfield win over Wales, but, he was then dropped in favour of Edinburgh Accies' Tom McClung. He would have to wait four years for a recall, such were the vagaries of selection – and the competition for places, back then.

Eddie's third cap was a late call-up against the touring South Africans, at Murrayfield. The Springboks won the4 game 11-5, but, perhaps THE feature of the game was the text-book tackling of the Scottish backs. Eddie, right from his school days, was known for the quality of his low tackling, the great Tony O'Reilly said: “Eddie McKeating was the finest tackler I ever faced.”

He was never better than in that game against the South Africans, as he repeatedly cut down his immediate opponent, the physically-imposing John Gainsford. He was also involved in the long-range break-out which set-up the Scottish try, Arthur Smith famously chasing and touching down a missed Iain Laughland dropped goal attempt.

Eddie kept his place for the three remaining Tests of that season, wins over Wales and Ireland, before a 0-6 Twickenham loss to England, in his final international. Still a 67% winning record – four wins from six matches - is one few Scottish caps can match.

He had a long association with Heriot's, where he was granted life membership. He made his debut as a 15-year-old stand-in scrum-half, and was combining morning games with the school team with afternoon games for “The Nails” from then on. He was an exceptional exponent of the short game and twice a Melrose Sevens winner with his club.

He had exceptional pace, and was a British Schools 100 yards champion. He also played in the London Scottish Schools v Richmond Schools game, the 1950s equivalent of a schools international.

He did his National Service in the RAF, worked in the packaging industry, and as a result of moving around in that field, he served West of Scotland with distinction, before settling in the Newcastle area.

At school, Eddie had been a very good cricketer, captaining the George Heriot's XI and, in his final season, finishing as second-top wicket-taker, behind future Scotland cricket captain George Goddard.

With his talent, he was definitely under-capped, but, he is fondly-remembered in the annals of Scottish rugby.

Eddie was pre-deceased by his wife Catherine, five years ago and is survived by son Grant, daughter Gayle, sister Cynthia and the wider family. He will be much-missed.

I FEARED for my old mate Peter Wright on Friday night. Wrightie's rants about referees are a familiar sound track to the BBC Radio Shortbread rugby commentaries; but, I honestly thought Peter was going to explode in his disgust at some of referee Adam Jones' decisions.

The Jones boy is being tipped to be the next Nigel Owens, and he is apparently benefitting from The Great One's mentoring role in his development. However, Mr Wright was not the only one to think the Welsh whistler fell far below Owens' standards on Friday night.

No complaints about the Mark Bennett red card – that's how it is these days, there is little mitigation for such challenges. However, the Oli Kebble red was much-more controversial. From the clip I have seen, that one was never a red, and Henry Pyrgos should be thoroughly-ashamed of himself for his part in getting Kebble dismissed.

As a West Coaster, I am delighted that Glasgow won and regained possession of the 1872 Cup, however, it was perhaps just as well the Warriors' family of supporters were not inside Scotstoun. Had they been, I think Mr Jones would have been made aware of his shortcomings.

Still on red cards. The one Wayne Barnes brandished at Mike Brown on Sunday was surely the easiest he ever has had to award. I have never been a Brown fan, there has always been something deeply unlikeable about the full-back. He has always come across as a nasty piece of work.

If it was up to me, he'd be suspended sine die for that piece of thuggery. If he had done that in an Ayrshire Derby, or a Border one for that matter, I think the opposition would have been pleading with the referee to keep him on the park, so they could dish-out ample retribution themselves.

IT WILL be interesting to see what the selection parameters are around the upcoming England A v Scotland A match, at Leicester. Will the two sides agree to only field uncapped players, or will fringe internationalists, who didn't make the respective Six Nations squads be selected? Will there also be an upper limit on how many caps a player can have, before he is ineligible?

Selection will be very-interesting.

Eight Is Great In The Lions' Squad

 

WELL, we ken noo, what the Lions' squad to tour South Africa should look like. I say should, confident in the notion that, in the matches still to be played in Europe, one or two willo get injured and have to be replaced – it is ever thus.

I just hope all eight Scots chosen: Zander Fagerson, Chris Harris, Stuart Hogg, Ali Price, Finn Russell, Rory Sutherland, Duhan van Der Merwe and Hamish Watson get through their remaining domestic chores without mishap and make it onto the 'plane.

Getting eight Scots chosen is pretty-much where I thought we might be. I feel injury did for Cameron Redpath, who might have made it had he been able to play in more than the opening Six Nations game.

Jonny Gray too was, I feel unlucky. Skipper Alun Wyn Jones and media darling Maro Itoje were always going to travel, which meant a dog fight for the remaining lock places.

If the younger Gray has a weakness, it is that he doesn't punch the holes in the gain line that other locks do. Against that, and I fear this may be crucial in South Africa, his tackling stops others making these hard yards – I feel they will regret taking Courtney Lawes instead of Scotland's Exeter Chief.

Ali Price is perhaps the most-fortunate to be picked of the eight Scots. Truth to tell, there is not an outstanding British scrum-half at the moment, and maybe Price's long-established rapport with Finn Russell has got him in.

I do hope Rory Sutherland recovers fully from his injury. As things stand, Wales' Wyn Jones will be favourite to claim the number one shirt in the Test XV. However, if he shows-up in the provincial games, the Hawick man could force his way into the big team.

On the other side of the scrum, Zander is, in reality, taking-on Ireland's Andrew Porter for the bench spot in the Test XV. Tadgh Furlong seems to have the starting slot at number three locked down. However, I am sure Zander will be picking the brains of the likes of Oli Kebble, Pierre Schoeman and WP Nel for tips on what to expect from the Saffer props he will be facing.

If he gets the right ball, Duhan van der Merwe could be a big hit back in his homeland, while I would expect to see Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell in the Test XV. If he lives up to his defensive reputation, Chris Harris might be this tour's “bolter,” unexpectedly getting into the big team.

I can see Jonny Gray, Jamie Ritchie and maybe Sean Maitland being on the stand-by list, otherwise, I think the other Scots will have to be satisfied with places in our squads for the three Summer Tests, under interim coach Mike Blair.

In all the hullabaloo after the squad announcement, I have been quietly chortling to myself at all those English commentators, upset that some of their favourites have not made the squad.

There is this strange belief in the South that Kyle Sinckler is a good prop. There is no hard evidence of this, but, still they believe. The fact is, none of the English props is any good, but, somehow, because English referees are so poor, they get away with murder in the tight. As a former hooker, Warren Gatland knows a thing or two about the front row, and he wasn't fooled into picking English props, says it all really.

I am honestly surprised that England managed, given how poorly they played in the Six Nations, to get as many players into the squad. Mind you, I suppose the wee souls would have spat the dummy big style had fewer been picked.

Well then, the squad has been named. Good luck to all of those selected, especially the eight Scots. And, finally, how marvellous it must be for everyone down there in Hawick, to have two Teris named.

Hoggy and Rory Sutherland are the latest in a long line of wearers of the green to don the legendary red shirts, a Hawick line which goes all the way back to 1888 and the very-first Lions, who included the Burnett brothers and AJ Laing. That's some history.

Scottish Rugby - Now Beyond Satire

IT IS getting harder and harder to take Scottish Rugby seriously. We are not in a good place, but, from the outside, looking in, as I am, I get the distinct impression The Junta at BT Murrayfield simply does not give a flying fuck, so long as their own wee empire keeps going.

I have a lot of time for some of the insiders, President Ian Barr is one of the good guys, as are several on the Council. Against this, That Cunt Dodson is well-named, and he has surrounded himself with some quite nasty henchmen who appear to be a law unto themselves. I fear for where we are going under the present regime.

Of course, we Scots don't help ourselves. We have a long history of allowing chancers to run things for us, and that is a difficult habit to break.

So, time for a wee rant:

I note, this week, Edinburgh has signed South African Henry Immelman – WHY? Don't they already have enough non-Scots in their ranks? Have they no obligation to promote and develop young Scottish talent?

I have written before – and now do so again – There is no relegation in the PRO14 – so, there is no need to buy-in non-Scots as cover for when the top players are away on Scotland duty. Give younger Scottish players the exposure, trust them. Sure, there will be bad results, at first, but, in the long run, it is better to breed young Scots than to buy-in non-Scots.

Dave Rennie's final season as Glasgow Warriors' coach was viewed as disappointing, but, under the Kiwi, Warriors still posted a “winning season,” by winning 11 of their 21 games – 52%.

So what do we make of Danny Wilson's first season? Six wins from 20 games – a 30% winning record? This is a 42% fall-off in wins. With that record, does Mr Wilson deserve to continue? I think not.

I have had to soak-up a lot of flak for my support of the FOSROC SUPER6. I still hold, this has been a flawed concept from the start, badly thought-through and implemented by Murrayfield. That said, I still think, given we only have the two full-time professional teams, S6 (better still S8), is the way ahead in bridging the gap between the club game and the full-time professional one.

BUT, when you see Ayrshire Bulls - one of the S6 clubs advertising in a rugby website for non-Scottish players to play hooker, tight-head and lock, you have to wonder what is going-on. Bringing-in players in those positions from the English Championship or abroad is NOT in the script as most of us have read it. This needs sorting-out, quickly.

I see nothing wrong with bringing-in young players from outside Scotland – provided they are Scottish-qualified and under-23, otherwise, forget it.

I spoke with one of the Heid Bummers of the Bulls and he said: “The reality is, we are short of players of the required standard, and dealing in a shallow player pool – there is no short-term 'silver bullet' Scottish answer to our player problem. We don't like it, but it is how it is.”

He is, however, hopeful of an answer being found, but, this is unlikely to be any time soon.

The continually excellent Offside Line this week published an interesting think piece by Gavin Blackburn on the SRU's proposals to invest more in state schools. I commend this piece to the house, well-worth reading.

However, here again, even if we get more kids playing rugby in state schools, and better lines of communication between the clubs and the schools, it is going to take a good while for us to see positive results.

But, the main thing now for a bright future for Scottish Rugby is – that we get back playing the game, sooner rather than later. Once we are back in action, the world will look a lot brighter.

The Lions' squad will be announced on Thursday, and, hopefully, there will be more Scottish names than in recent squads. That's the thing with Scottish sports on the main stages – it's the hope that kills.

Time To Break The Habit Of A Lifetime

I am not a fan of hypothetical Lions Test XVs. There is one simple reason for this, even when the final touring party is announced and they arrive in either Australia, New Zealand or South Africa, picking the first Test XV is still fraught with danger.

For instance, in 1971, Ray McLaughlin and Sandy Carmichael were pencilled-in as the Test props. Then came the Canterbury game and both were out of the Tour, leaving Ian McLauchlan and Sean Lynch to take the jerseys.

So, I never pick a hypothetical Lions XV. However, this year, I have decided to do this, and my trigger was a memory of going into the old Herald building in Mitchell Street one night in December, 1974 or maybe 1975.

“Dan” Archer came up with the notion of a New Year competition, this would involve picking an all-time Scotland football team, to most-closely match one to be selected – over a good lunch – by Dan and Scotland boss Willie Ormond.

The prize was a case of whisky and such was the interest, the competition got more responses than any Herald competition, before or since. You literally could not see the surface of the Sports Desk, and the pile of entries was of Everest proportions.

Poor Dan had to wade through them all, but, he picked-out one losing entry for special mention, and I seem to recall, he sent the entrant – a chap from Hamilton I seem to remember - a consolation bottle of whisky for his chutzpah.

But common consent, he picked the worst team of Scottish internationalists that could be imagined. The team started: Frank Haffey, Bobby Shearer, Davie Provan – then went down hill.

So, I have taken a similar approach to picking my 2021 Lions Test XV, which, in 1-15 order is:

Joe Marler, Elliot Dee, Simon Berghan, Adam Beard, Devon Toner, James Botham, Brad Shields, Josh Strauss; Henry Pyrgos, Owen Farrell, Jacob Stockdale, Manu Tuilagi, Ollie Lawrence, Jonny May, Mike Brown.

Well, it's no sillier a selection than some I've seen. I was, however, sorely tempted to pick Six Nations' Player of the Tournament HAMISH WATSON, seeing as so-many erudite and unbiased English commentators have been telling us he's useless and picking about a dozen English club players ahead of him in their selections.

THE Junta has seen fit to release the minutes of the last meeting of the SRU Board, interesting they are too. Of particular interest to me, is the decision to switch Stirling County from being a notional “North and Midlands” club to being a “Glasgow North” club.

With the suggestion that the FOSROC Super6 is set to become the Super8, this is intriguing.

• Does this mean the controversial plan for a Scotstoun-based S8 side has been quietly dropped?

• Where does this leave the whole of Scotland north of the River Forth – is the SRU writing-off all these clubs as incapable of producing good players?

I think we need clarity of thinking (no tittering at the back there) from inside BT Murrayfield. The Council members should have some hard questions for The Junta, while being ready to answer some themselves from the clubs.

No word either in the minutes about how those welcome £20 million in government grtants and loans will be spent. Well, I could hazard a guess or two.

• Refurbishment of TCD's office suite

• Ditto for whoever replaces the now-departed Dom McKay

• New top of the range cars for those two paid officials, plus maybe the new bean counter in-chief.

• Pay-offs to some of the failures, starting with Warriors' coach Danny Wilson. His jaiket has to be on a shoogly peg after recent results.

• The cost of recruiting Wilson's replacement.

All of that should get rid of a million or two, fairly easily. Also, I dare say TCD will need a wee trip to South Africa this summer, to check-out the Lions Tour. And, since he cannot go it alone, I suppose Super Trougher, our beloved Chairman JJ, who, as Lion number 607 has more right to be on the trip than TCD.

A wee trip to Africa, all-expenses-paid for those two, will be further good use for the cash.

Don't Cry For Us Bonnie Scotland

THIS POST was supposed to be Part Two of my look at Glasgow Rugby. However, since this is my website – my rules, I trust regular followers will forgive me if I change horses in mid-race, dump the Glasgow piece (for now) and take a fresh look at thing.

(And if you cannot forgive me, tough titty. I'm in my 75^th year now, I have decided to stop giving a fuck what anyone else thinks and just do my own thing.)

Browsing through Facebook, the other night, I had an epiphany. I cannot remember who posted it, or on what site – my apologies for that, but, the poster got me thinking: that's a very-good idea.

The post in question suggested that the SRU should follow the lead of UAR, the Argentinian Rugby Union and go with one full-time professional sides, the equivalent of Los Jaguares, and allow our better players to go off and play elsewhere, if other clubs can offer them a better deal than the SRU.

The SRU, and indeed the Scottish Rugby Family, well, we: “Hae a guid conceit o' oorsels.” We appear to think, because we started the whole international rugby circus off in the first place, 150 years ago, we have some God-given right to a permanent seat at the top table.

Sure, if we can earn that seat, fair enough, but, we do not have a right to our exalted place in the game, unless we work at at – which means making the best of what we have, and not spending money we cannot afford on institutions and structures which are no longer fit for purpose.

Let's look at the two Unions in question here:

• UAR – 420 clubs – 102,790 registered players

• SRU – 241 clubs – 38,500 registered players

So, the Argentinian Union is twice as large as the SRU, and has nearly three-times the number of players, yet, they get bye on one full-time professional club side. We are currently ranked eighth in the World Rugby rankings, Argentina are ranked ninth. Obviously, there is not a lot between the two nations.

Another thing the two nations have in common – rugby comes a poor second to football in national consciousness. For every wannabe Finn Russell here, there are ten wannabe Kenny Dalglishes. In Argentina, for every wannabe Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, there are ten wannabe Diego Maradonas.

But, when, with their greater number of clubs and players, the UAR feels they can only fund and manage one full-time professional team, what gives the smaller SRU the right to think they can afford to fund two full-time professional teams?

Los Jaguares has a 100% Argentinian squad – no contracts given to cheap South Africans, Kiwis or Australians. Their coach is an Argentinian, no foreign imports there either. If Argentina can do this – why not Scotland?

Argentina's GDP (gross domestic product) is $454.4 billion US Dollars, this equates to a per capita income of $9,912.28 Us Dollars.

Scotland's GDP is $205 billion US Dollars, this equates to a per capita income of $37,460 US Dollars. So, you might think, from these figures, the SRU might be able to attract private investors to run their full-time professional teams. I wonder why this has not happened.

This inability to attract meaningful inward investment towards their full-time professional teams has forced the SRU to become team owners, rather than merely the governing body.

It is fair enough that the SRU is not the only governing body to also own teams competing in the PRO14. However, the Irish and Welsh clubs in that competition are more “arms length” than the two Scottish sides.

Particularly in Ireland, each of the four provincial teams in the PRO14 is managed locally – why is this not the case in Scotland?

While I acknowledge, both Edinburgh and Glasgow have had some success in attracting supporters who may not have a grass roots club of choice, in-general their supporter base comes from the long-established club scene. By releasing control from Murrayfield to more-autonomous Regions or Districts, I feel, as has happened in Ireland, the supporter base could be grown.

So, why don't the SRU take a look at the Irish and Argentinian models and see if we could adapt them to suit Scotland.

At the time of writing, the SRU directly employs over 100 full-time professional rugby players. Twenty-two of these players are not Scotland-qualified. There are also a further 30 Scottish players playing in the top-flight in England, France and Wales.

Suppose we go for the Argentinian model, the 22 players who were not Scotland-qualified could be let go at the end of their contracts, or have their contracts paid-off. The Union could then decide what to do with the 80 Scottish players they had left.

Up to 15 could be deployed as the Sevens squad, leaving some 65 players. Since the average full-time team in the three elite European leagues carries 50 players, that means some 15 players would need to be re-homed. However, it would still leave the SRU with 100 full time players from whom to pick the Scotland squad.

This is always a difficult and emotive subject. However, some would surely be able to re-locate to other clubs, some of the more-experienced players might want to start the switch to coaching, perhaps deals could be done to place them with Super6 (or as we hear it could be – Super8 clubs). Some of the older players might be absorbed into development roles within the SRU.

Now, if we could not put-out a competitive national team, and a competitive PRO14 team from that amount of SCOTTISH players, maybe we should just give it up completely.

The big bonus, however, would be – the cost savings to be made would allow the SRU to divert more money to grass roots club rugby, thus ensuring the game's survival and good health in Scotland.

Mind you, for Scottish rugby to have a healthy future, we need further change – of which, more later.

Let's Look At Glasgow Rugby - Part One: If You Know Their History

WE REALLY need to talk about Glasgow Rugby. OK, everyone and his brother and sister believes the Dear Green Place is a football city, but, right from the start of rugby 150 years ago, Glasgow has had a proud rugby heritage.

There were six Glasgow Academicals and one West of Scotland player in the original 20-strong Scotland team which beat England in the inaugural international in 1871. These two clubs, plus Allan Glen's, Clydesdale, GHK, Glasgow Hawks, Glasgow High School FP, Glasgow University, Hillhead High School FP, Jordanhill College, Hutcheson's Grammar School FP and Kelvinside Academicals have all as individual clubs, produced full Scotland caps over the 150 years of international rugby. (I appreciate GHK and to a degree Hawks are amalgamations of clubs also listed separately, by the way.)

In addition, from the wider Glasgow District: Ayr, Greenock Wanderers, Kilmarnock, Paisley and Stirling County have produced full caps. So, Glasgow District rugby has history.

In the final season of the old Unofficial Championship in 1973, there were eight Glasgow District sides listed in the 30 Championship clubs. The following season, the first of the Official Leagues, there were 11 Glasgow District teams in the three National Leagues. Today, there are 18 Glasgow District (now West Region) sides in the four National Leagues. Below that, there are a further 31 clubs playing in the West Regional Leagues.

These figures indicate – there is nothing wrong with club rugby in the West, at least as far as numbers are concerned. However, this quantity does not always transfer into quality.

For all the old Glasgow District had the most clubs; in 46 Inter-District Championship tournaments, Glasgow won a mere three, and shared a further five – hardly a case of biggest being best.

Back in the days of the Unofficial Championship, Glasgow Academicals won the title ten times, and shared it on a further five occasions. Accies, however, did not win the title again after the glory days of Herbert Waddell and Jimmy Nelson at half-back, in 1926.

West of Scotland come next, with six wins and a further three shared titles – their last in 1971, the heyday of Sandy Carmichael and Gordon Brown off with the Lions, and the likes of Ronnie Hannah, David Shedden, Ian Murchie, and Quinton Dunlop being around the Scotland team, and Lionel Weston capped by England.

Glasgow High School FP come next, with four wins and three shares – their last in 1962, when Hamish Kemp was still playing. Jordanhill College famously took the title in 1969, while Allan Glen's are the only other outright winners from Glasgow – taking the title in 1939. Hillhead High School FP have twice shared the title, in 1934 and 1937.

The Official Scottish Club Championship was not a Glasgow success story. In the first 21 seasons, from 1973-74, there was not one Glasgow winner, although West of Scotland did travel to Mansfield Park and beat Hawick in an epic play-off game, in the inaugural season. However, they still fell short, the Greens taking the title on points difference. That was as close as a Glasgow club came to winning the crown, before Stirling County finally triumphed in 1994-95 – the last season before the game went open.

No side form the West won again, until Glasgow Hawks had their run of three straight league wins, between 2004 and 2006. Since then, Ayr has consistently been the Best in the West, with title wins in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2019. Marr were on-course to win the Premiership in 2020, when Covid intervened and the season was cancelled.

So, it could be said, the story of Glasgow or West club rugby has been: lots of clubs of a near-identical standard, with one club at a time leading the way and standing above the rest.

Of course, the rugby landscape has changed greatly over the last few years. At the highest level of the club game, it's all about full-time professionals – Edinburgh Warriors and Glasgow Warriors – playing in the PRO14.

We could, therefore, view Warriors as the one West club standing above the rest and leading the way. However, when the likes of West of Scotland held that role in the amateur days, or Hawks or Ayr or Marr was the leading club side – their squads tended to be made-up of locally-trained young men.

That is not the case with Warriors. The club might have a 50-strong playing squad, but, only 12 of these players – less than a quarter – are genuine West of Scotland boys, who came through local clubs. So, there appears to be a definite glass ceiling which locally-reared players struggle to break through to the professional ranks.

Looking ahead, it appears the SRU is planing to use the FOSROC SUPER6, which will be expanded to at-least a Super8, as a sort of finishing school where those players who can train-on to become full-time professionals will be sorted out from those who, in Murrayfield's eyes, don't have what it takes.

However, it looks as if, rather than inviting either GHA or Glasgow Hawks, currently the two top clubs in the city, to take-up one of the additional Super franchises, the Murrayfield Brains Trust will place the franchise, under central control, at Scotstoun, playing under the Warriors banner.

Murrayfield has form on this. There are long-standing Hawks officials who will tell you, and provide compelling evidence, that Murrayfield played its part in stifling their club's ambitions to be the best in the west by amongst other activities: “encouraging” Hawks' sponsors to divert their cash from the club side to Warriors.

NOT having an S6 franchise in the city was one of the many failings when Super6 was concocted. I am positive having no club input when this failing is rectified is to compound the folly.

Look at the top two clubs in the city. GHA has direct links to two of the top rugby-playing schools in the city: the H in the club's name stands for Hutcheson's Grammar School, while the A stands for St Aloysius College.

Hawks was started as an amalgamation of Glasgow Academicals and GHK, with direct links to Glasgow Academy, The High School of Glasgow and Kelvinside Academy, the three leading rugby-playing schools in the north of the city.

OK, some of the backwoodsmen around Anniesland were never happy with this arrangement, and contrived to get Accies and GHK back climbing through the leagues, weakening Hawks in the process. Then, the SRU stuck the boot in with the bourach they made when they set-up S6.

In short, Glasgow District (now West Regional) rugby has under-performed for too-long – what can be done to end this long history of under-performance?

I have my own ideas on this – which I intend to expand on in part two of this look at Glasgow Rugby.