Clubs - Become The Media, It's The Way Forward

THIS BLOG has for some time been encouraging clubs in Scottish Rugby to “become the media.” The traditional mainstream media – newspapers and broadcasting outlets, are more and more concentrating their attenton and resources on fitba. None of the main newspapers now has a dedicated rugby reporter and while, through his marvellous The Offside Line and his freelance work, big David Barnes is doing a great job in plugging the gap, he cannot do it all on his own.

A welcome development has been the arrival of dedicated club newsletters. Ayr Rugby Club has started The Pink and Black Newsletter, which benefits from having Alex MacLeod, when on the tools one of Scotland's top production journalists, in the Editor's chair. Another great read is Hawks Onside, the newsletter of Glasgow Hawks.

The main man here is Alasdair Graham, who is doing a sterling job and I for one am delighted to see Hawks not only alive and kicking, but, kicking-on. I had genuine fears for the club just before Covid struck. Their not getting the Glasgow franchise for Super6 – the lack of which is the single biggest drawback to the S6 project, was a bit of a blow. Back then, I genuinely feared for Hawks' long-term future.

However, the dedication and hard work of the likes of Alasdair, Hugh Barrow, Kenny Hamilton, Chaz Afuakwah, Stephen Winter and others has seen the club not just survive, but thrive. They have recruited some exciting young talent for the new season and I now feel better days are around the corner for Hawks.

AS THE GAME cranks back up again following the Covid disruption, I am hearing disturbing news of player shortages in some key positions – primarily in the front row, with some of the smaller clubs beginning to be worried about their chances of fielding second or other minor XVs.

Even before Covid, there were a lot of minor XV games not being played and if this worrying trend continues, the future looks grim. Of course, not every player can get himself up for pre-season warm-ups, the picture will become clearer come September and the start of the leagues, but, these early reports are concerning.

Concerned commenters frequently cite the demand for replacements as one of the causes of the drop-off in minor teams playing. I have once or twice mentioned how, when I started playing at Cumnock RFC, the club was fielding three XVs every week. Today, they only field two XVs – most weeks. However, the 45 players we put out half a century ago, compares almost directly with the two teams plus replacements being put out today.

The problem today appears to be the need for front row replacements. On safety grounds, these replacements must have some notion on what they are meant to do. Might the answer, at least in part, to the problem be to “de-power” the scrum.

The front row dark arts will never vanish, but, perhaps if, at least at the community level, the scrummage laws were adjusted, the safety aspects could be addressed, along with the replacement issues.

How about taking away the incentive to go for scrum penalties? We could look at banning the side winning the ball from holding it in the scrum (other than at a five-metre scrum). Get back to insisting on the scrum becoming what it is supposed to be – a means of re-starting play following a minor offence.

Surely there are sufficient brains within the game to cojme up with a workable solution to this.

We should also look seriously at Sir Ian McGeechan's call of this week for fewer replacements. I not Sir Bill Beaumont has not kicked this suggestion into the long grass and World Rugby is having a look, although, this will take some time to bear fruit.

APART FROM the final outcome – from an Ayrshire perspective – there wasn't much to complain about in Friday night's FOSROC Super6 offering from Bridgehaugh.

I wrote last week that some of these days, it would click for Stirling County and they would get the pay-off their exciting attacking play merited. Well a 30-28 bonus point win was just the result they needed, in what was a thoroughly entertaining and exciting contest.

Let's hope County can kick-on from this very-good win, and, am I alone in thinking, Archie Russell could do a job for either of our two full-time professional sides?

One disappointing facet of Friday night was, I (again) couldn't get the game on the BBC iplayer, so, instead of watching on the 40-inch plus television, I had to make do with the laptop screen. But, that turned out to be a minor inconvenience as County's high tempo, off-loading game, got its reward.

Mind you, Bulls had a bad night at the office; too many players were off the pace, they left a number of kicking points out there, and still only lost by two. But, well done County, this result certainly makes the league more interesting.

I noticed, over 1200 people watched the broadcast on the BBC website, an audience for S6 is slowly building.

AND FINALLY: I chanced upon a wee clip of a New Zealand inter-provincial game towards the end of the amateur era, on Facebook, the other day. One thing so struck me, I re-ran it and timed it.

The referee signalled a scrum. From him indicating scrum down, to Murray Mexted breaking away from the back of the scrum to initiate an attack took a mere 12 seconds. Compare that with the two minutes-plus scrums, the multiple re-sets and so forth we “enjoy” in top-flight rugby today.

A case in point were the early exchanges at Bridgehaugh on Friday night. Most of the opening ten minutes were spent getting scrums re-set.

Surely it is not beyond the wit of World Rugby to get us back to those innocent days of yore when a scrum really was a means of re-starting play after a minor infringement.

Filling A Blank Sheet Of Paper - There's The Problem

I RETURN today to the vexing issue of what may transpire as the club members get around to discussing the points raised by the Governance Review Commission's suggestions as to how the game is run up here in the years ahead.

In announcing the Commission's findings, President Ian Barr spoke of a: “blank sheet of paper” approach. I can see those four words striking fear and alarm into the Aye Been sector of our game, to whom any change is to be fought against.

The thing is, Governance covers how the game is managed; it does not necessarily cover how many leagues we have, the duration of a season, the actual playing of the game – Governance is all about who makes the decisions about these things – there is a difference.

Some older guys still involved in the game, long for the more-innocent days of John Law or Bill Hogg running things from Murrayfield. Back then, they ran what was in effect a civil service type secretariat. Of course, with their long years of experience, when Messers Law or Hogg said to the enthusiastic amateurs who sat on the SRU committees: “Perhaps, that is not a good idea gentlemen,” well the 'Bufties' generally listened.

Received wisdom in this 21^st century is that the Great Leader TCD decides what is to be done, calls a meeting, presses a button and up shoot the hands of the elected members in agreement. I get the impression we are witnessing a change in culture, with the elected members set to take back the control their predecessors appear to have surrendered to the paid “suits.”

Certainly, under Ian Barr, Vice President Colin Rigby and the newer members of the SRU Council, the balance of power appears to be swinging back to the elected officials. The Governance Commission's conclusions seem to support this welcome change – however, the proof will be in what emerges from the consultation period.

The suggested switch to more-localised decision-making, via the proposed Regional Boards, is to be welcomed. I recall a conversation with one of the most-experienced club officials, some time ago, during which he mourned the loss of the old District meetings, at which the views of ALL the local clubs would be aired.

These passed when Council members were elected by each of the national leagues and regions – which meant the only inter-action between clubs was with clubs of their own standing. To use my own Ayrshire as an example: whereas in the old Glasgow District days, all the clubs would meet at the District meetings. Of late Ayr only ever spoke to another Ayrshire club in that one season when both they and Marr were in the Premiership. Ardrossan and Carrick were, briefly, both in National 3, Garnock, Irvine and Kilmarnock were in West 1, so they saw each other, while Cumnock, in West 2 seldom even saw another Ayrshire club.

A return to District Boards and meetings will lead to cross-fertilisation of ideas and give every club an idea of the problems facing others, this has to be good for the governance of the game.

The real battle, however, will not be over governance. It will be about the format for playing the game, an issue which is somewhat removed from governance.

The Review has already signalled, Scottish Rugby now has two tiers, the “Performance” game and the “Community” one. How these two distinct parts interact will have a major bearing on the health of Scottish Rugby going forward.

What follows will surely not go down well with those clubs, and their members, who think, because It's aye been that they are a big club, once there are words on the “blank sheet of paper” the club might still be a big one, in terms of history and perhaps facilities and membership, but its allure and influence will have decreased significantly.

They will not be “Performance” clubs. Their players will not be in the running when it comes to international appearances at adult level. These clubs will need to find a new meaning.

But, that could be a good and successful one. Let's assume the division between the performance game and the community one is established. We will see Super6 become Super8, and possibly, a few more years down the line – Super10.

I would like to see serious consideration given to treating the community game as rugby's equivalent of Junior Football – as a second-chance level for those players who missed-out on getting into the Academy as teenagers to show what they can do to the Performance side of the game; and as a place to which former performance tier players could return if they wished to keep playing for fun.

The SRU's determination to make the community game strictly amateur (i.e. no player gets paid) is admirable – however, as I keep having to remind people, rugby is an Open game, if a club wishes to legally pay a player, then I don't think the SRU can stop this. I believe, players in the club game will continue to be paid, but, not many of them, and probably not much.

Below S6/8/10 – let's regionalise. This will mean running the regional leagues could be delegated to the Area Rugby Boards which have been suggested by the review commission.

The Border League already works, we could see similar regional leagues in the North, Midlands, East and West Regions. We could even see, as happens in the Scottish Hockey Union's District Leagues (and in the North and Midlands regional leagues today) – second third and soon teams from the bigger clubs playing against first teams from smaller clubs across Scotland.

This season, we have 45 National League teams in four divisions;( Premiership and three National Leagues). I would suggest, we do not have 45 teams of sufficient quality to justify this. But, these same clubs could provide excellent amateur sport in regionalised leagues:

Border League – 8 clubs

Berwick

Gala

Hawick

Jed-forest

Kelso

Melrose

Peebles

Selkirk

East League – 10 clubs

Boroughmuir

Currie

Edinburgh Academical

Heriot's

Lasswade

Murrayfield Wanderers

Musselburgh

Preston Lodge

Stewart's-Melville

Watsonians

North and Midlands League – 10 clubs

Aberdeen Grammar School FP

Dundee HSFP

Falkirk

Gordonians

Highland

Howe of Fife

Kirkcaldy

Perthshire

Stirling County Wolves

Strathmore

West League – 15 clubs

Ardrossan Academicals

Ayr

Biggar

Cartha-Queen's Park

Dumfries Saints

GHA

GHK

Glasgow Academicals

Glasgow Hawks

Greenock Wanderers

Hamilton Bulls

Hillhead-Jordanhill

Marr

Newton Stewart

West of Scotland

There is, I feel, a case for the West League promoting the top team in the Regional League to give a 16 club, two-conference set-up, similar to the new Unted Rugby Championship set-up.

There are some tasty match-ups in these leagues, and even the potential for an end-of-season knock-out tournament between the league winners to find Scotland's Champion Club. What's not to like?

Throw-in a Scottish Cup and Regional Cups, and we could have a vibrant season of closely-fought games between near-neighbours. We could eliminate most of the long-distance games and keep the players more-involved. And, perhaps come up with a properly-structured Sevens season.

But, let's get the governance sorted-out first, then look at the fixture list. We have time on our side to get it right and should use that time to talk things out calmly and sensibly.

In-Fighting: You Aint Seen Nothin' Yet

RECEIVED WISDOM tells us, the most-bitter rivalry in Scottish (if not world) sport is that between Glasgow's two biggest football teams. More than one high-profile English journalist, sent north to cover the spectacle of The Old Firm, has returned to “Fleet Street” to assure his readers: “They genuinely hate each other.”

This may well be the case at the knuckle-dragging end of both club's supporter base. However, while present-day relations between the clubs may not be as cordial as when Sir Bob Kelly led the Celtic Family and John Lawrence the Rangers one – you can bet, if any of the other Scottish clubs ever comes up with a proposal which threatens the Old Firm's dominance of Scottish football – the Glasgow giants will stand together to repel it.

It's the same in any sport, or branch of sport. Back in the days when I used to cover Ayrshire Junior Football, if a suggestion came up at the monthly meeting of the clubs, which threatened Auchinleck Talbot and Cumnock, you could bet on the representatives of these bitter rivals standing together against it.

Just look at the last big schism in Scottish rugby. When TCD came-up with the concept of Super6, the idea was to have the six franchises spread around the country. When asked about the lack of North and Midlands representation at the top of the club game, and how this might translate into the S6 concept, The Great Leader suggested the SRU might be forced to fund a franchise in the Aberdeen/Dundee area.

However, and this was perhaps the first indication that S6 was a money-saving idea, this never happened. It didn't help either when the Edinburgh clubs, having failed to reach an agreement to set-up a distinct Edinburgh franchise, all put their individual identities first, in some of the Establishment clubs flexing their muscles and three of the six franchises being given to capital clubs.

Well, cynic that I am, I can see the S6 Stooshie being a warm-up act for the real rugby civil war – when we get around to discussing the excellent proposals put forward this week by the Governance Review Commission's report.

In addition to the in-fighting which will afflict the club game, some of the “bailies” within The Murrayfield Junta, will already be putting in place plans to defend their own wee bailiewicks. Hell will have no fury like a paper tiger defending his or her territory.

One particular friend of this blog has already hinted at internal strife within Murrayfield. He suggests, and I believe he has a point, that the Legal Department at HQ, already under threat via an AGM motion, will be badly-impacted by the Review suggestions.

As he said: “Can we have the same legal department advising both the existing SRU Limited and the NewCo being proposed to replace the SRU Trust?”

With my legal expertise stretching no further than answering “Not Guilty M'Lud,” in the presence of a Sheriff, that's a question I leave to better-qualified people, but, it will be interesting to see what happens.

What, however, has really interested me is the final paragraph of the explanatory notes which Ian Barr sent out along with the consultative document. This says:

“You will see from our proposal that some radical changes are being suggested by the Standing Committee. The Committee has embraced an attitude of “starting from a blank sheet of paper” to adapt and modernise the governance structures of Scottish Rugby Union.”

Note those seven words I have underlined in that paragraph. That cuts right across the basic almost-religious tenet of Scottish Rugby: “It's aye been, and aye will be.”

Get ready for incoming fire people.

GIVEN my affinity with Ayrshire Bulls, I hope it doesn't happen on Friday night, but, some of these weeks, Stirling County are going to give someone a doing.

They could and perhaps should have beaten Heriot's in yesterday afternoon's live televised match in the FOSROC Super6, their failure to do so will surely have Head Coach Ben Cairns tearing his hair out, but, if they keep showing the attacking intent and invention they have shown thus far, then that first win could be a good one.

I was particularly impressed by two of County's players as I watched on Free Sport yesterday. I have long been a Murphy Walker fan and the progress the very-young tight-head continues to make is impressive. But, the guy who really caught my eye was Archie Russell.

The Cambridge 'Blue' runs some great lines, while one or two of his off-loads would have had the critics purring if they had come from younger brother Finn, like him, Archie is a class act. He was my Man-of-the-Match.

S6 is growing, the level of the games gets better by the week – as does the TV coverage. The camera work from Stirling was much-better than the previous Sunday from Goldenacre and, with class acts Dougie Vipond, Chris Paterson and Stuart McFarlane on duty, it was a pleasure to watch the broadcast.

Kudos too, to referee Finlay Brown and the officiating team. A good afternoon.

I have only seen limited highlights, mainly the tries, from Saturday's match in which Southern Knights beat the Bulls 22-20, but, apparently, this meeting was well up to the high standards we have come to expect from these two clubs, regardless of the names attached.

BUT, and what a pity there has to be a but, before I published this blog, on Monday morning, I had a look at the SRU website. Sure, they had a very good review of the three S6 games – short, run-of-play reports, scores and scorers, team sheets etc, however there is more to rugby reporting than this.

Go to the fixtures and results section of the SRU website, click on the S6 part and what do you find? Neither the Saturday nor Sunday match results are up and the league table has not been updated.

This is not good enough. Scottish Rugby is no longer adequately covered by the mainstream media. We have come a long way down from the days of the likes of Norman Mair, Bill McMurtrie, Bill McLaren etc. If the media will not give the game the coverage it deserves, it's up in part to the SRU to plug the gap.

If the virtual two man band that is The Offside Line can become the leading vehicle for rugby coverage in Scotland, why cannot the SRU's media department give us the solid coverage the game needs and deserves?

I've said it before and will surely say it again – NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE.

At Last - The Governance Review Is Released

RIGHT ON TIME – tea time on a Friday, the SRU's not fit for purpose Media Department slipped-out the long-awaited reveal of the Standing Committee on Governance's findings on the future shape of the game up here.

Straight away can I say, well done President Ian Barr, very-much the driver of getting this report done and out for consultation. And well done even more to El Presidente, for the excellent video in which he explains the thinking behind the report.

Of course, this is only the start, there is still a lot of talking to be done, a few entrenched positions to be defended/stormed, but, on first examination, the team behind this report have done a very-good job.

When he first got the top job, Ian made it clear he wanted to see the clubs at the heart of the game, and the proposals the review team have come up with certainly make that intention clear.

It's a great start, but, as with all these things, the devil will be in the detail. What I do like about the proposals is, BT Murrayfield has finally grasped the nettle and admitted – rugby is now a two-tier sport. There is a “performance” side to the game, and a community side. Accepting this fact will hopefully end much of the discord.

Basically, the performance side covers everything from Super6 up – the national and age group representative teams, the sevens squad, the two URC teams and the current six Super6 sides.

Their funding will be settled and they will be run by a professional game board. Meanwhile, the ordinary clubs, youth development and so forth will be overseen by another board – the Club Rugby Board.

But, the members of this body will come from what is, in effect, a return to the old District Committees of the amateur days. No longer will, as is the case of the current Council, the decision-makers from club-land be elected by small groups, such as the 10 or 12 clubs in any single national league.

If the proposals go through, there will be five Area Rugby Boards, covering the North, Midlands, East, South and West and the five Chairmen (or women) of these five boards will go forward to the Club Rugby Board. These five area boards will hopefully provide local solutions to local problems.

The Scottish Rugby Trust will be wound-up and replaced by a New Company, to safeguard the clubs' stake in the ownership of the Scottish Rugby Union. The present Council will also be dissolved. The NewCo – a company limited by guarantee – will “sit at the apex of the Scottish Rugby ecosystem”, said Ian Barr.

The board of the NewCo will have an active oversight role and be directly accountable to the membership. “We believe this structure provides strong representation and protection for the membership, with appointments on its board being directly elected by members,” Ian added.

Scottish Rugby Union Limited will remain as the main operating vehicle within Scottish Rugby, responsible for the day-to-day running of the business and overseeing the new Club Rugby and Performance Rugby Boards, which will be created to provide greater autonomy to how those parts of the game run.

The Club Rugby Board will be responsible for: budget formulation and implementation; competition regulations and structures; disciplinary panel membership; Championship/competitions; season structure; club support programmes/MoS etc; club name or status changes; training and education programmes; strategy (community game) for SRUL sign off; match officials and competitions department; regulatory matters (community game).

It is suggested that five ‘area rugby boards’ – South, East, West, Midlands and North – be created underneath the Club Rugby Board to

The Club Rugby Board will be chaired by the Vice President of the Union and be populated by the elected chairperson of each of the five areas plus the Director of Rugby Development and the CFO/Finance Director.

These proposals will now go out for discussion and feedback to the clubs, and Ian Barr is hopeful that this process can be concluded and the matter referred back to an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Union, some time before the end of the year.

There is a lot of meat in these proposals, and a lot of hard talking to be done, before we see concrete changes. However, first impression is of a job well done and the basis for change are in there.

Let the talking and horse-trading commence.

IT WOULD be presumptuous to say: “A star was born,” but, you have to be excited about Watsonians' new stand-off, Marc Morrison, after his stand-out Man of the Match performance in Friday night's FOSROC Super6 win over Boroughmuir Bears.

Thrust into the number 10 shirt by Lee Millar's untimely biceps injury, Morrison confirmed the good first impression he made off the bench in Game Two, pulling the strings brilliantly in guiding Watsonians back to the top of the league via a five-try, 36-13 win, at Meggetland last night.

When first unleashed in the win over Stirling County, it was the young South African-Scot's willingness to run the ball which caught the eye, but, last night, he also demonstrated he can play the kicking game too.

He even produced a couple of soaring 50/22 kicks which, under the new Law, put the visitors right back on the front foot, from a defensive position.

This game was further proof, as the season unfolds, S6 is set to deliver a high-quality, entertaining brand of rugby. The players are warming to the new challenge, and if Southern Knights and Ayrshire Bulls, this afternoon, and Stirling County and Heriot's in tomorrow's live televised match from Bridgehaugh can match last night's standard, then the naysayers around S6 will lose a few members.

If Marc Morrison was the stand-out last night, he was chased all the way by referee Ian Kenny, whose confident and competent display showed, Scottish referees are on the up and up.