Edinbok concerns

[enby]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... ports.html

Pretty grim reading. You'd worry for the future of Scottish rugby if this situation continues. It is difficult to imagine how Edinburgh are going to expand their meagre support by packing their squad with 3rd rate saffers. Much as we have had occasion to moan about the rigidity of the IRFU policy on NIQs, it is far preferable to the free-for-all that the Scots are currently fostering.

[jimbobjoe]

I've lived in Edinburgh for a number of years now and have had some good insight into the workings of Scottish rugby via friends who have worked for the union and via clubs.

The issue is with the union themselves. There is little or no effort to expand the game to the less traditional rugby areas such as the Edinburgh schools and the borders (among a few others).

A lot of money is given to the rural teams for travel and others expenses as even the standard level teams from places like Inverness or Fort William will have to go to even more remote locations such as Stornaway and other island locations. I'm not sure what else can be done here as the highland/islands are so sparsely populated. These clubs tend not to see the army of development officers though as alluded to in the article, as they're all busy watching Watsonians v Edinburgh Accies.

The running of the national teams and regions is also quite unprofessional from what I can see. All the focus is given to the senior men, age grade and especially women's rugby really struggles for funding and face time with coaches. I can't comment on Glasgow but from what we can all see they're doing something right...I'd be inclined to put this down to Sean Lineen and now Gregor Townsend. From an attitude perspective, Edinburgh couldn't be worse... a lot of the players were relieved to have lost the first couple of games in the season as it removed any level of expectation.

As for promotion of the game for potential spectators, the casual fan wouldn't know if an Edinburgh game is being played on any given weekend. The decline of Scottish football should prompt the regions to lower ticket prices and attempt to attract the floating Hearts/Hibs fans.

The blazers seem happy enough to sack the S&C coaches and physios, then the coaches and managers in order to ship the blame. They fail to own up to their own shortcomings as administrators and curators of the game. It's still very much an old boys club at the top of Scottish rugby and they're still living on the backs of the glory amateur days. I reckon Scottish rugby will have to sink a lot deeper than the current scenario in order for them to wake up and change their train of thought.

[BarryP]

Edinburgh (and the SRU) seem to have forgotten one simple thing: nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd.

We didn't move from Donnybrook until we outgrew it, and those that remember the final season there will recall the buzz in the air, as the sense that Leinster was really becoming something special in all aspects of the organisation. Edinburgh need to play in a small 4k-6k capacity ground, and when a few 'sold out' signs go up, then move to a 12k stadium. Could you even imagine if the Aviva was our home stadium, and was a half-filled vacumous space for 85% of the games - would arguably turn away existing 'hardcore' fans rather than lead to greater numbers.

[enby]

Edinburgh (and the SRU) seem to have forgotten one simple thing: nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd.

We didn't move from Donnybrook until we outgrew it, and those that remember the final season there will recall the buzz in the air, as the sense that Leinster was really becoming something special in all aspects of the organisation. Edinburgh need to play in a small 4k-6k capacity ground, and when a few 'sold out' signs go up, then move to a 12k stadium. Could you even imagine if the Aviva was our home stadium, and was a half-filled vacumous space for 85% of the games - would arguably turn away existing 'hardcore' fans rather than lead to greater numbers.

True. And if our team largely consisted of a clatter of journeymen from the SH, nobody would be arsed to go out on a crappy winter night to watch them exchange penalty goals with the likes of the Dragons, Treviso etc.

[JB1973]

The Scottish teams are well funded, can offer a good place to live , so they should be able to retain the best Scottish players and attract a decent level of overseas players.

Glasgow have signed some exciting and talented players who have clearly lifted them as a side.

I'm not privy to the workings of Scottish rugby but there doesn't appear to much in the way of a cohesive development strategy there at all.

until they fix that they will continue to be at the basement end of the 6 nations and be also ran's in the world cup

[BlueBlue]

Scotish rugby is improving and Glasgow are a great team. Edinburgh always seem to have a culture problem but you could say the same about many teams, Racing Metro being a great example. Also you could pick out Saracens and say they have no connection or identity. You could also look at the dimise of WASPS and London Irish and say the english game is in crisis. These articles are a load of BS.

However, I'd like to see some of these british papers write about the state of the English game, I know these papers are british and have readseship in Scotland and Wales but I have yet to read anything of late on the health of the English game. What about all the None english qualified players, club deth and lack of winning anything international for almost a decade.

[TrapperChamonix]

Jesus, its not like the Scots haven't done this before with the Kilted Kiwis and subsequently Fireworks Phil. Both serving to alienate the majority of Scottish supporters. FFS 1 Scottish born player in a team, I don't think any Irish Welsh or previous Scottish team would have been that bad. Plus the fact it lost 41-17, so its not as if the local boys could have done any worse.

[JB1973]

Scotish rugby is improving and Glasgow are a great team. Edinburgh always seem to have a culture problem but you could say the same about many teams, Racing Metro being a great example. Also you could pick out Saracens and say they have no connection or identity. You could also look at the dimise of WASPS and London Irish and say the english game is in crisis. These articles are a load of BS.

However, I'd like to see some of these british papers write about the state of the English game, I know these papers are british and have readseship in Scotland and Wales but I have yet to read anything of late on the health of the English game. What about all the None english qualified players, club deth and lack of winning anything international for almost a decade.

Not sure the test team is improving at all. the same faults are there as always, Decent pack , dire from 9 to 13 and some decent back 3 players.

Untill the Scottish team can score try's they will never do much on the international stage.


You have to admit 1 player born in Scotland is very worrying when they 1 of only 2 professional teams in Scotland

What is happening with their player pathway set up?

[Dave Cahill]

The Borders are not a less traditional rugby area, it is and always has been the heartland of Scottish rugby. Thats the problem. The Borders clubs completely undermined their region, deliberately worked against it and destroyed it on purpose.

[jimbobjoe]

The Borders are not a less traditional rugby area, it is and always has been the heartland of Scottish rugby. Thats the problem. The Borders clubs completely undermined their region, deliberately worked against it and destroyed it on purpose.

Apologies I wrote that wrong...What i meant to say was that the game isn't being expanded to the less traditional areas outside of the Ed schools and Borders.

[hugonaut]

The Borders are not a less traditional rugby area, it is and always has been the heartland of Scottish rugby. Thats the problem. The Borders clubs completely undermined their region, deliberately worked against it and destroyed it on purpose.

Don't know the full story about that at all. What happened?

[mikerob]

The Borders are not a less traditional rugby area, it is and always has been the heartland of Scottish rugby. Thats the problem. The Borders clubs completely undermined their region, deliberately worked against it and destroyed it on purpose.

Don't know the full story about that at all. What happened?

The Border towns are a bit like the Welsh towns. They all hate each other and would rather play each other than come together as a region. If the team was based in Hawick, you'd never get a Gala man going there to support it, and so on.

Back in the amateur days, they did come together as South of Scotland and used to have fixtures against the Irish provinces and touring teams but these were just occasional games and not a full time pro team.

The borders would still have a problem economically as while rugby is popular, not many people live there.

[IanD]

The Borders are not a less traditional rugby area, it is and always has been the heartland of Scottish rugby. Thats the problem. The Borders clubs completely undermined their region, deliberately worked against it and destroyed it on purpose.

Don't know the full story about that at all. What happened?

Did not turn up to support Borders team at all. I was told a story from a member of the Leinster back room staff a few years ago. Leinster were obviously there to play Borders and were shocked when they arrived as the ground was packed - over 5000 people - 2 local teams were playing and they were doing a double header ticket wise. But when Leinster ran out onto the pitch there were around 1500 people left.

His take on it were the locals hated the Borders that much that they would not watch a free match when already in the stadium.

[simonokeeffe]

Michael Bradley is the route of evil here
He pursued a strange policy of instead of making a couple of good signings eg Blackadder he decided to sign anyone interested and hope a few came good, competition for places and IMO SRFU overbought into project player idea too (a lot of guys still have two more season to go)
Now Solomons is new coach they feel he needs to be able to make signings too (3 summer signings and 2 into academy were Scottish qualified)
Expect an epic clearout of players in the summer though as they have a staggering 46 players in their squad plus the academy, of which 18 are not Scottish qualified (Sean Cox qualifies in summer)

[Morf]

Like a road to hell then?

[Alternative Ulster]

Chris Rea alert people. Think of the children.

[nc6000]

It seems that not even an infestation of parasitic worms will stop them playing in Murrayfield.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... oblem.html

[TerenureJim]

The stadium really is a huge hinderence to them, they need to move to something akin to Donnybrook circa 8-10K to build support from the ground up, build an atmosphere and core support and eventually people will start to come along and then bring their mates for a decent night where you watch some rugby, have a pint, a sing along and costs about £15 all in.

Step by step they then move to the bigger stadium by having "event" games there same as we do for when the bigger teams with travelling support and built in atmosphere are in town.

[jimbobjoe]

I just heard rumour that Edinburgh are considering a switch to Raeburn place in Stockbridge, this is where Edinburgh Academicals play and is in the north part of the city. Capacity is currently 5000 which would suit their needs just fine for most games or they could expand slightly. Larger ones could be moved to Murrayfield. George Watson's and George Heriot's alumni may be unhappy about visiting their rival's patch for home games though.

Other stadiums in the area are Meadowbank which has an athletics track and is fairly old afaik, Easter Road which is Hibs home ground and is still too big and Tynecastle (Hearts) which is old and too big.

[BlueBlue]

Scotish rugby is improving and Glasgow are a great team. Edinburgh always seem to have a culture problem but you could say the same about many teams, Racing Metro being a great example. Also you could pick out Saracens and say they have no connection or identity. You could also look at the dimise of WASPS and London Irish and say the english game is in crisis. These articles are a load of BS.

However, I'd like to see some of these british papers write about the state of the English game, I know these papers are british and have readseship in Scotland and Wales but I have yet to read anything of late on the health of the English game. What about all the None english qualified players, club deth and lack of winning anything international for almost a decade.

Not sure the test team is improving at all. the same faults are there as always, Decent pack , dire from 9 to 13 and some decent back 3 players.

Untill the Scottish team can score try's they will never do much on the international stage.


You have to admit 1 player born in Scotland is very worrying when they 1 of only 2 professional teams in Scotland

What is happening with their player pathway set up?

Yes you can make a big deal of it, or not. England had 11 or 12 none english born players in their last world cup squad, there was some comment but no panic about the state of the game in England, and they have the biggest pool of players.