IN THE course of my 40-years wandering in the wilderness which is sport in Scotland, I spent some years covering ice hockey. This period convinced me that here was THE definite Scottish sport.
Not many people know this, but, some Canadian students of the game are convinced the first ice hockey match was played on the frozen St Lawrence River by some of the Highland troops who had helped General Wolfe sin the Battle of Quebec. It wasn't ice hockey as we know it today, simply an impromptu game of shinty, with a severed Frenchman's head as the ball.
Anyone who ever witnessed a Fife Flyers v Paisley Pirates match will need no reminding that ice hockey has always paid due tribute to those kilted pioneers of the 18th century. But, ice hockey is a winter sport, played indoors, which involves lots of gratuitous violence and crowd interaction and where fighting is encouraged - yer perfect Scottish sport in other words.
One of my sadder moments covering ice hockey was to record the quick death of the Scottish Eagles, a club which went, in very short orders from the best in Britain to a former club, simply because they moved from the Centrum in Ayr, because it was "too wee", to Braehead Arena, and didn't have the cash to sustain the move.
I honestly fear the same outcome for the football club we must now refer to as 'The Rangers FC'. Yes, they managed to complete their Ramsdens Cup win over Brechin City on Sunday (and can I say here, this blog did warn it would not be the cake-walk some Rangers fans forecast). But, I honestly do not think that Charles Green and the Sevco investors have the cash it will take to make the new Rangers work.
The figures do not add up; there are still too-many unresovled issues regarding the administration and imminent liquidation of the old Rangers. Mr Green and his men seem wedded to the same unsustainable management methods which got David Murray into trouble, and, even if he had been capable of running an honest ship, would surely have done for Craig Whyte as totally as his illegal scams have done.
I can see The Rangers FC failing to complete this season. I hope I am wrong, Scottish football needs a strong Rangers, and while the new embodiment is not the Rangers of old, for as long as Rangers puts out a team, wearing light blue shirts, at Ibrox - then they will be seen as Rangers, regardless of corporate wrapped, history or a lack thereof.
BDO might pull the whole edifice down. The findings on the Big Tax Case, if they are ever published, could be a nuclear option. The ongoing Strathclyde Police investigation is another ticking time bomb, while at least one Court of Session judge, Lord Hodge, is still in play.
But, even if The Rangers FC does survive and does prosper to the extent that Charles Green and his fellow investors manage to get out with a profit, the whole episode has clearly shown that the SFA, the SPL and although they escape with more credit than the other two bodies, the SFL, are singly and collectively unfit for purpose.
Any good which does come from Rangersgate will come when Scottish football is properly re-organised; when young Scottish players are given a proper chance and when they have the necessary skills and dedication to take full advantage of that re-organisation.
But, to date all that has been shown is that this poor, wee, backward, insular and in-fighting country has a national sport which is ailing and which is in the hands of witch doctors and snake oil salesmen.
The future does not look either good, bright or promising.
In fact, to quote that great Scottish soldier, Private Fraser: "We're awe doomed, doomed ah tell ye!"
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