Small Squabbles In A Small League

I HAD my scrum cap on over the weekend, as it were, concentrating on the oval-ball game. Great to actually be there at Rugby Park, for the first full international on an artificial surface, and for a terrific Scotland performance. Whether it be the football XI or the rugby XV, you always have a niggling, back of the mind concern about Scotland taking-on a lesser side, when all the expectations are of a Scotland win.

 

This time, my concerns proved unfounded. Then there was the bonus of the all Blacks flicking the switch to find overdrive and demolish the woefully over-hyped Welsh. This made-up for the Glasgow reserve team's loss at Llanelli/ Then Edinburgh came in on Sunday tea time with a good win over a very poor Cardiff.

 

So, with all that going-on, I couldn't get enthused about the petty school-yard squabbles which were the SPFL games.

 

Even before Stevie Smith stupidly got himself sent-off, I had a feeling the "Nephews of William" would beat the "Sons of William" in the big Championship clash. When are my friends on the Scottish Football Writers Association finally going to come clean with the cohorts - not so-much legions this season - who have bought the illusion that the Tribute Act is really Rangers. The team which wears royal blue and plays out of Ibrox is an utter shambles of has-beens and probably never will bes, managed by a manager who is shown to be getting further out of his depth with every passing season.

 

There must be something the SFA can do to sort-out this weekly example of bringing Scottish football into disrepute. Mind you, there might be something in the combined view of the football intellectuals from my local Orange club, who reckon it's all a plot, organised by Peter Lawwell, to kill the Rangers brand off, once and for all.

 

Maybe the Tribute Act needs a woman's touch at the top.

 

Not that things are all rosey across the city. Yes, the board, under immense pressure, finally caved-in on the issue of the Living Wage, but, as my old mate Michael Grant wonderfully demonstrated, while Lawwell's belief that Celtic could be the biggest club in the world might play well in Baird's Bar and in Croy and Coatbridge, in the real world, it might raise a chuckle.

 

Let's face it. Had Rangers been run properly before that legendary £1 was handed over and it all went tits up, Celtic wouldn't even be the biggest club in Glasgow.

 

And, speaking about big clubs in Glasgow: well done Alan Archibald of Partick Thistle, who revealed he had sepnt some time at Scotstoun finding-out how Gregor Townsend does things at Glasgow Warriors.

 

I bet big Alan's eyes were opened at the sheer work ethic and enthusiasm of the Warriors, not to mention the coaching nouse which Toony has shown since being handed the Warriors gig.

 

If Thistle can begin to replicate Warriors' swashbuckling football in the oval-ball game within the round-ball one, it will surely soon, once again, be Firhill for Thrills.

 

Paris St Germaine away wasn't the worst Champions' League quarter-final draw Glasgow City could have got, but, it wasn't the best either. Still, the girls have shown a wonderful resiliance in Europe this season, so, I wouldn't write them off.

 

Being women's football - I am duty bound, as a male sports-writer, to come-up with some condescending pish here abouts, so, with previous apologies to the girls - I just hope the City management keep them away from Galleries Lafayette pre-match, keep their mind on the game, not the fashions.

 

Finally, an interesting wee tale from Ayrshire over the weekend. In common with another team which wears royal blue shirts, white socks and black stockings with red tops, Irvine Meadow has delusions of grandeur, like the other team, based on deed done in the grand old days of yore.

 

On Saturday, they faced Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Cup - they even had home advantage. Now, facing Talbot in the League is one thing, in the Scottish Cup, it is quite another and the Meadow didn't have any experience of this phenomenon.

 

Well, they ken noo. Talbot won 4-0. I suppose Liddell's, the local coach hire company in Auchinleck, is already taking bookings for Sunday, 7 June, 2015. That's the date of this season's Junior Cup Final.