The Egg Chasers Don't Get Everything Right

THE Right Worthy Master of the Lap Top Loyal was in full flow in the Herald this morning.

 

The big question - Hampden

This paragon of Presbyterian prose producing was waxing lyrical about what the SRU could teach the SFA about marketing, and how much better things might be if the Sixth Floor Corridor think tank was to ditch Hampden for the joys of life in Edinburgh's EH12 postcode. Aye Right.

As anyone connected with CLUB, rather than performance rugby will happily tell you – if you shake hands with the current SRU 'Blazerhood,' better count your fingers afterwards. Some of the rugby-writing brotherhood – the ones who don't have brown noses, will tell you - they have good cause to dub CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Mark Dodson and COE (Chief Operating Executive) Dominic McKay, the Fat and Thin Controllers respectively. While the SRU Counsel and Company Secretary, Robert Howat is known as: “The Consigliore” - the Mafia lawyer. These guys drive a hard bargain.

or Murrayfield for Scotland home games

Scotland's rugby team is doing well, that cannot be denied. But, to equate the success the SRU is enjoying in filling Murrayfield to watch them with similarly filling the stadium to watch the Scotland football team is akin to comparing apples and pears.

Scottish society is tribal, in politics, in football and also in rugby. Go and watch a Hawick v Gala game, and you will witness the same terracing passion as at an Old Firm game, an Edinburgh Ayrshire, Renfrewshire or Fife “Derby” or Cumnock v Auchinleck Talbot. The difference between football and rugby is – in rugby, they limit the fighting to on the field.

But, in rugby the national side tops everything else – you will not find a Scottish rugby fan supporting England, or Ireland, the way some numpties on either side of the Glasgow divide do. If a Scotsman turns up at the annual Calcutta Cup game in a replica England shirt, it's for a bet.

And that's another reason why Murrayfield is selling-out so regularly. The Scotland team is winning, and playing great rugby. But, it wasn't that long ago, in the days of Australian coach Matt Williams, when the SRU might have struggled to give away tickets to watch Scotland.

Also, Scotland's rugby team is ranked seventh in the world. If Scotland's football team was that highly-ranked, filling a stadium would not be a problem. And, they play in the annual 6 Nations tournament, against some of the best nations in the world.

Last season's international visitors to Murrayfield, with their world rankings, were: Samoa (16), New Zealand (1), Australia (5), England (4) and France (8). Just supposing England, France – now the World Cup holders and Argentina, Germany and Portugal were coming to Hampden – would the Tartan Army stay away? Imagine too, an annual European Championships which pitted Scotland against say: England, Germany, France, Spain and Italy – the Hampden games (or Murrayfield for that matter) would be guaranteed sell-outs, if we were competitive.

Guarantee us this sort of action every year and selling Scotland games would be easy

Yes, the SRU puts on a good show. Certainly they are in a better stadium than Hampden. No question the spectator facilities – on-site bars and plenty of them, good fast-food outlets, a great spectator experience to be sure. But, if the team was not producing on the park, the fans would still turn-up, but not in such terrific numbers.

The fact is too, attendance at Murrayfield internationals is something of a social occasion. Home internationals there have been described as: “The biggest old school reunions on the planet.” The Welsh invasion every second year is as much a rite of passage in the valleys as the bi-annual Wembley trip used to be up here.

There are long-standing inter-club relationships. For instance Ayr and Llanishen have been playing each other on the Friday before the international for over 40-years. The citizens of Hawick and Glynneath (home of the great Max Boyce) have been exchanging visits and playing since 1956 while, in the amateur era, Heriot's and Cardiff played each other, a club match which would be like Rangers or Celtic and Arsenal meeting every Friday before a Scotland v England clash at Hampden or Wembley.

The rugby battalions of the Tartan Army, unlike their football cousins, know they are going to get five home internationals one year, six the next. They know a year ahead who their team will be playing, on which particular date. They can plan ahead. That makes it easier to sell international season ticket books, and to adjust prices where necessary.

Both stadiums were redeveloped in the 1990s with the help of fund-raising debenture schemes, Hampden only sold a little over 5000 of these, The SRU sold 18,000 debentures – probably because, they could more-easily tell the buyers what they would get for their money.

Also, the SRU has a terrific ticket allocation scheme, through the clubs. Now, I will admit, they are tinkering with this at the moment, and some in the clubs are questioning the motivation and the manner in which the new scheme is being implemented, but, for now, it works.

It also helps that nearly all of Scotland's 250-odd rugby clubs is that, a club of individual members – many football clubs are limited companies. It is easier for an ordinary rugby fan to get into the ballot for international rugby tickets than it is for the ordinary football fan to get hold of an international football brief.

So, to say the SRU could teach the SFA a trick or two, might well be correct, but, I am told by rugby-writing journalist pals, Mark Dodson, the CEO of the SRU gets just as much, if not more abuse from the rugby community than Stewart Regan got from the Tartan Army. (I use Regan, because, Ian Maxwell his successor, is still “on-honeymoon” with the fans).

That is one thing which the two games definitely have in-common – nobody likes the “Blazerhood” at the top.