FOOTBALL has been professional for around 130 years, Rugby Union has only been professional for 21 years, but, when it comes to player welfare, it might be argued, the oval ball game has got it closer to being right, in a smaller time scale.
In Scotland, effectively, most of our international-class players are centrally-contracted to the governing body, the Scottish Rugby Union. In football, the Scottish Football Association is very much dependent on the good grace of the clubs, when it comes to gaining access to our top players.
Of course, both the SFA and the SRU are at the mercy of "foreign" clubs when it comes to players who have left Scotland to ply their profession. However, even the top French clubs, who clearly have no need or even desire to help Scotland by not over-playing their players appreciate the demands of modern, professional rugby necessitates player rotation.
English Rugby, like the game in France, is not as centralised as the game is in the three Celtic nations of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. However, the English Rugby Football Union has negotiated a deal with the top English clubs, whereby England squad players can only play in a certain number of games per season.
I doubt if such an agreement could be negotiated between the SFA and the top SPFL clubs, far less between the FA and the English Premiership clubs, but, with or without it, surely the time is ripe for the Scottish clubs to become that bit smarter when it comes to rotating players, to reduce potential burn-out.
This topic is current, following Scott Brown's admission yesterday, he is torn between the need to rest his tired body, and his desire, as Scotland captain, to be involved in the two end of season friendlies which are coming up - against Italy, in Malta on 29 May and France, in Metz, on 4 June.
Scotland captain Scott Brown
In these two games, Scotland is very much cast in the role of cannon fodder. These games are of little use to us; we are not preparing to play in the upcoming European Championships, we do not need these games as warm-ups. But, under different circumstances, these would be big games for Scotland, also, with FIFA ranking points to be considered, Gordon Strachan has to field a representative team.
He might well want his captain playing in both games, but, against that, Brown is now 30, he still has a "good engine", which is so-much part of his game, but, this engine now needs a bit more TLC. It would probably be a good thing, for Celtic as much as for Scotland, if Brown was told, once the Scottish title has been secured, to go away and have a lengthy break from the game, ready for action when the new season kicks-off.
Of course, it would help if Scottish Football's High Heid Yins, both on the sixth floor at Hampden and in the corridors of power at the top clubs thought long term, and came up with a workable strategy for improving our clubs' performances in Europe and ending the national team's too-long absence from the big tournament finals.
Celtic's season will end on Sunday, 15 May. They will play their opening European match, in the second qualifying round of the 2016-17 Champions League, on 12 or 13 July - a mere nine weeks later.
For Aberdeen and Hearts, whose European campaigns will kick-off with the Europa League first qualifying round games, on 30 June and 7 July, their close season is even shorter, a mere six and a half weeks.
This short turn-round will continue for as long as it takes the Scottish clubs to climb from Scotland's current 23rd place seeding in Europe, into the top 16 nations. On recent historical form, this rise isn't going to happen overnight.
So, the SPFL and the SFA need to re-arrange the season better, to aid the top teams and boost Scottish football. But, will they? I do not see it.
To return to a hoary old subject on this blog, we also need too, perhaps more-so than league/club re-organisation, to come up with a workable development system for our national team.
I had a look at the development process, such as it was, for the 29 players who pulled on the Scotland shirt in our two most-recent friendlies, against the Czech Republic and Denmark. I have placed them in ascending order of their first Under-21 cap, then again in ascending order from their first full cap. The results, I think, are interesting.
First Under-21 cap: (2002): Shaun Maloney; (2003): Darren Fletcher, Craig Gordon, Allan McGregor; (2004): Chris Burke, Alan Hutton; (2005): Christophe Berra, Scott Brown, Stephen Whittaker; (2006): Ross McCormack, Charlie Mulgrew; (2007): Steven Fletcher; (2008): Paul Caddis, Russell Snodgrass; (2009): Barry Bannan; (2010): Leigh Griffiths; (2011): Grant Hanley; (2012): Kenny McLean, Anthony Watt; (2013): Alex Robertson; (2014): John McGinn.
Never played for the Under-21 team: Ikecha Anya, Liam Bridcutt, Gordon Greer, Chris Martin, Russell Martin, Matt Phillips, Matt Ritchie, Kieran Tierney.
First full cap: (2004): D Fletcher, Gordon; (2006): Burke, Brown, Maloney; (2007): Hutton, McGregor; (2008): Berra, S Fletcher, McCormack; (2010): Whittaker; (2011): Bannan, Hanley, R Martin, Snodgrass; (2012): Mulgrew, Phillips; (2013): Anya, Bridcutt, Greer, Griffiths; (2014): C Martin, Robertson; (2015): Ritchie; (2016): Caddis, McGinn, McLean, Tierney, Watt.
One quarter of these players 7/29 NEVER went through the SFA's international development system (such as it is). They were missed as young players, or were, perhaps, late developers. Of the 29 players, there is a roughly 50/50 split between those who have been in the full Scotland system for more than five seasons (ie before 2011-2012): Darren Fletcher, Gordon, Burke, Brown, Maloney, Hutton, McGregor, Berra, Steven Fletcher, McCormack, Whittaker, Bannan, Hanley, Russell Martin and Snodgrass, and after 2011-2012: Mulgrew, Phillips, Anya, Bridcutt, Greer, Griffiths, Chris Martin, Robertson, Ritchie, Caddis, McGinn, McLean, Tierney and Watt.
Of the players first capped in the last five seasons (2011-12 to 2015-16) more than half were given full Scotland caps without going through the Under-21 team. This includes young Kieran Tierney, who, at only 18, is still eligible for the Under-21s.
The longest gap between a player's first Under-21 cap, and his first full cap was the eight seasons it took Paul Caddis to bridge the gap. The shortest gap was bridged by Grant Hanley, who won his first full cap in the same season as he won his first Under-21 honour. On average, with the current squad, it has taken just under three seasons to go from an Under-21 player, and therefore a potential full cap, to the actual status of full internationalist.
This seems a fairly acceptable gap. The worrying thing is the way in which, over the last five seasons, it has become easier to win a full Scotland cap through performances in the English Championship than via the SFA's development system of Under-21 honours, leading to a full cap.
These "late developers" "Championship wild card" players- call them what you may, have another thing in common: very little experience of facing European opponents. They have to learn in the hardest school of all - international play. This is a risky business for the future of the national team.
For as long as the Scottish clubs are going to stumble around in the lower reaches of Europe, we will struggle to qualify for the European Championships or World Cup finals. Even more-worryingly, we no longer appear to be a country in which the best English clubs search for young, raw talent. When last did Manchester United recruit a young player straight out of school in Scotland, as they did with Darren Fletcher or Michael Stewart. Have Chelsea been back since they recruited Craig Burley and Billy Dodds from Cumnock Academy?
Are there potential Billy Bremners or Peter Lorimers at Leeds, or a 21st century Graeme Souness at Tottenham - successors to George Burley and John Wark at Ipswich? I don't think so, but, remember, these were the ones who made it - a lot of promising young Scots went down the road, straight from school, and returned almost as quickly as they left.
We have stopped exporting top-quality raw talent, either at 16 on leaving school, or from our domestic leagues. This talent dry-up has to be addressed by the SFA. Again, I don't see the will to do this being there.
Dave Mackay has a full and frank exchange of views with Billy Brmner
I know Dave Mackay hated the above picture. But, it does remind us of what we lost. When it was taken back in 1966, Scots such as Mackay and Bremner were just two of the many Scottish turbines who drove the top sides in England. If we can get back to those days, we will have a chance of again taking our place at football's top table.
But, for this to happen, we need to overhaul our development strategies as they effect our clubs and our national sides. Sadly, I do not see the will to do this being present around Hampden.
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