THE HERALD REPORTS

KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer January 03 2006

Glasgow Warriors believe they are in danger of becoming Scottish professional rugby's poor relations if plans to improve their facilities are not accelerated.
While offering no excuse for his side's poor Hogmanay showing when well beaten by the Border Reivers, Hugh Campbell, the Warriors' coach, admitted their pre-match preparations highlighted on-going problems.
"Our facilities are disastrous compared with everyone else," he said. "Reivers' training facilities are within walking distance. I don't want to make excuses for the way we lost but, looking to the longer term, if we are to drive professional rugby forward in Scotland, then there are good facilities in the Borders and Edinburgh and we need the same to compete.
"It is not ideal for a team from Glasgow to travel to Edinburgh for training the day before a match in the Borders."
That experience emphasised Warriors' difficulties as they visited both their Scottish rivals grounds on successive days. Last week's snowfall made all outdoor facilities normally available unusable, and while an SOS call to Murrayfield provided a solution on Friday, that trip reinforced how much better Edinburgh are looked after at the national stadium.
The Warriors do weight training at the Palace of Arts near Ibrox, use various venues for practice, and play fixtures at Firhill, a step-up from their recent home at Hughenden.
In previous seasons, Glasgow could afford a better squad than the Borders but, even though they finished last season as the top Scottish side, their budget was slashed to the same level as the Gala-based team, which is well short of that available to the Gunners.
The coach stressed that he was apportioning no blame to any individual or group for their predicament. "We've looked long and hard and there is no obvious solution to accommodating all our requirements," he said.
That itself is a shameful indictment of the sporting facilities available in Scotland's biggest city, demonstrating the urgent need for the re-development of Scotstoun Stadium to proceed.
Patricia Ferguson, the Scottish Executive's sports minister, will shortly lead a delegation looking to promote Glasgow's 2014 Commonwealth Games bid at this year's event in Melbourne. However, with its three leading football sides known to the wider world as Celtic, Rangers and Partick Thistle, the situation regarding the biggest professional team which carries the city's name abroad is an on-going embarrassment.
While SRU officials have long made it clear that there is no prospect of running a fourth professional side, Andy Irvine, the president, has said Aber-deen had, in the way the city embraced last season's Scotland v Barbarians match, made a case for hosting professional rugby on a regular basis.
With the business-orientated Gordon McKie now running affairs at Murrayfield, it would be a blunder for anyone to be complacent about the location of the existing three teams.
When this season began, the Border Reivers looked most vulnerable. While the Celtic League website records the crowd for their opening home match against Llanelli Scarlets as 850, that attendance is now claimed as 959 in their match programmes, a laughable massaging of the figures.
The Warriors' average attendance of fewer than 1800 is little more than half that regularly attending Gunners games. While there is no immediate threat, the last thing Glasgow's Commonwealth Games bid needs is any suggestion that the SRU might consider moving the Warriors out of the city.
That said, there seems to be growing confidence that plans for Scotstoun will get the go-ahead, so providing the ideal combination of playing, training, rehab and administrative facilities for the Warriors, albeit the target date for moving there now looks to be no earlier than season 2008-09. Glasgow Warriors believe they are in danger of becoming Scottish professional rugby's poor relations if plans to improve their facilities are not accelerated.
While offering no excuse for his side's poor Hogmanay showing when well beaten by the Border Reivers, Hugh Campbell, the Warriors' coach, admitted their pre-match preparations highlighted on-going problems.
"Our facilities are disastrous compared with everyone else," he said. "Reivers' training facilities are within walking distance. I don't want to make excuses for the way we lost but, looking to the longer term, if we are to drive professional rugby forward in Scotland, then there are good facilities in the Borders and Edinburgh and we need the same to compete.
"It is not ideal for a team from Glasgow to travel to Edinburgh for training the day before a match in the Borders."
That experience emphasised Warriors' difficulties as they visited both their Scottish rivals grounds on successive days. Last week's snowfall made all outdoor facilities normally available unusable, and while an SOS call to Murrayfield provided a solution on Friday, that trip reinforced how much better Edinburgh are looked after at the national stadium.
The Warriors do weight training at the Palace of Arts near Ibrox, use various venues for practice, and play fixtures at Firhill, a step-up from their recent home at Hughenden.
In previous seasons, Glasgow could afford a better squad than the Borders but, even though they finished last season as the top Scottish side, their budget was slashed to the same level as the Gala-based team, which is well short of that available to the Gunners.
The coach stressed that he was apportioning no blame to any individual or group for their predicament. "We've looked long and hard and there is no obvious solution to accommodating all our requirements," he said.
That itself is a shameful indictment of the sporting facilities available in Scotland's biggest city, demonstrating the urgent need for the re-development of Scotstoun Stadium to proceed.
Patricia Ferguson, the Scottish Executive's sports minister, will shortly lead a delegation looking to promote Glasgow's 2014 Commonwealth Games bid at this year's event in Melbourne. However, with its three leading football sides known to the wider world as Celtic, Rangers and Partick Thistle, the situation regarding the biggest professional team which carries the city's name abroad is an on-going embarrassment.
While SRU officials have long made it clear that there is no prospect of running a fourth professional side, Andy Irvine, the president, has said Aber-deen had, in the way the city embraced last season's Scotland v Barbarians match, made a case for hosting professional rugby on a regular basis.
With the business-orientated Gordon McKie now running affairs at Murrayfield, it would be a blunder for anyone to be complacent about the location of the existing three teams.
When this season began, the Border Reivers looked most vulnerable. While the Celtic League website records the crowd for their opening home match against Llanelli Scarlets as 850, that attendance is now claimed as 959 in their match programmes, a laughable massaging of the figures.
The Warriors' average attendance of fewer than 1800 is little more than half that regularly attending Gunners games. While there is no immediate threat, the last thing Glasgow's Commonwealth Games bid needs is any suggestion that the SRU might consider moving the Warriors out of the city.
That said, there seems to be growing confidence that plans for Scotstoun will get the go-ahead, so providing the ideal combination of playing, training, rehab and administrative facilities for the Warriors, albeit the target date for moving there now looks to be no earlier than season 2008-09.

This article was posted on 3-Jan-2006, 09:22 by Hugh Barrow.