THE HERALD REPORTS
Wedding could leave Glasgow Warriors out in the cold

KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer December 26 2006

Glasgow Warriors\' six-match winning run at home is under threat from a double booking that means their meeting with Magners League leaders Ulster may have to be moved.
The Herald understands that a wedding reception has been booked at Hughenden on the same day – January 6 – that television is insisting their next home match be played.
According to a source at the Hillhead-Jordanhill club, which owns the ground, the switch from the regular Friday night kick-off to Setanta\'s preferred Saturday evening slot for matches involving Irish provinces came too late for any rearrangement of the other function.
\"While the club is very pleased to host the Warriors we obviously have to make full use of the premises to make the books balance,\" he said.
Since this happened before, forcing the Warriors to play a match at Old Anniesland two seasons ago, it is tempting to suggest this demonstrates yet another example of the SRU not learning from the past in failing to sign a pre-nuptial agreement with Hillhead-Jordanhill.
However this is merely the latest reminder of the problem of the team not having control of its home venue. Likely options are Partick Thistle\'s Firhill, where the Warriors have frequently played in the past, or Old Anniesland.
The arrangement between the SRU and Hillhead-Jordanhill is also unsatisfactory as facilities for both players and spectators are much inferior to those elsewhere in the Magners League.
Indeed, while there was an excellent atmosphere for last Friday\'s thrilling Inter-City derby win over Edinburgh, that in itself was something of an indictment of the venue. Hughenden seemed packed, yet the official attendance was only 2613, a reminder of how little scope there is for the Warriors to build support.
There is no guarantee that Hughenden will continue to be available to the Warriors beyond this season as plans for redevelopment of the ground are under consideration.
Earlier this year the SRU pulled out of negotiations to be the anchor tenant at Scotstoun Stadium when it is re-developed to help city\'s Commonwealth Games bid.
Businessmen David Mackay and Brian Simmers had planned to re-open these negotiations if they could raise the money to take control of the team, but they admitted in September that they could not.
It is increasingly evident that there is no real alternative to Scotstoun if the Warriors are to have any realistic chance of being able to generate commercial success.

This article was originally posted on 26-Dec-2006, 09:13 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 26-Dec-2006, 09:14.