Todays Herald reports

Sevens could lay the foundations for a pro team in Stirling
KEVIN FERRIE April 26 2007
In close to 30 years of delivering dibbly-dobblies - gentle deliveries which wobble slightly but do not spin, for the uninitiated - only once have I suffered the indignity of being square-cut for six. It happened about 10 years ago and, adding further insult, the hitman in question was a 15-year-old who I had helped to coach. Sam Parlane had simply turned up to watch the match in question, only to discover that our opponents were a man short.

Our captain wisely omitted to tell them the youngster was an all-rounder of some potential and, in those days at least, Sam was modest enough not to push himself forward, so did not get a bowl and was only invited to bat very late in the order.

Perhaps irked by this or perhaps just familiar enough to be contemptuous, he took one look at who was bowling, stepped back and smashed the ball over point for the aforementioned boundary.


A couple of years later, he led Stirling County's under-17s to a Scottish Cup triumph, but was lost to cricket soon after that, having had to make a choice as he was also part of the County side that won rugby's under-18 youth league.

We hope we will get him back eventually, once his first XV days are over but, meantime, rugby is reaping the dividend of being a more attractive proposition to a gifted young sportsman.

As the league cricket season gets under way this weekend, that will be particularly evident when the inaugural City of Stirling Sevens rugby tournament also takes place on Saturday.

Sam decided a while back that he fancied a career in events management, but had no real experience in the field. What better way to gain some then than, in the true spirit of Ned Haig, founder of sevens, to help run a tournament on behalf of his own club?

If professional rugby in Scotland is to have any chance of catching the public imagination, the biggest populations must be close at hand


All will be welcome at this City Council-backed inaugural event, but it is to be hoped there will be none of the self-important nonsense that emanated from some in the Borders the other week if the SRU's top brass do not turn up for this little bit of history.

For all that the 124-year-old Melrose Sevens tournament has a place in history and some fine tradition, it is worth remembering that it remains, as Haig intended, no more than a club fundraiser.

Among those pilloried for not being there was the SRU chairman, who had been in Belfast watching Scotland's under-19s play an important match in their world championship. Sometimes a touch of perspective is required.

What Stirling County hope, meanwhile, is that the presence of one of their own dignitaries, Kenny Logan, will add sufficiently to the appeal to persuade citizens to support their local club.

The club's most capped player is fielding his own team - what better way to be sure of getting a game when you are fast approaching your fifth decade? - and, in his notes in the programme, he speaks proudly of giving something back to the club whose jersey he first pulled on as a seven-year-old on his way to making his first XV debut a decade later.

The involvement of Logan and the city council is particularly opportune in a week in which talk of bringing a professional team to Stirling has been revived. Logan is part of the consortium that has been considering this project for a couple of years, while the council's support, and most particularly the access to the municipally-owned Forthbank Stadium, is key to their plan gaining credibility.

Personally, I have long believed that moving Glasgow Warriors out of Scotland's biggest city - that was what Logan and his collaborators initially proposed - would be folly. If professional rugby in Scotland is to have any chance of catching the public imagination, which remains debatable, the biggest possible populations must be available to support it.

That is also why I believed - particularly since it became evident that Borderers were not, as we had been encouraged to believe they would, confounding economists by backing a pro team to disproportionate levels - that the natural venue for a third team is Aberdeen, in spite of its natural rivalry with my home city of Dundee.

Yet Aberdeen-based Graeme Burgess, the man with the money in the Logan camp, is similarly prepared to set aside personal convenience, because he believes the best deal he can put together is at Stirling.

If that is the best way to keep three pro teams in Scotland - the rugby argument for doing so is compelling - it is to be greatly encouraged.

Time is short but, with the elections taking place next week, what a fine example it would be of the sort of partnership among the SRU, private enterprise and local government required to revitalise Scottish sport.

This article was posted on 26-Apr-2007, 07:24 by Hugh Barrow.