IAIN MORRISON ASKS ON SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY


SCOTTISH rugby is not without its problems but few have proved as intractable as persuading fans to support the professional teams. Only last weekend both Edinburgh and Glasgow posted identical crowd numbers, a miserly 1,638. After 12 years of professional rugby, this only just bests the number that filed into Mansfield Park for Hawick's derby match against Melrose a few weeks back.

Uniquely among the major rugby playing nations, Scotland's pro-teams have witnessed falling numbers through the turnstiles. The Scottish teams attract the fewest fans of all the Celtic League sides, including Connacht, and they are miles adrift in Europe with the possible exception of the Italians. Most of the pro-teams' problems - financial shortfalls, lack of atmosphere, player exodus - would disappear overnight if fans could be persuaded out in their numbers so several key figures were asked how they would attract crowds back to professional rugby in Scotland?

IAN RANKIN
Former Edinburgh manager and current Club international coach

"It beats me! Edinburgh seems to have lost all affinity with their fans and any identity that they had. In Ireland, their pro-teams are locking people out while we are locking them in, pulling in anyone off the street. A friend of mine attended Murrayfield recently and said it was like a mausoleum. It's like playing snakes and ladders. If we make some progress and climb the ladder we then hit a snake and go tumbling all the way back down again. I wonder if perhaps there simply isn't the appetite for professional rugby in Scotland?"

IAN RIDDOCH
Chief executive, Glasgow Warriors

"We recently rolled out the 'Champion Warriors' initiative whereby one person in each of the 61 clubs in the Glasgow area acts as our ambassador within that club. One person is now in charge of the relationship between pro-team and club which we hope will help bridge the gap. We want to target those people who already know and understand the game before we go after the rest of the market. If we invite five clubs to each match, then we have a chance of pushing the average attendance over the 2,000 mark. To give just one example, we have 50 fans from Aberdeen Grammar travelling down for the match against Biarritz on December 9. Now we are targeting the local schools in a similar sort of scheme. We need time and we need continuity but I worked in Super League before and they have grown their fan base and I am confident we can grow Glasgow's."

NIC CARTWRIGHT
Edinburgh chief executive

"It's tough to give a short answer. It is important that the club is important to the community, so we must interact with the local community. The ground remains the biggest problem because it is far from ideal for club rugby but the alternatives have their own issues and we cannot move until we have a [long-term] plan. We had 3,500 for the Toulouse match and there was an atmosphere at Murrayfield. If we can just get another 2,000 or 3,000 for the East stand then it will be even better and that alone will attract more fans. There is a barrier to entry but once we get through that barrier the ground will become an asset and as a club we should be targeting 6,000 or 7,000 for the big Heineken Cup games."

ROB MOFFAT
Assistant Edinburgh coach

"Apart from winning games? It is frustrating. We have to win games and play quality rugby and make it a club atmosphere whether we are playing at Murrayfield or one of the club grounds, those are the three things for me. Look at continental clubs where the fans start filling the stadium one hour before kickoff whereas we see fans drifting in ten minutes before the game. We need to offer entertainment to get them in early. Sometimes it seems like the more we talk about the problem the worse it gets."

CRAIG CHALMERS
Club coach and former professional with both Glasgow and Edinburgh

"That's the hardest question. We used to get decent crowds at Glasgow and I think it's important to play on Friday night. A decent venue would help Edinburgh but Border folk are never going to travel up to watch a game. I think that the pro-teams have to forge closer links with the clubs and I understand that Edinburgh are doing just that. I went to an Edinburgh game last year and while I expected all the club players to go along I didn't recognise anyone in the crowd. Edinburgh need to strengthen the ties with the local clubs."

BERT LAWSON
Chairman of Edinburgh Supporters Club

"Crikey. It's a difficult question. It's not a question of money because we charge £15 across the board for a ticket and I'll pay £35 when I travel to Leinster next weekend. I think that we need a smaller stadium. When we were at Meadowbank we were getting three to four thousand and we get nothing like that now. How did the Edinburgh council ever let Meadowbank get into such a state of disrepair? The summer mishaps between Bob Carruthers and the SRU didn't help and the fact that the SRU now controls the team again isn't a good thing either. They don't seem to be able to reach out to the grass roots. At least Andy Robinson is visiting the local clubs every Tuesday evening. Ultimately I think you have to blame the apathy of the Edinburgh public and Glasgow is no better."

GORDON JENNINGS
Website editor, glasgowwarriors.com

"I think first of all Glasgow need to start winning and that should give them a little momentum which will drag in a few hundred more fans. But Glasgow are doing all the right [marketing] things and it's a little difficult to know what else they should do. Maybe this is just as good as it gets, maybe it's a Scottish thing, a country obsessed by football."

This article was posted on 2-Dec-2007, 09:05 by Hugh Barrow.