THE SUNDAY HERALD REPORTS

By Alisdair Reid
Alasdair Reid discovers that the death of the club scene has been greatly exaggerated ... and some are coming back from the dead
Comment
ITS ACTUAL origins may be unclear, but it is easy to suspect that PG Wodehouse may have had the Scottish rugby media in mind when he came up with his famous quip about never mistaking a Scotsman for a ray of sunshine. In the press boxes of Murrayfield, Myreside and Firhill, our glum ranks of Cassandras, catastrophists and other assorted doomsayers routinely line up as a more greetin-faced cast of characters than has ever been assembled for an episode of Grumpy Old Men.

Yet at a time of year when outbreaks of public mirth and seasonal goodwill generally serve to strengthen the conviction that we're all bah-humbuggered and heading to hell in our handcarts, it has to be conceded, albeit reluctantly, that examples of genuine good news do occasionally come to light. And what could be better to report than the revival of a handful of Scottish clubs, brought back from the brink of extinction to become thriving competitive entities once again?

After all, it is only a few seasons since we were penning the death notices for a stream of hallowed old institutions whose members had decided that enough was enough and to give up the ghost on the perpetual struggle to keep their clubs afloat. In quick succession, we saw Gordonians and Portobello, powerhouses of the Scottish game only a couple of decades ago, withdraw from the national league structure, their endless battles against diminishing playing numbers leaving them no options but to run up the white flags.

advertisementYet nothing nourishes the will to live like a flirtation with the alternative, the experiences of the clubs we spoke to last week tending to reinforce the theory that the darkest hour really does come right before the dawn. And from that subtly Dylanesque reference, we can segue to an altogether more blatant lift from Joni Mitchell, the testimonies of the same clubs reinforcing the idea that you really don't know what you've got till it's gone.

That was certainly the case at Harris FP, the Dundee club that slipped quietly out of existence at the tail end of last century and would almost certainly have remained in that tranquil, dodo-like state had the group of club worthies who gathered for its 80th anniversary dinner in May last year not aired the wild idea that it might be brought back to life.

Club secretary David Stibbles takes up the story: "Whether it was the drink or not, there was talk that it might be good to get things going again," he explains. "So last season we had friendlies against Panmure and Madras and those really got the ball rolling.

"At that point we had to decide whether that was all we were going to do or whether we would make serious effort to revive the club, We formed a steering group, then got commitments from players who said they would stick with it if they got regular rugby. That was critical - being able to pick up a fixture list straight away gave us a structure to keep people interested and enthusiastic."

The reward for Harris was that they finished sixth in the recently-completed - and you might want to take a deep breath here - Scottish Hydro Electric Caledonia League Division 2 Midlands Division. The league now splits into two parts, giving Harris a chance to carry on improving in the company of its better sides. Stibbles hesitates at the suggestion that they might climb the ladder again to become one of the country's elite sides, but stresses that they still have the ambition to move up a few rungs.

The same is true at Gordonians, whose officials took the deliberate decision to step back from senior competitive rugby three seasons ago, regroup and consolidate before launching themselves back into the rough and tumble of the leagues. A year treading water in the North District league gave them the breathing space they needed, while a two-match tour to Canada last year restored a sense of collective purpose to the side. Last season they marked their return to the national structure by finishing first in Caledonia League Division 2 North, winning 17 of their 18 games.

"We had been struggling pretty badly before we pulled out, but ultimately it was the safety issue that persuaded us to do it," says club secretary Stewart Strang. "We were putting really young players out against experienced sides and they were getting thumped every week. It was a big decision to withdraw, but it has been vindicated by what has happened since."

Strang points out that the club revived itself commercially as well, putting huge efforts into increasing its sponsorship revenue. Gordonians have also come up with a series of initiatives that have multiplied spectator numbers at their Countesswells ground. We hesitate to reinforce any unfortunate stereotypes regarding Aberdonians, but most of their wheezes do seem suspiciously reliant on the provision of free food.

Unquestionably, the regionalisation of competitions has also helped struggling clubs, placing fewer demands on their travel budgets or the time players must commit to the sport. According to Colin Thomson, the SRU's head of community rugby, the Union's network of regional development managers, flexible regulations and streamlined administrative processes have also reduced the burdens on club officials.

Thomson, however, expresses caution on the matter of starting clubs from scratch. "We have 158 clubs competing in our league structure at the moment," he says. "I think that's a good basis on which to grow and I don't think we necessarily need more. I don't think there are many locations that aren't covered by those clubs now.

"Looking at the lower divisions, the needs at that level are different from Premier One and I think we're trying to recognise that more. It's mostly participation-led, it's not about performance, it's about giving people the opportunity to play. There isn't a one-size solution to how clubs should organise themselves."

Certainly not on Arran, where the local club faced challenges that mainland sides never encounter. Yet when Arran's senior team stopped playing about seven years ago, club members had the foresight to keep its junior sections alive. This year, club official Bert Ramage realised they had a critical mass of players again, so adult rugby could be revived.

"We realised we could put a team out again," Ramage recalls. "It's a mixed bag of players, and a very young side, but hopefully we'll be able to keep the core of a side together. We weren't thinking about going back into the leagues this year, but we found it difficult to get friendly fixtures. I was then told there was a league place available and we could have it if we wanted it. I talked it over with the guys and we decided to go for it. We've managed to fulfil all our fixtures and we're actually going pretty well."

Arran now play in the West League Division 3, as do Lanark, another side to revive itself this year. Neither club is likely to challenge for major honours in the near future, but sometimes it's the little miracles that count as the greatest achievements.


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This article was posted on 16-Dec-2007, 09:01 by Hugh Barrow.