THE HERALD REPORTS

Glasgow-Edinburgh showdown is compelling for fans
KEVIN FERRIE December 31 2008

BIG DAY: Ian Riddoch, Glasgow Warriors' chief executive, will be hoping for a significant turnout of supporters for Friday afternoon's David Lloyd 1872 Cup match against Edinburgh. Picture: James Galloway
Edinburgh club officials rightly boasted this week about the success of their marketing strategies, with the average for attendances this season topping the 6000 mark even though their team have won fewer than half their matches.

Judicious use of give-aways - notably to those who attended the autumn Tests so were able to join in last Friday's record 12,534 crowd for free - has hugely inflated that figure. However, the first task facing administrators is to generate interest in the professional teams, so while they are a long way short of the exploits of Stade Francais in filling the Stade de France for a recent Heineken Cup tie, the progress being made is marked.

This season's figures represent a near doubling of the average gate last season (3078) and, arguably more pertinently, a near trebling of that at this time a year ago (2120). Since the first half of the 2007/08 season was played up against the rival attraction of World Cup ties on television, perhaps an even better comparison is with the previous year when, under private ownership with the energy those entrepreneurs brought to the party, the average gate across the season was 2972.

As ever, it would be easy to be negative, given there was much talk of a crowd of 20,000 attending Murrayfield last week or at least of surpassing the 17,000 attendance at the 2003 Celtic Cup final when, with Murrayfield deemed neutral for the day, Edinburgh were beaten by Ulster.



There will, though, be real reason to be critical if the marketing strategy being pursued by the SRU, who own both clubs, does not generate another record crowd at Firhill this week and as we head into 2009 it may also be time to consider just what the future holds for Glasgow Warriors.

It would be wrong to say there has not been some progress there, too. In season 2006/07 their average home gate was 2046. Last season it was up to 2386. This season so far it is above the 3000 mark. Yet in the past three seasons, Edinburgh have drawn 3000-plus crowds on 16 occasions, compared with just four times in all at Glasgow where the record home gate is 5213.

Curiously, though, fewer than 1400 turned up twice at Edinburgh last season, whereas the Warriors figure has dropped below that mark just once in the past three seasons, suggesting the core support, those who turn up through thick and thin, is pretty similar.

The match is a vital measure of performance for everyone at Glasgow Warriors
If so, the overall difference suggests either that there is very little in the way of potential interest in pro rugby in Glasgow, or that marketing has been much more effective in the capital over the past couple of seasons.

If the former, then the SRU must, as it did with the Border Reivers, give serious consideration to continuing to fund a Glasgow-based team and whether it should now look elsewhere for a community that has both interest in the sport and commercial potential. Until now it has seemed obvious that if there are to be only two professional teams in Scotland they should be in the two major cities, but perhaps the SRU need to look again at the likes of Aberdeen, Falkirk or Stirling.

Of course, it may just be that it is the latter reason and it certainly seems that, with the SRU still running both teams, the more imaginative ticketing initiatives have focused on Edinburgh.

We have addressed, in these columns recently, the perception within Glasgow's rugby community that there is a bias within Murrayfield towards the capital. The fact that the free tickets available to those who attended the autumn Tests could only be cashed in for the Edinburgh leg of the derby double could be seen as further evidence of that.

However, the head of the SRU's public relations department said last week he believed the package they had put together for the festive period would prove compelling for the public which would impact on the gates at both games.

Interesting word "compelling". If those exposed to this package feel compelled then presumably they will feel no choice but to attend. Reminded of that definition and offered the chance to withdraw the claim, he was adamant he meant what he said.

So, if the 12,534 drawn to Murrayfield last week actually felt compelled by this SRU package, then presumably the minimum expectation for this week's game is a 10,998 capacity turn-out with another 2500 or so shut out in Firhill Road.

That, of course, will not happen, but even if we set careless use of the language aside, the deciding leg of the David Lloyd 1872 Cup is a vital measure of performance for everyone at Glasgow Warriors . . . not just the players who embarrassed themselves at Murrayfield last week.

This article was posted on 31-Dec-2008, 08:19 by Hugh Barrow.