THE HERALD REPORTS
Glasgow fixtures designed to attract visitors

KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer September 09 2005

Glasgow's professional rugby players are set to become cultural ambassadors for the city, with home and away matches linked to major arts and music events.
January's Celtic Connections festival – with Neath/Swansea Ospreys from Wales, England's Bath and French team Bourgoin all visiting Glasgow while it is on – will be a test case as City Council officials, keen to promote the 2014 Commonwealth Games bid, look at using one of its leading sports as a major marketing tool.
"In the next nine years we want to see everything in the city geared towards sport," said John Lynch, the council's cultural and leisure services convener. "Even if the bid was unsuccessful, we can raise the profile of sport and the aspirations of the city."
As with Six Nations trips to Rome, Dublin and Paris, in particular, the potential for improving the appeal of travel to rugby supporters whose partners are less interested in sport is obvious. While many have questioned the way arts, culture and sport have been lumped together in government departments, Lynch's task is to find ways they can complement one another.
"The Celtic League and European competition add a different dimension to sport which can broaden its attraction," said Lynch. "Particularly with the growth of budget airlines, the possibilities for selling what our city has to offer visitors are growing, and we are looking at promoting cultural and educational exchanges.
"The Celtic Connections event is a perfect example, where visitors could be looking at combining watching their team play rugby with attending concerts, and that is the sort of thing every town and city involved in the Celtic League should be looking at."
Archie Ferguson, the SRU's Celtic League director, said organisers could look at manipulating fixture lists to accommodate such innovative thinking by targeting specific events that would draw more than just rugby supporters.
Meanwhile, Glasgow's early-season injury plight deepened last night when Test centre Andy Henderson revealed he will undergo surgery to repair a badly broken nose.
Henderson, who is expected to be sidelined for up to three weeks, sustained cartilage damage in the pre-season warm-up with Newcastle Falcons. He recovered to play in last weekend's Celtic League opener against Newport Gwent Dragons but suffered a more serious injury in a midweek training-ground mishap when he collided with new squad-mate Graydon Staniforth.
There are also multiple front-row worries, with the Canadian internationalist, Kevin Tkachuk, and Ben Prescott also battling against shoulder ailments.
On the positive side, the international prop, Euan Murray, has recovered from a leg injury and is in the selection shake-up for the trip to Donnybrook. In addition the Scotland centre, Graeme Morrison, is poised to make his long-awaited return after being on the casualty list since the start of the year.
Following his side's gutsy display last weekend's when they lost just 9-7 to Munster at Thomond Park in their Celtic League opener, Steve Bates, the Border Reivers coach, has named an unchanged starting XV for Sunday's Netherdale meeting with Llanelli Scarlets. In the only change to the 22, the more experienced Calum MacRae replaces Lee Kibble on the bench.

This article was posted on 9-Sep-2005, 07:10 by Hugh Barrow.