The Herald writes

Anybody casting a cursory glance at the latest RBS Premiership tables could be forgiven for reaching the conclusion that Glasgow was devoid of ambitious clubs.

In the top tier, the city’s solitary representatives, Glasgow Hawks, are languishing in 11th place out of 12; in the second division, West of Scotland and Hillhead-Jordanhill are two of the bottom three clubs; and GHA, who used to feature among the elite, are a further rung down the ladder while Glasgow Academicals and GHK are involved in regional competition.

In anybody’s terms, it is a depressing state of affairs for the country’s major population conurbation and especially in light of the impending new Premier structure in Scotland which will involve only 20 (of the present 36) clubs.

If that format was to come into effect tomorrow, Hawks would be the only Glasgow team in the mix, and even they would be in the second flight.

Ayr would bolster the West coast presence, while Hamilton, Biggar and Whitecraigs would also challenge for places.

By contrast, Edinburgh would have at least half-a-dozen clubs involved, the Borders three or four, and Caledonia (North and Midlands) bolstered by the presence of such forward-thinking entities as Aberdeen Grammar, Dundee High and Stirling County.

In their defence, Hawks, who secured a hat trick of consecutive titles between 2004 and 2006, have been grievously afflicted during the ongoing campaign by injuries to key personnel and it would be unfair to cast excessive criticism on Peter Wright’s personnel, particularly given how many trophies they have snaffled in the past decade.

Yet, if it’s true that the clubs are the Scottish Rugby Union, the peely-wally state of the game in Greater Glasgow reflects the travails of spreading the gospel in a part of the land where every Old Firm rumour commands banner headlines.

According to the former Scotland and British Lion forward, John Beattie, that shouldn’t be used as an excuse. “I think there is a problem with the attitude of players in the west of Scotland,” he said. “They have a different culture and are not as driven as their counterparts in Edinburgh and the Borders. The good players are as good as they are anywhere else, but there’s more bite and greater competition in other places.”

“When I was [coaching] at West, I noticed there was a good amount of rivalry for the bragging rights between ourselves and Hawks, but nobody is pushing Hawks in Glasgow these days and maybe their standards have started to slip a little in the process.

“In Edinburgh, by contrast, you have Boroughmuir, Accies, Heriot’s, Watsonians [and Stewart’s-Melville FP] and you have Melrose and Gala at the top of the heap [and the Premiership] from the Borders; that makes for a lot of competition.

“I think it is part of Scottish rugby’s wider problem that we don’t have the numbers, don’t have the depth. You can play for Hawks or West without being a good rugby player. That’s not the case in Ireland.”

John Roxburgh was director of rugby when Hawks enjoyed a sustained period of dominance on the domestic circuit. As somebody who has watched the sport embrace professionalism, though, he is deeply concerned about what he perceives as Glasgow’s teams losing an increasing number of young talent – whether to SRU Academies, more prosperous opponents or other pastimes.

He says it would be “something close to a disaster” if there was only one Glasgow club in the top 20, not least because it will be much more difficult to get into this structure again from 2013 onwards than slip out of it thereafter.

“I don’t believe it is a level playing field any more. Clubs who are financially secure – and there are very few of them – are more inclined to bring in foreign imports, but that, to me, is entirely the wrong direction in which we should be heading,” said Roxburgh.

“We should be encouraging our youngsters to take up the game, and working with schools. It’s important that the Glasgow sides go back to basics, because we need a decent representation in the Premiership to generate interest and throw up local derbies.

“We can’t afford to be too pessimistic; we have to send out the message to Scottish kids that rugby has a lot to offer. But we also can’t ignore the fact that the present player registration scheme is a mess and that clubs are increasingly performing in front of empty grandstands.”

When Hawks were founded in the later part of the 1990s, they seemed to offer a template for their city colleagues. Now, little more than a decade later, the dear green place is growing accustomed to mediocrity in the oval-ball stakes.

This article was originally posted on 6-Oct-2011, 06:41 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 6-Oct-2011, 06:42.