The Scottish Problem

Professional rugby has been very good to Ireland, in the past decade the standard of performance of the not just the Irish national side has improved but the success of the provincial system is also the envy of our northern hemisphere neighbours. The success Ireland has enjoyed in recent years in the 6 Nations, Heineken Cup and the Celtic League/Pro 12 has been based on strong foundations. Key players are regulated in terms of their game time, strength and conditioning standards have risen dramatically and the style of rugby have continuously evolved. The rugby success in Ireland stands in stark contrast to our Celtic neighbours in Wales and Scotland. The Scots in particular have had a torrid time with professionalism.

Scotland and Ireland are quite similar in terms of the overall rugby playing numbers in each country; neither country has a huge playing base. The difference lies in the way which each country has extracted most value from its playing base and also in the way which the transition from amateurism to professionalism was handle back in 1996. The SRU established three professional sides, one in Edinburgh, one in Glasgow and one in the Borders. However the way in which these teams were established left a lot of the grassroots rugby supporters and club members feeling disenfranchised and for this reason the teams have never enjoyed huge support levels. In Ireland the transition, whilst not seamless was handle a lot more delicately. By utilising the existing provincial sides and allocating funding in terms of financial and human capital the IRFU was able to create four competitive professional sides which, though they took a while to establish themselves, now enjoyed huge support levels. A quick look at the attendance chart below demonstrates the dramatic increase in support levels for Munster and Leinster, for instance in 2003-04 Leinster's average attendance was about 4000, in May of this year for the Magners League final in Thomond Park in Limerick Leinster brought 5000 supporters with them for an away fixture. Contrast this with the Scots and it makes for grim reading. Glasgow and Edinburgh both average less than 5000 spectators per match and these figures are, most worryingly of all, in decline. Even the two new Italian teams, Aironi and Treviso, have enjoyed better support levels.

So the question has to be asked, is professional rugby sustainable in Scotland? The attendance levels are not sufficient to cover the cost of running two competitive teams and so they are heavily subsidised by the SRU. The teams will not attract more spectators unless they become more successful and finance has a huge role to play in the determination of whether a side is successful or not. It is no coincidence that the two teams with the highest attendance levels are also the league’s most successful teams. If Scottish rugby is to grow there needs to be a concerted effort from the administrators of the game to attract more people to games, this can be done through increasing the competitiveness of the teams and by pricing tickets at a competitive level. Edinburgh should also be relocated outside of Murrayfield. Murrayfield is a fantastic stadium when it’s full, but it resembles something closer to a funeral home than a sports ground when Edinburgh play there because the crowd and atmosphere is lost within its vastness. Scottish rugby needs to wake up soon to the requirements of professional sport; otherwise we could see this decline become terminal.

Post by Ross McGuinness