There are many things that rugby union can learn from other sports such as football, but thankfully one of them is not the necessity to segregate supporters or even ban one set of fans from a stadium altogether as happened with a footie game in Glasgow on Saturday.
It was while watching the Old Firm match at the weekend – purely for cultural reasons, you’ll understand – that the thought occurred to me that we are seeing a social phenomenon which should be investigated by politicians. For such is the hatred engendered among the more primitive ‘supporters’ of both sides that the two clubs have decided to no longer sell any tickets to the away side.
How is that even allowed? It’s madness. The two biggest clubs in the land have basically admitted that they can no longer guarantee the behaviour of their supporters. It’s scandalous but there is not a chance any major political figure will mess with Celtic or Rangers.
Can you imagine that ever happening with fans of Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby?
If anything there should be greater rivalry between the Warriors and Edinburgh, because they are the only full-time pro clubs in Scotland. Perhaps they have hit upon a formula to stop bitterness by taking turn about of being top dog. They have both had moments of success since Edinburgh came back to the control of the SRU in 2007 following the ill-fated Carruthers period but never in the same season, though Glasgow can claim to have been the better side over the years, certainly in terms of consistently finishing higher in the various leagues in which the two have played.
In the small world of Scottish professional rugby, I am astonished that more has not been made of the recent extraordinary turnaround in the fortunes of our two top clubs.
In season 2021-22, Edinburgh finished seventh in the United Rugby Championship, four points ahead of the Warriors, and qualified for the European Champions Cup. They also won the 1872 Cup with an aggregate score of 45 to 41. Though they made the quarter finals of the URC, Warriors reached their nadir with the end of season massacre by Leinster, a 76-14 defeat that cost head coach Danny Wilson his job .
This current season sees Edinburgh languishing in third bottom place in the URC and they lost both matches in the 1872 Cup, Glasgow triumphing by a 48-35 aggregate score. Meanwhile the Warriors have recovered from a couple of early season defeats and gone on an impressive winning run in the URC, making the play-offs with only the Lions lowering their colours in this calendar year.
Glasgow Warriors have also prospered in the Challenge Cup and have made the semi-finals, their run including that amazing 73-33 victory over Dragons and the weekend’s defeat of Lions.
Edinburgh did well in the Champions Cup to make the round of 16 before losing to Leicester Tigers, but their league form has been poor.
What caused the turnaround? For Glasgow, that could be summed up in two words – Franco Smith. The arrival from Italian rugby of the South African head coach last August was viewed with trepidation in some quarters but I am glad to say I welcomed him in this column and for once I can say I got something right.
It’s very much a story of Smith emerging as a truly gifted head coach. He inherited the bulk of his squad from Wilson and with a few additions and changes he set about turning them into a winning side, playing an expansive game that is always good to watch. It took just a few months for him to get Glasgow into top gear and frankly what he has achieved in this first season borders on the miraculous.
It helps that he is media-friendly and media-savvy. Naming the Lions to the press as favourites “by a long shot” before the weekend’s game was a master stroke of psychology. Believe me when I inform you that he was telling his players how they were going to beat the Lions - and they did.
Meanwhile Edinburgh’s form has been on a rollercoaster as vertiginous as any such fairground attraction in Blackpool.
I had been trying to find out the reason for their recent slump when the announcement came from Murrayfield that 13 players would be leaving Edinburgh Rugby at the end of the season. At once the questions were answered.
Such a loss of personnel – some of them obvious from months ago, admittedly – will not have come as a surprise to the players themselves. It’s the same in any club – rumours, whispers, who’s in, who’s out, general speculation – all have their effect, and the sheer number involved at Edinburgh Rugby tells me this has not been a happy ship for some time.
That head coach Mike Blair announced his impeding departure back in February will also have been unsettling.
Edinburgh now need a new head coach to return them to winning ways, but they can’t have the best coach in Scotland right now because he’s in charge of Glasgow Warriors.
