So true, old boys network still exists. The SRU have followed the same fatal path of the WRU. They have kept clubs at the heart of this, so there will be no new fan base to call upon. If they wanted to increase the numbers of fans, they should have made them franchise, like mentioned:-I am crushingly disappointed with this. It was an opportunity for the SRU to be bold and try and move participation beyond the narrow enclaves of it's Edinburgh private schools and the borders. At least Boroughmuir is a state school so kids might get a crack of the sport regardless of their financial and social background (assuming the school doesn't have a wholly wealthy catchment area).
When the only professional club in Edinburgh can only get 3000-4000 people a game on average, who decided that it'd be a great idea to create 3 new semi-pro clubs within Edinburgh to compete with this struggling fanbase? Particularly when the SRU's own guidance said they shouldn't pick more than two teams from any of the four main areas. I guess after the RWC bidding process the SRU just love to ignore official guidance... even when it's their own!
The absence of the Glasgow Hawks isn't the biggest issue for me, rugby fans in Glasgow have the thriving Warriors and Glaswegian kids can aspire to join that club. I can sympathise why some of the press are focussing their disappointment on that. It is the absence of the Dundee bid is a hammerblow for the medium to long term prospects for rugby in Scotland's 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th cities that lie north of Edinburgh.
Melrose is absolutely tiny (population around 2,000) and there'll be few from neighbouring towns who travel to matches there. It had to be a joint borders bid, with ground share, to have any chance of garnering respectable crowds and interest in the area.
The SRU will understandably say they had to go with the 6 strongest and most stable bids, but I find it hard to believe that they couldn't have offered assistance to bids in important areas in order to ensure they were competitive.
At least Ayr and Stirling made the cut, both relatively new territories and both with a bit of a hunger for the sport. But I really do think the SRU are happier picking foreign born players and players emerging from their own narrow school base than they are with opening up the sport to wider sections of the domestic population. I find it all a bit maddening and my affiliation to the Italian Union won't be being tested any time soon it seems.
Borders, a shared team moving to different grounds
Edinburgh City
Central Districts
Glasgow
West of Scotland
Caledonia, based in either Dundee or Aberdeen, (it has got the academy)
