Evidence of its place in the\u00a0Murrayfield\u00a0pecking order was an email from the\u00a0media team. This weekly message to\u00a0newspaper sports desks and journalists\u00a0advises\u00a0of scheduled activity over the coming days.\u00a0On this occasion, a\u00a0526-word release\u00a0covered\u00a0Scotland Women,\u00a0Edinburgh\u00a0and\u00a0Glasgow Warriors,\u00a0before featuring\u00a0a mere\u00a016 words for Silver Saturday, omitting\u00a0fixtures\u00a0and\u00a0timings.<\/p>\n
That offers no incentive to an editor who may not know much about the club game, does not invite curiosity over local interest, and certainly does not sell the event as a not-to-be-missed occasion.<\/p>\n
Rightly or wrongly, there is a feeling that the Scottish Rugby media department is set up as a competitor to the mainstream media rather than a collaborator, the impression being that clicks on the official website are more important than spreading the news to a wider audience. The result is that rugby as a sport is viewed as a closed shop, accessible only to those in the know. That is one of the reasons why almost every person at Silver Saturday had a vested interest.<\/p>\n
A major\u00a0barrier to\u00a0promotional activities\u00a0is\u00a0evidently\u00a0financial. Scottish Rugby\u2019s problems are well-documented. Nevertheless, the Cup and its associated spin-offs should be the pinnacle of aspiration\u00a0for\u00a0players at all levels \u2013 a chance to perform at the national stadium in decent conditions and, who knows,\u00a0maybe\u00a0catch\u00a0the eye of\u00a0scouts from\u00a0a\u00a0higher level.<\/p>\n
That calls for cash being made available to ensure the competition survives and features all of the country\u2019s great clubs. It will only happen if they receive help with travel, accommodation and, ultimately, prize money. There are two sources for that funding \u2013 Scottish Rugby or sponsors, more likely a combination of the two.<\/p>\n
Sponsors quite rightly demand some form of exposure in return for their backing. Therein lies the issue. Scottish Rugby does little or nothing to promote the club game. So it is no real surprise that the competition has no sponsor.<\/p>\n
There are probably many arguments against each of the following proposals, but consider them as a starting point for a debate that needs to take place if we are ever to see a finals day with a low five-figure audience, never mind the 20,000 or more who attended the inaugural showdowns in 1996 and 1997. The key to increasing crowd sizes is to attract neutral spectators and not only those whose clubs are contesting the silverware.<\/p>\n
Closing the cultural gap between pro sides and clubs requires work, but is not an insurmountable problem. Edinburgh played at Hive Stadium on Friday night in a match that finished about 12 hours before Silver Saturday kicked off. This was an ideal opportunity to promote a great day of rugby. Posters, screen displays, flyers and announcements at the venue or on the Edinburgh website would have emphasised the link between the pro outfit and the clubs.<\/p>\n
However, in a professional context, community rugby, it seems, does not mean traditional clubs. An Edinburgh or Glasgow Warriors season ticket \u2013 or, for that matter, an international ticket package \u2013 should perhaps include Silver Saturday as one of the matches. It would surely help to strengthen the bond across various tiers of the game at minimal cost. It would certainly raise awareness.<\/p>\n
Murrayfield Stadium is a big draw for a broad range of visitors. The chance to combine a stadium tour with a finals day ticket to live action should enhance the experience for rugby tourists. At little or no extra cost, a wider audience opens up. They may even choose to spend money in the shop \u2013 a win for everyone.<\/p>\n
The chance to appear at the national stadium is a highlight for any player. For those from less successful clubs, it is likely to be something they will never experience. They need not be excluded. Most clubs in Scotland have a speed merchant who scores tries for fun. But nobody knows who is the country\u2019s top flyer. Silver Saturday would be a great stage on which to settle the debate. All clubs could enter representatives in the Silver Saturday Sprint. Heats could take place at half-time of Edinburgh or Glasgow Warriors matches throughout the season, with the final to be decided at the interval of the Men\u2019s Cup Final and women\u2019s Sarah Beaney Cup Final.<\/p>\n
If sprinting is not your thing, a tug-of-war might decide Scotland\u2019s strongest front=row, or perhaps a contest to find the scrum-half with the longest pass would garner interest. This would engage all clubs, create additional ticket sales for finals day and generate a bigger attendance, a better atmosphere and, potentially, financial spin-offs for the governing body.<\/p>\n
The Cup\u00a0has\u00a0featured\u00a0many players who\u00a0were or\u00a0subsequently\u00a0became stars for Scotland\u00a0and, in some cases,\u00a0the\u00a0British & Irish Lions.\u00a0A long list\u00a0of\u00a0top\u00a0names includes\u00a0Craig Chalmers, Peter Wright, Scott Hastings,\u00a0Tony\u00a0Stanger\u00a0<\/strong>and Chris Paterson,<\/strong> while the 2009 final featured current Scotland assistant\u00a0coach, John Dalziel.<\/strong> Perhaps\u00a0they, or others of a more recent vintage, such as Olympic sevens medallist, Mark Bennett, could be used to promote the day and underline its value\u00a0to Scottish rugby.<\/p>\n And one final observation. The biggest day in a player\u2019s career deserves\u00a0recognition\u00a0in the form of a hard-copy programme, or at least a glossy team sheet,\u00a0as evidence of their involvement.\u00a0The value of the achievement is diminished somewhat when, at some\u00a0point in the\u00a0future, the person who scored the winning points\u00a0is\u00a0reduced\u00a0to showing their grandchildren a QR code.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Evidence of its place in the\u00a0Murrayfield\u00a0pecking order was an email from the\u00a0media team. This weekly message to\u00a0newspaper sports…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[85185,4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-925466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-divi","9":"tag-rugby","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116485895470458880","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}