do scotland need a third proffesional club?

in scotland rugby has been mainly set up in the scottish borders, but rugby seems to be growing quickly up north just now,

there is talent up here! i mean when i was playing a few years ago at under 18s we often got results against aberdeen sides, got an away result against stirling county with only a minimum 15 players, and other central belt results,

if there was a professional team set up in aberdeen/inverness it would help advertise the game further up here and give scottish rugby a boost, are we in a position for a third team? and make more players for scotland consideration,

if a third team isnt anywhere near realistic could it be an option for edinburgh and glasgow to play some of there matches across scotland to just keep advertising the game throughout.

your thoughts?

The SRU cannot afford to fund another team.

Edinburgh/Glasgow need to gain crowds in their own cities before trying stuff like moving matches around.

They shouldn't have got rid of the Borders. Too late to go back now.

Do Scotland need a third pro side ? YES

Can they afford it ? NO

the sru can afford three regions. but...

the wru can afford four regions but is it working? there maybe enough cash to support 4 regions (in wales) but there are not enough supporters to support four...etc....

the sru have it about right. 2 pro clubs is generating success (albeit early days and all that)
dont rush in to getting another pro team

They should have persevered with the borders instead of folding them. Big mistake IMHO.

I wouldn't begin to dictate to the Scottish but an opinion would be that two are sufficient for now. Reason being that two are becoming more bedded, identity rising and success travelling up the graph. Consolidate and then, if the time is right, if those sides have a overflow of talented players coming through the ranks, if the crowds increase... then of course, a third side becomes enticing. But as dogtooth said, use the success of two strong ones to get to that position first.

Sadly paying for a region is not all about attendances and getting bums on seats. TV revenue generates the money required for professional sport.

Provinces and Regions just don't work in Scottish and Welsh rugby, their only really interested in town to town rivalries, uniting to face england and getting drunk with fellow celts. Scotland cant afford a third professional team without a benefactor to fund it, and would struggle to include it in the Rabo Direct anyway.

Seemed to be a good attendance at Murrayfield tonight, as with all the Derby matches this weekend..

Twickenham was rammed to the rafters this evening as was PYS yesterday

i still wish i could watch the games on tv but watching in gaelic on bbc alba the best i can do,

if i was closer i would attend matches but 4/5 hours drive down every game is a big commitment, and often wouldnt even be possible

poddy89 wrote:i still wish i could watch the games on tv but watching in gaelic on bbc alba the best i can do,

if i was closer i would attend matches but 4/5 hours drive down every game is a big commitment, and often wouldnt even be possible

ive watched a few games on alba(sky isnt totally evil). i can live with gaelic commentry if it means i can get to watch even more pro12 matches

AlynDavies wrote:Sadly paying for a region is not all about attendances and getting bums on seats. TV revenue generates the money required for professional sport.

Provinces and Regions just don't work in Scottish and Welsh rugby, their only really interested in town to town rivalries, uniting to face england and getting drunk with fellow celts. Scotland cant afford a third professional team without a benefactor to fund it, and would struggle to include it in the Rabo Direct anyway.

AD, that's not entirely true, well at least as far as Scotland is concerned. We've always had districts which represented groups of clubs and a fiercely contested inter-district championship. The South (ie the Borders) often did well in that, with players from Hawick, Gala, Melrose, Jedforest, Selkirk, etc - they play in maroon and white stripes and historically they've had some wonderful victories ( over the Wallabies who grand-slammed against the international teams in the 80s and against NZ Army just after the war that was virtually a full All Black side). So the history was there, but for whatever reason it didn't click on either occasion that a Borders team was tried out.

As Penfro says, we should have a third and fourth team in due course (South = Borders, and North&Midlands = Caledonia), but cannot afford either right now

If we had the money and it was financially viable I'd be all in favour. In about 5 years time we'll be faced with some tough dilemas regarding players I fear, hopefully by then we'll have managed to increase interest in the sport generally, talks of double dips will be history and some consortium of rugby mad richos will be willing to create 3rd region.