Scottish rugby in turmoil

So, just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for Scottish rugby after losing to Italy and "winning" the wooden spoon after only beating lowly Wales in the Six Nations, this happens!

The SRU have just announced that after a review of professional rugby in Scotland, it can no longer afford to keep the Reivers afloat after they have continually failed to attract crowds. With debts of 23 million quid, they say they had no other option as this will save about 2 million a year.

On top of this recent signings has seen a flood of top Scottish players leaving for lucrative foreign deals in England and France.

Is this the death nell of professional Scottish rugby? Could it also be the beginning of the end of the Magners League just as things looked promising? Or is this a chance to extend the Magners League to other countries? (Like for example a London Welsh or London Scottish team)

The Reivers were never well supported, as the local teams in the borders continue to get the support. The likes of Hawick, Kelso, Gala, Selkirk, Melrose etc. It is a shame, as the borders is scotland's real hot bed of rugby. I suppoes it will continue to produce the players, but they will move on elsewhere as their careers progress..

it seems Scottish supporters are equally, if not more, parochial than Welsh supporters. Cardiff Blues still doesn't get any support from the valleys just north of the city, despite representing this area since the collapse of the Warriors (and before that, they were all too parochial to really support the Warriors). It really is a shame for the area and for Scottish rugby. The national team will certainly suffer since players playing in the English leagues are unlikely to be released for matches outside the official internationals windows and also be rested on free weekends between internationals.

But this could potentially have far reaching consequences well beyond Scottish rugby. If the Scotland national and professional sides are weakened, then it is bad for all teams in the Magners League, Heineken Cup and 6 Nations. I think the Celtic Nations need to act quickly now to compensate for this and try and expand the league into new territories. The most lucrative would be to allow professional teams from London to compete, ie London Welsh or London Scottish (yeah I know they don't exist anymore) or a combined London "Celtics" team. Another option (and one that is probably for the greater good of European rugby) would be to include two Italian teams but this would be less lucrative any travel expenses would be prohibitive. Either way, this could be the start of building a pan-European League to rival the dominance of the GP and Top 14.

Shame but many people who are running Sports Clubs are running them badly. They live/dream well beyond there means. It takes alot of balls to scale down but is it worth trying to keep up with others and go bust? Would be better to scale back and live with in your means Rugby Union has seen teams like Wakefield & Celtic Warriors disappear and others like Orrell, West Hartlepool amongst others are in freefall and realistically will never be as powerful again. How many fans will be lost to Rugby Union in the area if they fold for good-heard that a late bid may be made by some businessmen?

Leeds United , Borussia Dortmund, Sheffield Wednesday amongst others in soccer are still heavily in debt by millions and have in some cases dropped through the Leagues in their nation after playing in Europe and winning National Cups. Its estimated there is only around 6 Clubs that are making a profit in the English Leagues. Soccer is the King and if most clubs are struggling in that Sport then other teams in other Sports will likely be in the same position.

Some teams are lucky-Wigan Rugby League are one example as they got heavily in debt but owned their former ground-Central Park. They sold this and had the luck of Dave Whelan helping them and Wigan Athletic to get a decent ground. The problem is if they ever end up in debt again they have nothing to really sell off to save themselves again