The Scotland on Sunday's Iain Morrison reflects on Edinburgh and Glasgow's failure to attract big numbers through the turnstiles.
"It is easy to blame the SRU for every evil in the world short of the bubonic plague but they have to shoulder at least some of the blame for poor attendances that are due to a lack of imagination as much as anything. The pro-team chief executives are in charge of their own marketing but one wonders why? Where is the expertise, where is "Firework Phil" Anderton when you need him?
"Murrayfield's head of marketing is Ruchi Aggarwal who argues for a two-pronged approach whereby "energy" is put into persuading those fans that are already "rugby-engaged" (ie club fans, members, volunteers etc) while the tougher, non-traditional supporters are targeted with money. She obviously hasn't visited Goldenacre or Myreside recently because there are no club fans, at least not in Edinburgh, and far fewer club members than there were ten or 15 years ago. Every adult male rugby player in the country could buy a ticket for Edinburgh's next home match and the crowd would still be less than two-thirds of Leinster's average gate.
"The best-supported teams in Europe have attracted crowds of up to 75,000 by appealing to people outside of the traditional rugby market which is blindingly obvious because historically speaking club rugby generated a fraction of those numbers. Amongst others, Aggarwal should be targeting middle-aged football fans who are fed up with junior learning another four-letter word every weekend when the pair of them could be enjoying a beer, a hotdog and some rugby at Murrayfield."
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