ONE of the more grim realities of Scottish society is the complete domination that football enjoys in all aspects of the media. There's just no getting away from it. There isn't another country on Earth that has so much of one sport – or, if you like, two teams – in its newspapers, its radio and its television. In that regard, Scotland is unique. And not in a healthy way.
Last Saturday at Murrayfield we saw one of the great Scottish rugby victories in years and yet it got barely a mention on the front or back pages of most of the mass circulation tabloids the following morning. The coverage inside was written mostly b
y the same guy, not a staff writer, but a freelance. All the top scribes were away at the football, naturally.
The red-tops were dominated by news of Madjid Bougherra and his ongoing difficulty with time-keeping. To be fair to them, they couldn't lead on anything else, given the markets they serve. To have done so would have been to alienate their football-loving readers. But still, football's supremacy in this country is depressing. Or should that be, the Old Firm's supremacy.
I'm reminded of a story in one of the daily tabs during the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Scotland were playing a pool match against Portugal and one tabloid was dedicating a page to the game, stuck at the end of about 18 football pages, 17 of which were probably Rangers or Celtic.
They interviewed the Portuguese rugby captain – about his love of football. Celtic and the Champions League made it into the first paragraph. It was a nice yarn, of course, but it just showed that in that tabloid world, rugby doesn't sell papers. If they can put a football slant on it, then that is what they will do. It's not their fault, it's just the way the country is. The Old Firm are big beasts and, alas, they take a lot of feeding.
Is there any chance of it changing? Probably not, but evenings like last Saturday make you wonder. Nobody is getting carried away with Scotland's victory over the Australians, but what is becoming obvious is that Andy Robinson is having a telling impact, both on the players in his dressing room and on the rugby public as a whole. Suddenly, there is a bit of a spring in the step, a longing for the next Test match, a sense that something good is coming down the track.
The unity of purpose last Saturday was magnificent. If you need to compare the sports, then the difference between the unadulterated bravery of the rugby lads and the feeble capitulation of the footballers the previous weekend in Cardiff could not have been more stark. It was almost like a burden off the shoulders when the rugby team won, like a huge relief that, finally, Scotland had a bit of national sporting success to rally around.
It has been a while, after all. Pretty much everything else in our football dominated world has been negative. The George Burley saga, the chronic state of the SPL, the Old Firm crashing in Europe and their pitiful attempts to extricate themselves from their domestic league, the fighting in Bucharest, the disgusting interruptions of Remembrance Sunday outside Falkirk. We could go on, but why bother? It's one big gloom-fest.
There is one hope here and it is that Saturday at Murrayfield was no false dawn, no fleeting glimpse of a sporting landscape that doesn't necessarily have to be completely taken up by the Old Firm and by some of the vermin that attach themselves to their support. Is rugby back? Can it provide some much-needed national sporting feelgood? Way too early to say, but the signs are encouraging.
If you ever see the tabloids leading their back page with a Scottish rugby victory rather than the banalities of some Old Firm no-mark then you'll know that a sea-change is happening. It's not just for rugby's sake you're hoping it will come about, it's for the sake of the whole country.
Consistency please, KennyKENNY Miller has every right to be brassed off with Madjid Bougherra. For the Algerian to go AWOL once after international duty was bad enough, but to do it three times is an insult to his club, no doubt about it.
"If you are given a time to come back, you come back. It's as simple as that," said Miller. "There would never be a problem on that front with any of the Scotland or Northern Ireland lads when we go away on international duty."
Er, right. What about Boozegate, Kenny. And what about the V-signs at Hampden? Barry Ferguson would still be playing for Rangers had he not misbehaved while away on international duty. Or have you forgotten that because the bold Bazza's a mate? Slam Bougherra all you like, but if you're criticising people for what they do when they're away with their country, let's have a bit of consistency, please?
Stumper of Trump is a true heroTHIS column is thinking of shortlists for Scot of the Year, and there is a clear favourite. For his refusal to bend to the will of Donald Trump and the American's laughable prediction of building the "world's greatest golf course" in Aberdeenshire, the resolute Michael Forbes is frontrunner for top Scot.
From the minute he didn't take up Trump's kind and subtle offer to sell him his seaside cottage – expressed something like, 'How much do you want for the shack, loser?' – Forbes has taken all sorts of abuse from Trump. This week the great windbag dished out more, the venom of which illustrated a number of things. Firstly, Trump is a bully. Secondly, Aberdeenshire council, cravenly supportive of the American, are complicit in the bullying. Thirdly, Forbes, by refusing to sell, is driving Trump crazy with frustration.
"Over the years, my representatives and I have often seen Mr Forbes and he has always been dirty, sloppy and unkempt in his personal appearance and demeanour," said the not-at-all self aware Trump, proud owner of one of the most disastrous hair arrangements in history. Trump went on: "He (Forbes) is a loser who is seriously damaging the image of both Aberdeenshire and his great country." On this, Trump presumably speaks not just for his organisation but for all of America. Or maybe not.
There's more. Trump reckons Forbes' property is an eyesore, unlike the hundreds of houses Trump is intending to build. "We will not be distracted," said the billionaire, "by the rants of the local village idiot." If only we could say the same about the rants of the big city bore.
But if this is how you want to play, Donald, fair enough. I refer to Spy magazine in America who once called you "a short-fingered vulgarian". I bring to your attention the words of one of your nation's best cartoonists who described you thus: "An everyday slob with too much money." Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair, says you represent a "sort of mass market, fake sophistication."
As for the American public? I've had a quick look on the web and I gotta tell you, Donald, they don't seem to like you over there any more than they like you here. Scotland has enough great golf courses and, for me, there is but one Michael Forbes. I take my hat off to the man.
