Professionals on the field, Amateurs off it?

I said in my last post that I would return to blogging on 42 Grounds but I didn’t think it would be this soon (although I was sorely tempted by Hibs inept performance on Thursday night, but that would have been more of a full-blooded rant than coherent post).

But two events in the past week has irked me enough to provoke me to write.

Last week saw the launch of the SPFL – the one body amalgamation of the SPL and SFL. The league is due to kick off this Friday and yet there is no sponsor and also no guarantee that one of the clubs in the top flight (Hearts) will be able to fulfil their fixtures. A brave new world this ain’t.

The launch of the branding saw John Collins, Neil Doncaster (Scottish football’s J.Peterman) and Graeme Souness take part in a photocall at Hampden Park. Clearly the first question is what on earth is Graeme Souness’ relevance to Scottish football? Aside from receiving an EBT from Rangers, Souness has contributed absolutely nothing since his departure to Liverpool in 1991.

Surely a launch day for a brand new 42 team league should have been a carnival? Why weren’t chairmen, managers, coaches and players from every team made available to the Scottish media? If this is the 42 club solution where was the evidence of it? Even a photocall with the 42 captains of the SPFL would have given a strong message that things in this new era might be a little different. Instead we got the same old faces trotted out. The lack of imagination is almost staggering – the league names even ape England. Where’s the heritage? Where’s the proud history? Where’s the build-up to this weekend’s opening league fixtures in the Premiership? Why, as Gordon Waddell excellently pointed out in his column, aren’t under 12s getting in for free for games this weekend?

Even BBC Scotland’s advert for the new season is full of images shot in a park – where’s the goals, the rollicking tackles and tête-à-têtes from last season and yesteryears that we love so much? Frankly, the whole idea of a new SPFL season is distinctly underwhelming. And that’s from someone who loves football.

But I also like other sports, and today saw Scottish Rugby announce shirt sponsorship deals for Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors. This season they’ll carry BT Sport on their jerseys. A very canny move from BT, who through this deal circumvent Sky’s ban on BT advertising on their channel. But look at the coverage. To launch the deal the players are wearing BT t-shirts. Not the Glasgow or Edinburgh branding. Those shirts aren’t available yet. Fans have to wait until 19^th August to see their new kit. The whole set-up is budget. Can you imagine any major sporting clubs from around the world doing something like this? I can’t.

Apologies for the doom and gloom just before the season starts but one can’t help but feel that whilst our players might be professionals, we in Scotland are absolute amateurs in marketing and selling our sports.