I don't know if any of you have read the Hawks newsletter. In the ''chairman's chapter'', a beautifully written piece of elegant English, there is the following fascinating little passage: ''So, what of the future for Hawks? We still need a home - a real home. Not New or Old Anniesland's 1st XV pitch,'' it says. ''Not two clubhouses to socialise in. We must centralise our social activities in one venue, suitable for a major sports club, and if that is not possible for political reasons then perhaps we should be looking for a home elsewhere.''

But it goes on to say: ''We have a chance of establishing a big sports club at Anniesland combining quality and social sport for all ages and abilities . . . that needs vision from both sides of the fence and the will to grasp this opportunity when it is presented.'' And the cheeky ending is: ''With the SRU's permission we look forward to an exciting club season in 1998/9. Have a good summer.''

Which reads to me like a pretty clear statement of intent on finally bridging the barrier which has been in the form of a grey metal fence between the two old clubs. My understanding is that there are very preliminary plans which have been produced for a stand sitting between Old and New Anniesland. But there are also moves to improve GHK's stand, to the extent of taking it down and building a new one.

It looks as though matches will take place at one venue next season.

Which sounds like a good idea. For the Hawks to make a telling imprint on Glasgow's culture, though, the club needs to generate fans outwith the old schools it's built on. And that means that the big test of the Hawks, and the big sign of its success, would be to attract spectators from the surrounding area, and all over Glasgow. And maybe that means that a place like Firhill is visited on the odd occasion.

q Great to see an old friend, Iain MacGregor, walking along Great Western road the other day, looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Iain, as some of you may know, has had a fairly hard time of late, but inside that man beats a heart of rugby topped off by a brain which helped select a Grand Slam side and managed Scotland to Australia in 1982 - the last time we won a game in the Southern Hemisphere.

We mused for a minute of two, and a little lesson sprang in my face, which is that the new model of part-time rugby is one which was alive and well in the 1930s in Glasgow when a great Hillhead side were on top. ''They decided to be one of the best teams in the land and so they came up with the idea that they would train every lunchtime,'' says MacGregor, ''and they did.''

Astonishing as this may seem to some of the younger readers - and I flatteringly include myself in that bracket - it was true. Players like Olympic sprinter Robin Murdoch, his brother W ''Copey'' Murdoch, Ian Dawson and W A G Ross would descend on Hughenden every lunchtime of the week and train with their passing drills and other forms of rugby practice. And to think that it's taken 50 years for it to turn full circle and we realise that some of the teams now will be trying to do the same thing again.

''I actually don't really like the idea of full-time rugby, but there you have it.'' says MacGregor, who won nine caps for Scotland. ''It puts pressure on people to make a living from a game which is really meant for enjoyment. If they want to make a living from a form of rugby then they should go to rugby league, which is actually a better game. Very hard and very exciting. Professionalism has made it harder for some of the teams to keep up with the rest.''

And with that he was gone. It's strange the way time plays tricks on you, and MacGregor has seen more life in his time than many of us. Few folk watching us talk would have realised that this was a man who helped Scotland get much of its success in the eighties, despite the fact that his strong school-masterish presence, he would admit himself, sometimes made enemies who, if they would only scratch under the skin, might have seen a different person.

Anyway, I like chance encounters. Maybe next time Kim Basinger will be walking along Great Western Road, with a wee sports car as a present, and planning permission for a huge big stand at Anniesland cross for the Hawks. Dream on.

q Just thought you'd like to know that the famous Brazilian footballer Romario met the Pope recently. ''And tell me,'' said the Pope, ''what do you do?''