GLASGOW District Council consider New Zealand's visit to Old
Anniesland next month to be a prestigious sporting event, quantified by
a #12,000 sponsorship for the game between Scotland A and the All Blacks
on Saturday, November 13.
Bernard Connolly, director of the city's parks and recreation
department, described the game as ''one of the major events the city has
mounted. It gives the whole of the West of Scotland the chance to see
top-quality rugby.''
Sponsorship will help the Glasgow and District Rugby Union to erect
temporary stands seating about 4500, raising the ground's capacity to
close on 8000. In addition to the specific financial backing the council
will host a civic dinner for the All Blacks two days before the match.
Allan Hosie, the former international referee now a Glasgow
representative on the Scottish Rugby Union committee, also saw the
Anniesland match as an ideal opportunity to promote the game in the
West. ''The profile of rugby football in the Glasgow district has not
been as high as it should have been,'' he said.
Hosie reiterated an appeal to clubs in the Glasgow area to avoid
kick-offs coinciding with the All Blacks' game, suggesting that matches
should be brought forward either to Friday evening or Saturday morning.
Jim Telfer, Scotland's former captain and coach, who is to take on the
newly created role as the SRU's director of rugby next month, looked on
the All Blacks' tour to Scotland and England in its global context.
''It's important to remember that in two years' time, all of us will be
involved in the World Cup,'' he said. ''The All Blacks will be looking
on this tour as preparation.''
Telfer also recalled that the last time the All Blacks visited this
country, 10 years ago, they drew 25-all with Scotland at Murrayfield.
On this tour, the All Blacks will play four games in Scotland and nine
in England. They open the Scottish section against the South at
Netherdale on November 10, and after the Anniesland match the tourists
will play a Scotland Development XV as well as the Murrayfield
international.
Tickets for Anniesland will be available later this month priced #10
for stand and #5 for the ground (children #3). In addition, 300 free
tickets will be available for members of the Young Scotland Squad and
150 for the Glasgow schoolchildren who will be putting on a display of
New Image Rugby before the big game.
Glasgow's parks and recreation department will provide ticket outlets
at their High Street offices and the Kelvin Hall. Tickets will also be
available from Glasgow rugby clubs and the district secretary, Minto
Butters.
Yesterday, too, it was announced that the match would not only be
broadcast live by television throughout the UK but also beamed to New
Zealand.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article