TWENTY years ago, at the start of rugby’s professional era, Edinburgh played their home games at Myreside. Later they had spells at Easter Road and Meadowbank, then moved to Murrayfield. Yesterday, however, they confirmed that their six home matches in the second half of next season, from early January onwards, will be back at Myreside - in a move they hope will be just the start of a longer-term association.
So have they simply gone full circle, wasting two whole decades before realising they should never have left their original venue? And if so, will this return to the Watsonians ground enable them to start making progress as a team after stagnating for too long?
There are no guarantees, of course, and given the team’s largely dismal record since 1996 it would be premature to make overly optimistic predictions. Edinburgh’s default setting has been underachievement, and whenever they have enjoyed some isolated and limited success, it has usually not been too long before things fell apart. They reached the semi-final of the Heineken Cup in April 2012 under head coach Michael Bradley, for example, but slumped so badly the following season that Bradley was removed from his post in March 2013.
Yet at least the move is a recognition of the problem that the team has faced at Murrayfield, namely that their typical crowd of a few thousand gets lost in the national stadium and the matchday atmosphere is poor to non-existent. And at least Edinburgh appear to be guaranteeing themselves the best of both worlds by holding on to Murrayfield not only for the 1872 Cup against Glasgow, which attracts well over 20,000, but also for any big European games should they reach them.
With temporary stands in place, the aim is to increase the capacity at Myreside to around five and a half or six thousand. A crowd of around that size in Myreside creates a far better atmosphere than one the same size at Murrayfield.
But why, if Myreside is such a great place, did Edinburgh ever move away? Part of the reason was misplaced ambition. When the capital team merged with the Borders in 1998 to form Edinburgh Reivers, the move to Easter Road was made with the aim of attracting crowds of around 20,000 - or so those in charge of the Scottish Rugby Union claimed at the time. (Although, given the financial need which produced both that merger and the one that produced Glasgow Caledonians, perhaps that inflated hope was no more than an attempt to put a brave face on things).
Another reason was the feeling that a team representing the whole district - with 20 member clubs in the city and another dozen in the Lothians - should not be tied too closely with the home ground of one of those clubs. The old Edinburgh district side played home games around the city and beyond, with a tightly packed Goldenacre, for one, proving just as atmospheric as Myreside.
That feeling persists in some quarters, and Edinburgh will have a job to convince some supporters that the tie-in with Watsonians is for the greater good of the game. No matter how successful the move to Myreside may be, the only complete solution - and part of the motivation behind the move first to Meadowbank and then to Murrayfield - would be for Edinburgh to find their own home.
The closest they came was probably when Meggetland was redeveloped a few years back. Boroughmuir play there, of course, but it is council land, so the pro team and the club could have been joint tenants - a different relationship to the one at Myreside. But for a number of reasons, that move fell through, leaving Edinburgh to soldier on at the national stadium
Glasgow, by contrast, found a home of their own in Scotstoun in 2012, having previously used it as a training venue. The Warriors have gone from strength to strength since moving there, and there is no doubt that having the administration staff as well as the playing squad based at Scotstoun has helped build the club’s identity.
Edinburgh, however, will keep their offices at Murrayfield. You can’t help but feel that will leave the club feeling as rootless as ever.
Then, of course, there is the question whether a private school - Watsonians are an open club, but George Watson’s College owns the ground - is the right venue to house a sport that is trying to broaden its appeal to the whole community. Again, since moving to Scotstoun, Glasgow have attracted a wider support base than before: it is hard to see Edinburgh doing the same at Myreside.
The bottom line, though, is that Edinburgh chief executive Jonny Petrie has accepted there is a problem with Murrayfield, and chosen what he believes is the most feasible solution. It’s not perfect, and there is no guarantee of success, but, after 20 years of underachievement, the move to Myreside at least gives the team a hope of sustained progress at last.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel