The GROGS
  • Home
  • About
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Caption Comp
  • Tribute Page
  • Contact

october 2017 lunch

11/10/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Almost 100 GROGs attended the monthly lunch to welcome Fergus Neil, breaking his duck as Chairman, and David Barnes, well known rugby correspondent, author and blogger, who broke the GROGS Speakers “height record”, towering over Al Kellock by almost 1 inch!  Dipping into his considerable knowledge of the refereeing fraternity Fergus told some good stories about them, especially the more than famous Nigel Owens.  The biggest compliment that can be paid to David Barnes in describing his passionate and insightful address is that he spoke completely in his own right as David Barnes and not as the son of Ian Barnes, the former Scottish international lock forward.  A successful rugby player himself, having played for Hawick and Edinburgh Accies before being forced to retire through injury, David showcased his qualifications as a rugby correspondent for several broadsheet newspapers (and 1 or 2 not-so-broadsheet others)!  He restricted his comments to a short description of his transition to rugby columnist and a much longer description of his concerns about what might be happening to club rugby with the desire of rugby “officialdom” to extend their power and authority over the sport.  He was clearly unhappy about the present day governance of the game in Scotland and is further worried that some English clubs have too much control in European rugby whilst working with a lack of obvious viability.  The setting up of the proposed ‘Super Six’ he sees as being fraught with problems and part of a creeping dimunition of the independence of the leading clubs on both the players and officials fronts.   A frustration about the lack of the type of rugby coverage he believes the ordinary rugby enthusiast in Scotland looks for led David to establishing the website www.theoffsideline.com which has gained in popularity and stature since it was set up 18 months ago.  His aim of wanting to report and comment in the way the 2 main ‘rugby papers’ should have been doing is clearly being achieved and discerning GROGs would do well to check out the site.  In appreciation of his contribution, Fergus Neil presented David with a bottle of, what he assured him is, a very rare whisky indeed.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

Copyright 2013 - Glasgow Rugby Old Geezers Society