Scotland play the third and final of their EMC Test matches this autumn, northern hemisphere, against Tonga at Pittodrie football stadium in Aberdeen on Saturday 24th November. The Scottish Rugby Union have teamed up with Serco Northlink in an initiative to help fans travelling from the far flung Northern Isles attend the match.
Serco Northlink are the company that runs the ferry which provides a vital link to the Scottish mainland for Orkney and Shetland Islands. The ferry travels daily once a day from the harbour in Aberdeen to Shetland, stopping on its way at Kirkwall in Orkney 3 times a week, with this reducing to 2 stopovers at Kirkwall from November through March.
The ferry journey to Shetland takes 12 and a half hours and according to the latest available schedule the sailing time away from Aberdeen is scheduled for 1700 UK time on Saturday’s. The rugby match between Scotland and Tonga is due to kick off at 1500 which would mean that any fans from the Northern Isles that were wanting to watch the game and then head back home would struggle to do so under the normal time table.
In what is yet another good initiative from the Scottish Rugby Union, they have arranged with the ferry company to delay the Saturday sailing to allow the fans a chance to get onboard after the game.
While this may be a source of irritation to folk who would be travelling on the ferry on that day who do not follow rugby, it is certainly a bonus to the rugby fans and Serco Northlink also need to be applauded on jumping on board for the test match.
Hopefully this, along with numerous other good initiatives from the Scottish Rugby Union will pay off in the long run in attracting greater numbers to the game. Certainly in the words of the song from the famous Chris de Burgh the fans from the Northern Isles should not ‘blame the ferryman’ for not attending this match.
The Scottish Rugby Union is committed to increasing the appeal of the game and trying to spread its reach as far and wide as possible. Recently former Scotland international Chris Paterson paid a visit to the previously mentioned Orkney and Shetland.
During his time there Paterson spent time experiencing grass roots rugby in these remote parts and met up with young players and conducted some coaching session as well as engaging with the community in answering questions.
Full report as follows:
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Shetland RFC, lying 60 degrees north in latitude, was the focus for the second day of Chris Paterson’s visit to Scotland’s northern isles. A great turnout of supporters and players took part in an early morning question and answer session followed by coaching across all age grades from Scotland’s record cap and points scorer.
It was bacon butties and blethering (chatting) at dawn as the day kicked off at the Shetland Museum in Lerwick. Supporters of all ages packed the auditorium to hear Chris talk about his rugby career, ask a wide variety of questions and compete to win a signed poster from Scotland’s new ‘stripped’ EMC Test campaign and the new Scotland change jerseys.
Chris presented a signed jersey to the club before changing into his boots and heading off to the Clickimin Centre, to take part in two hours of skills sessions with over 75 players across all age grades.
Changeable weather – changing from glorious sunshine to sideways rain approximately every five minutes – didn’t deter the young players as girls and boys benefitted from Chris’s experience and kept him on his toes!
Shetland RFC President Forbes Hogg said: “Chris coming here has been a fantastic fillip for the whole club – the idea of an international player of his experience coming to such a remote club has been great. The young kids especially have been all over him like a rash – desperate to see him, talk to him. The youngsters were so excited at the idea of him then going along to a training session and the senior coaches were hoping to pick up lots of ideas. It’s just been great.”