the issue of "poor" facilities for sport in Scotland has been been debated long and weary over many years--encompassing report after report starting with Wolfenden back in the 1960s thourgh the era of compulsory competitive tendering to best value and now on to the health agenda-the bottom line is that when it comes to public funding the sport/leisure provision has not enjoyed statutory support like other services it is seen as fringe always on tap but never on top.
Rugby in the main has done its own thing and facilities like Hughenden and Anniesland have been built and sustained by generations of voluntary effort and fund raising it it would serve Gordon well to remember this.
Maybe just maybe it would have serverd the SRU better over recent times to invest more in facilities across the board than to pour large sums of money into the pockets of under performing professional players who instesd of taking responsibility of their under achievement blame lack of facilities

Gordon Bulloch has got a nerve! i may not b a hooker, far from it, bt even i can tell that he has been extremly poor this season...the fact tht he blames the facilities is jst a fact to cover up for the fact tht he is old, crap an out dated...had it not been for scott lawson he wood stay an bring the club down further...he is jst making excuses(and bad ones at tht) for his poor poor form...he will not b missed at glasgow...if the facilites are that bad he should have left way bak then if hes moaning they havnt improvd..get a grip gordon!

I take my hat off to Gordon for having the brass neck to stand up and say what he did. Well Done Gordon. Tell me Hugh, would you stay in a job that didn't provide you the facilities to function probably for as long as Gordon has? Probably not. Too many players in this day and age dont have the "balls" to stand up and say what they feel for fear of being dropped. Perhaps it would be interesting to see if any of the other "under performing professional players" have the brass neck to stand up and blame their under achievement on lack of facilities or is it just cos they are crap/lazy all together..........one other Glasgow/international player springs to mind!!!!!

GB has neither the "balls" nor "brass neck" you attribute to him. He's quite safe saying what he has said, 'cause he's off to Leeds now. If he'd had balls he'd have piped up when he was still dependent upon Glasgow and Scotland for his shilling.

Rugby Girl,

Just how does GB possess 'balls' by bemoaning the state of the facilities at Glasgow Rugby when he is no longer a Glasgow Player, thats the actions of a coward. A real man with balls would have spoken out at the time, not waited until he had buggered off and signed a deal at another club, says much about the man|!

We've just had Gordon come out about real facts on pro rugby. We've had Kenny Logan come out with the real facts on pro rugby, We've had Dave Millard come out with the real facts on pro rugby - all when they have left pro rugby.

Perhaps if the supposed "professional rugby era" had a proper union or a proper code for a player setup here in Scotland then maybe a player could stand up and be counted while still in the pro surroundings, as it were.

It’s simply disgraceful that only now after all these years of the professional game in Scotland that there's only now going to be steps forward to achieve something along the lines of a players union or somewhere where players can vent to the SRU through.

And, of course, the SRU developed Murrayfield at huge cost while the Irish stuck with Lansdowne Road. And the Irish didn't have Hampden, Tynecastle, Easter Road, Ibrox and Parkhead, not to mention Pittodrie, McDermid Park and Firhill for lesser matches. Priorities?

to rugby girl name the player

I'd put money on it being Dan Parks!

Funny how so many posters on this story seem to be speaking as one voice...ah well...

quite right weegie--rugby is perceived as a well heeled sport when it comes to seeking support from the public purse-politicians equate most things with votes --how many votes for rugby in Easterhouse?
Because of the SRU being in such disarray sportscotland the main vehicle for public funding is nervous and they still have not allowed the funds to flow and public funding through sportscotland or local authorities can be subject to a best value assesment how do you think we would fare?
Not well when you consider McGeechan announced that he had secured IRB funding when in fact it had not been approved

I don't see how people can slag gordon off for stating what is clearly a fact - every one of the premiership sides in England have better training facilities than the Scottish sides - and the reason they spend that money is because it makes a difference to player performance. If you actually read the article (which remember is a journalist-edited summary of an interview) I don't think you'll find Gordon is blaming his perfomances on poor facilites but on him becoming "stale". He also is not slagging off what efforts there have been through "volunteers and fundraising" to provide the facilities at clubs which the SRU are now using for their own teams. Rather he is choosing to highlight one of the (many) issues with Scottish rugby at the moment which he feels, in his personal opinion, has been a disadvantage for Scottish players over the last 10 years, and something which it seems the SRU have no plans to change.
Rightly or wrongly, Gordon has won nearly 80 caps and has been selected for 2 Lions tours, and clearly - even with Scott Lawson quite rightly pushing him all the way this year - he feels he now needs a new challenge to bring his standards back up. Gordon's family is settled in Scotland and him moving away must have been a big decision - the lesser person which some of you describe would continue to take the SRUs money (even with all the cuts Bulloch would still be getting a decent salary though less than he is proably getting at leeds) and I'm sure could supplement that in other ways given his high profile, enjoy his life, retire from the international scene and look towards coaching or whatever he want's to do next. But he's decided he wants to push himself again and good luck to him. Time will tell if he still has what it takes to make the grade. I hope he does.

Come on Euan! Why go to the bother of reading the article when it's an opportunity to put the boot in? Bulloch is right. The facilities in Glasgow are shite for a professional rugby team and the players have been saying that for years. It's not exactly new news to anyone.

next you will be blaming the "Barnet Formula" for lack of funding for Scottish sport--the SRU have chosen to squander their money for several years on 2/3 under performimg teams populated by antipodeans who could not hack it back home instead of investing it in home based Scottish talent

At last another played “freed from the SRU/Pro shackles” speaks his mind!

What Gordon talks about with crap facilities is just the beginning of the matter…where’s all the SRU pomp and circumstance in the Glasgow Rugby move to Scotstoun now?

The fact is that Glasgow City Council never agreed to the move in the fist place because of funding issues, which the SRU were aware of. The SRU seem to think a press release on “a move to Scotstoun” will keep the punters happy for a wee while, much like all their “press releases” the seem to release when it suits them in a time and place!

Where’s the press releases for the paltry “chimney sweep wages” the SRU give their young apprentices? Where’s the SRU press releases on the young Scot’s lads shown the door because they don’t fit in some “weird and wonderful” supposed pro setup in Scottish rugby? Where’s the SRU press releases on the now defunct move to Scotstoun? Where’s the SRU press releases for the money-men buying the franchises? Where’s the SRU press releases with such amazing news on the proposed “Rainbow cup”…All quiet from SRU HQ in respect of press releases isn’t it?

“Young Gun” - I suggest there’s still a lot of growing up to do for you mate! Gordon has stated on more than one occasion that his season past has been a pretty average one. He doesn’t blame lack of facilities in Scottish rugby for a “bad season” or anything along those lines. I suggest you take the “Anti-Bulloch chip” from your shoulder - it seems to be weighing you down enough to cloud over the real issue of the story….Scottish Rugby is doing nothing to improve the game overall in Scotland facility wise or any other wise!

The SRU are doing nothing to help the situation…ok we know moneys tight and the overdraft is heading through the floor daily but why the hell are we wasting huge chunks of that already depleted cash on Argentineans or New Zealanders signing for the pro sides yet letting grass roots and the like rot into the ground through lack of funding?

There’s amateur rugby sides and junior football teams in Scotland playing and training in better up to date training facilities and stadiums than Glasgow, a supposed professional sports, outfit are!

Gorson's stating fact…not some cover up for a player having an average season for Christ sake!

As a GB and SL fan, I can only say.. time will tell. I respect what GB says, although his main problem for Glasgow has been the lineout throw? ..doesn't take much fitness to get that right and facilities won't help that. What he says is entirely true, however, about facilities and I hope his performance only benefits from being in a superior environment.. became stale from staying too long and not advancing his career.
We should only thank him for what he gave to us at Glasgow and wish him well..he will be a much better player in Leeds, I'm sure....

Well said, Highlandbrave - you are on the money. This has nothing to do with GB - it is to do with a professional club working with amateur facilities and resources

I posted earlier that I thought the investment in Murrayfield a waste of scarce financial resources, because there are lots of soccer stadia available if the old Murrayfield was not thought up to scratch.

Does the same not apply to training facilities? Could the Scottish pro teams not come to some arrangements with the better-resourced Scottish soccer clubs to use their facilities? Training and conditioning for soccer and rugby do not take all day. Surely there would be room to accommodate the training requirements of both a pro rugby club and a senior soccer club at the one establishment? Could Glasgow not approach Rangers with a request to hire time at Murray Park in Milngavie?

One small point, the redevelopment of Murrayfield pre-dated all the others save Ibrox. Football had to be forced kicking and screaming into the modern era.
Rugby has the finest stadium in Scotland and so let's not whine or manufacture some kind of Halcyon period where we could have gone cap in hand to the soccer boys.

Sorry I meant to say as well, Murray Park is in pretty much constatnt use. Not only by the Full side but by U21, U18, U16 and younger. It is a well used facility and it is unlikely that there would be scheduling space of the time needed for 40 rugby players.

WELL SAID HB THERE ARE SERIOUS QUESTIONS OVER SCOTSTOUN ASK THE ATHLETIC FRATERNITY DO THEY WANT GLASGOW RUGBY TO RUN THE SHOW

So sad, it's a picture of Scottish Rugby at the moment.
Quite hard for GB and Scottish Rugby especially the last two years with the national side.
I think GB was very loyal with Glasgow Rugby, he could leave years ago for MONEY when he was at his best.
So he is quite brave to challenge in the English premiership if he is as crap as some people said.
Is Leeds Management daft?
Not sure we'll see in the future...
If he had stay, some people would say "it's not a retirement house"
It's not his fault if Scottish Rugby, SRU, did'nt manage to enter in the pro rugby era.
He is not the only scot to go south, even the young players leave the country because they can't have apprentice contracts, 500 hundred quids a month.

Just a word about antipodean imports;
Unfortunately again Scottish pro sides can't challenge with English or French offers (recent example with Xavier Rush), so first choices don't go to Scotland.

Bloody MONEY

Weegie, very few football clubs have good facilities. Those open to Glasgow Warriors probably compare favourably with those used by most of their football counterparts. In fact, until Rangers opened Murray Park, they used my own club ground at Clydesdale, West of Scotland Cricket Club and others. (Murray Park is a non-starter as a shared facility. David Murray did not invest millions in a state-of-the-art facility to have rugby players running about the immaculate football surfaces.) Celtic's training ground at Barrowfield is extremely poor. Tony Mowbray, the Hibernian manager, was, just last week, bemoaning the fact his players have to use a variety of public facilities.

One possible "tie-up" did occur to me. Lesser Hampden is used by Queen's Park for training and by the Strollers, I'm sure, for matches. Queen's are an amateur club. Lesser Hampden, is, therefore, unused during the day. The downside, of course, is there is only the one pitch available.

I am trying to make two points. First is that if we do not have the financial resources to establish super-duper facilities we have to use our cerebral resources and think our way round the problem. OK, Murray Park may not be a starter, but we could ask, and, by starting to think, the suggestion of Lesser Hampden came up. So that's a start. Second point is that even the multi-million pound soccer pros manage without state-of-the-art facilities, so why cannot pro rugby players also "make do and mend"?

I remember stories about Don Thompson, long distance walker, doing acclimatisation for the 1960 Olympics in a heated bathroom, about Ingrid Christiansen, world marathon record holder, training on a tread mill in a Norwegian winter with the snow piled high outside, and about Allan Wells, Scottish Olympic champion sprinter, training on outdoor tracks in a Scottish winter after shovelling away snow, while the pampered American sprinters, all of whom he beat, trained in heated indoor facilities.

A winner is a winner, irrespective of the facilities provided. The real champions have attitude, not facilities!

Weegie, your point about attitude is quite right, but none of your examples of "make do and mend" come from the last 10 or 20 years and none of them involve pro sportsmen. Pro sport has moved on - the best athletes are prepared with scientific precision. With higher and higher standards the differences between winning and loosing are becoming smaller and smaller and only a very few true sporting geniuses can make up for poorer preparation than their competitors - irrespective of "attitude".
Also, you say the soccer boys make do with poor facilites! Make do?! With the execption of the old firm (and even there, I'm being kind), the scottish soccer game is an irrelevance on the European stage - they are not making do, they are falling behind, just like Scottish rugby.
Facilities are by no means the only thing (or even the most important thing) wrong with scottish rugby, but at least gordon's comments have got us thinking and talking about it!

and what the great Australian athletics Percy Cerutty called "inborn intrinsic worth"or in Scots "guts"

We could get into deeper water here. "Professional" sport is not in fact sport. It is business, part of the entertainment industry. The essence of sport is that it is a game, to be conducted after the serious business of earning a living has been attended to, not instead of it, and embodying the element of chance.

By introducing multiple referees and multiple cameras, because it is intolerable for referees to make a mistake in a professional game - too many persons livelihoods are at stake - an effort is made to eliminate the element of chance. Haranguing the public sector to put additional resources into professional" sport is an endeavour to elevate a game or pastime to an unsustainable level of importance where it competes for resources with "real" priorities, such as education or health.

Why not just do the best we can with what we've got? With proper management and proper husbandry we may progress and earn a return which will enable us to peovide for ourselves the resources we believe we need. It's notthat important after all.

Its not for the sake of a ribboned coat
Nor the selfish hope of a season's fame
But his captain's hand on his shoulder smote
Play up play up and play the game

Good to see Big Blue wants to take the rugby code back to Hampden
the home of the Spiders--motto "ludere causa ludende"--the game for the games sake

Interesting follow on from this thread that in the interview with Sean Lamont for this website he goes on to say in his interview that "I just decided that Zurich Premiership rugby is so strong" and "The facilities and set-up at Northampton are superb".

Ok it’s a round about way of saying things are better down South, facilities wise and playing wise to what they are here at Glasgow yet the "anti-Bulloch brigade" seem not to come down hard on Sean for saying much the same thing as Gordon did?

What really annoys me the most about the slagging off of players is that "fan favourites" will say almost the same thing as another not so firm favourite yet there’s the typical silence about the "fan favourite" saying it.

To be fair, Sean did come in for criticism from certain supporters - for example, I've heard him being accused of "carpet bagging". Some supporters seem unable to resist getting a dig in whenever possible. Would wish all players leaving Glasgow this season all the very best - and will look forward to watching their progress.

Absolutely..as I've said many times before all the best to everyone leaving Glasgow for pastures new.