Why Glasgow Warriors should be seething with Scottish Rugby

His team clinched top spot in the United Rugby Championship on Friday night, the first time a Scottish club has achieved this. No silverware comes with it, of course, but it does ensure Smith’s side have a home pathway in the play-offs. Or at least it should.

As has been widely reported, if Glasgow progress through the play-offs to the final, the showpiece match will have to be played outside of Scotland because there is not an available stadium in this country.

Scotstoun, Murrayfield, Celtic Park, Ibrox, Tynecastle, Easter Road, Rugby Park and all the rest are either unavailable or unsuitable.

Belfast has been mentioned as an alternative ‘home’ ground. Dublin too. There is even a doomsday scenario where the URC might decide to flip venues so Glasgow’s opponents host the match. That could mean the Warriors travelling to South Africa to contest the final.

They’ve done that before, winning memorably against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in 2024, but Glasgow had been ranked lower than the Bulls that season so the South African side were the rightful hosts.

The prospect of finishing the 18-game regular season in first place and not reaping the rewards is one that is rightly exorcising the Warriors. Publicly, they are being diplomatic. Privately, they should be seething.

Scottish Rugby, the game’s governing body, will take the bulk of the flak, and rightly so, but other factors are at play. Glasgow will host their play-off quarter-final at Scotstoun on May 29 but will then have to vacate their home ground which is being used to stage athletics at this summer’s Commonwealth Games. The Warriors lease Scotstoun from Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council's leisure arm, so have to play second fiddle to the Games which will also affect their build-up to next season.

If they win the quarter-final, the semi will be held at Murrayfield on the first weekend of June. So far so good, and the hope is that playing such a match at the national stadium would attract a big crowd. It shouldn’t only be Warriors supporters who converge on Murrayfield for this game, it should be Scottish rugby fans, wherever their club loyalties lie.

Victory in the last four would set the hares running. Murrayfield, it its wisdom, is hosting a concert by country singer Zach Bryan on Sunday, June 14, six days before the URC final. The stadium cannot be made rugby-ready in such a short period of time.

Why concerts are taking priority at Murrayfield

By prioritising concert revenue over rugby, Scottish Rugby has left itself wide open to criticism. There is a strong argument to say the governing body has lessened Glasgow Warriors’ chances of winning silverware. So was it an oversight? Or did they gamble on Glasgow not reaching the final?

Moreso the latter but the reality is that the decision is based on hard finance. A concert comes with a six-figure sum and in these straitened times it’s the bottom line that counts. Scottish Rugby has posted losses totalling £25 million over the last three years and the current regime, led by Alex Williamson, is determined to repair the damage of its predecessor.

The aim is to get the deficit down to £1.6m and the governing body is on track to do so. Concerts play a big part in this and it’s why Zach Bryan will be followed on to the Murrayfield stage by Luke Combs (two nights in July) and Bon Jovi (one night in August).

This year’s acts may lack the mass appeal of Oasis and Taylor Swift, the star turns of the previous two summers, but they still boost the coffers.

Stadium gigs are planned well in advance and it was Scottish Rugby’s financial situation that persuaded Williamson and co to prioritise guaranteed revenue over sporting possibility.

However, given the governing body exists to promote the game, Smith, his players and the Glasgow Warriors supporters are entitled to feel snubbed. After all, the Scottish Rugby mission statement reads: ‘Scottish Rugby is the governing body for rugby union in Scotland, dedicated to growing the game and inspiring the nation’.

Ultimately, it will be the URC which decides where the final will be played and an announcement is likely to be made this week which covers all potential options involving the eight teams who have made it to the play-offs.

Unfortunately, it looks like none of these scenarios will involve Glasgow playing a final on Scottish soil despite their stellar efforts this season.