LOCAL CLUBS CAN GET LIONS SHARE

IT IS a great pity, of course, that fans from these Isles will not be able to follow the British and Irish Lions to South Africa this summer. But it is no reason to cancel the tour. As Sir Ian McGeechan pointed out this week, the concept of the Lions as huge travelling circus dates from 1997, and has grown from there. Sir Ian has been head coach on four Lions tours, midweek coach on another, and represented them eight times across two campaigns as a player. he is immersed in Lions culture. he dates the sight of a red wall of Lions shirts in stadiums to the visit to South Africa 24 years ago, which coincided with live television coverage back home, a victorious tour and the famous Living With Lions film — the precursor to the Amazon sporting documentaries we see now. When McGeechan (above) played in 1974, he says there were few travelling fans, no live broadcast — even in the host country — and highlights were shown four days later, on Sportsnight. So this, sadly, will be a throwback tour, with only home supporters in the arena, and will be poorer for that. But your local rugby club needs money, too. It will have struggled through Covid, its revenue streams will have been crushed. If all the people whose trips south have been cancelled flocked to their club instead, if they spent the money at the bar, or on the barbecue, if they brought mates, had a jolly-up built around the match — well, no, it wouldn’t be the same. But it might give our grassroots game a jolt. And some good will have come of it.