The Myreside Trial

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The Myreside Trial

Postby Wottie on Sat Apr 01, 2017 12:19 am

Anyone else love being back at Murrayfield tonight for the La Rochelle game (off the scale error count, lack of basic skills and the result aside of course)?

I was up for the move to Myreside and really wanted it to work, but having been to all the games there since the trial commenced, I've got to be honest with myself and acknowledge that I just don't like it. jamesmatthew toilet provision, catering "outside" the ground, naff supporter's bar (that you can't even get to until the stewards decide they want to let you over the bridge) and it just feels like what it is, a completely inappropriate ground for a Pro12 Team. Look I know the team's performance and apparent complete lack of any coaching this season has not helped, but I do find I need to drag myself along there instead of looking forward to going.

Murrayfield is far from perfect for all the reasons we know about, but being back there tonight has convinced me that it's closer to what we need than Myreside is and probably ever will be.

Thoughts? Maybe someone could put up a poll to see what people prefer?
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby bignose on Sat Apr 01, 2017 9:17 am

I'm with you on that. But then I never thought there were problems with the stadium itself in the first place.
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby Crichton Gunner on Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:28 am

I see where you're coming from, but I'd like to see how Myreside goes when it isn't raining (the weather has been rubbish for all 3 league games we have played there) and when the team puts in a half decent performance like it did last night.

The facilities are clearly better at Murrayfield, no surprise there. But Myreside provides the opportunity to make our games more of an exciting occasion, and appeal to new potential supporters in a way that a small crowd in a vast empty stadium can't. It's all about attracting new supporters, not us old diehards who stopped noticing the eeriness of Murrayfield years ago. Time will tell if it works, but it should be given more time to see if that's how it pans out.
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby bignose on Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:38 am

Crichton Gunner wrote:I see where you're coming from, but I'd like to see how Myreside goes when it isn't raining (the weather has been rubbish for all 3 league games we have played there) and when the team puts in a half decent performance like it did last night.

The facilities are clearly better at Murrayfield, no surprise there. But Myreside provides the opportunity to make our games more of an exciting occasion, and appeal to new potential supporters in a way that a small crowd in a vast empty stadium can't. It's all about attracting new supporters, not us old diehards who stopped noticing the eeriness of Murrayfield years ago. Time will tell if it works, but it should be given more time to see if that's how it pans out.


Did you think there was a decent atmosphere last night? I think there was. I think your first paragraph nails it - "when the team puts in a half decent performance like it did last night" is the key part.

I was at Twickenham on Thursday afternoon. I can confirm that all you need to create an atmosphere in a stadium that hold 82,000 is a decent game of rugby and some bodies prepared to make some noise (OK - 200 or so moderately inebriated students helped with that). Believing that Myreside solves anything is just clinging to desperate hope. We need decent rugby first and foremost.
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby Oldsalt on Sat Apr 01, 2017 5:21 pm

One of the things supporters have been crying out for is consistency. For me the pitch comes into that equation.
The pitch at Murrayfield is a positive factor as you know what you are going to play on. 100% natural surfaces are the past.
Wottie is correct in raising the question. I prefer Murrayfield.
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby Ayton1keith on Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:30 pm

Have to admit to being a bit underwhelmed about the whole Myreside thing and seriously contemplating not renewing my ST and just pick and choosing games next year.
There's been some social media musings over the past 24hrs about the wisdom of staging last nights games at Murrayfield with only just over 5k in attendance and comparing that to the Glasgow travelling support this weekend. It's not that long ago that they were playing to very sparse crowds but there success has seen their fan base swell and are now selling out most games at Scotstoun.
If Edinburgh were to start being successful and marketed correctly then the fans would start to come back to watch a winning team and that in itself generates a better atmosphere.
I was fortunate enough to be at the Glasgow "home" game last season in the 1872 cup at Murrayfield and although there was only 8k or so the atmosphere that night was great. So it is possible to create an atmosphere within the vast empty spaces of Murrayfield but the product on the park has to be spot on.
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby biffer on Sun Apr 02, 2017 12:03 am

Oldsalt wrote:One of the things supporters have been crying out for is consistency. For me the pitch comes into that equation.
The pitch at Murrayfield is a positive factor as you know what you are going to play on. 100% natural surfaces are the past.
Wottie is correct in raising the question. I prefer Murrayfield.


Yeah that pitch at Murrayfield has really contributed to the consistently high standard of the last two seasons.

No, wait....
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby macdone on Sun Apr 02, 2017 3:39 am

Wottie wrote:I was up for the move to Myreside and really wanted it to work, but having been to all the games there since the trial commenced, I've got to be honest with myself and acknowledge that I just don't like it. jamesmatthew toilet provision, catering "outside" the ground, naff supporter's bar (that you can't even get to until the stewards decide they want to let you over the bridge) and it just feels like what it is, a completely inappropriate ground for a Pro12 Team.


The sad thing is all of these are the things that were left to Edinburgh Rugby to sort out. I really hoped it would succeed and it could have with a bit of organisation. The supporters "bar" is dreadful. I can't actually think how it could be any more basic. Supporters HAVE to be able to use the main Myreside bar for the move to make any sense. The whole point is to create a club feel - using the clubhouse would achieve exactly that. There are plenty other options for accommodating hospitality. But they have forgotten what their bread and butter is.

I suppose the question is what we as supporters do now? Do we just let it fail? I've tried so hard to engage with the club about it but I've got absolutely nowhere.
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby Wottie on Sun Apr 02, 2017 2:52 pm

I suspect the crowd on Friday for Connacht will tell us a lot. I had thought they would react to all the absolute SteveWalsh stuff on the hoof and we would see incremental improvements week on week, but nothing! It's bad enough the stuff on the paddock is poor but the club should have been bending over backwards to avoid negative sentiment for Myreside. If people like we who were positive about it are not on board, not sure what people that were unsure or against it at thinking.

Can't see me renewing ST for next season, just don't enjoy the experience there. Way too much wrong with it.
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby dolf_lundgren on Sun Apr 02, 2017 3:08 pm

To be honest, if they offered free champagne and lap dances I dont think there would be a big attendance next week. Things like the quality of the bar dont matter if you are winning, the Glasgow bar is a gym hall and they dont seem to mind/care.

What happens on the park has to be sorted out. I have stuck it out for a long time and argued to support the club but it is getting harder and harder when we see some of the schoolboy stuff on the pitch. Hard to beat should be the absolute minimum we expect, recently we have beaten ourselves and not shown commitment. So it is hard to ask for commitment back.
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby Friday Knight Lights on Sun Apr 02, 2017 4:11 pm

I agree Dolf.

To be fair, Myreside isn't as good a venue as Murrayfield but fundamentally one is a rugby ground built to comfortably fit 60,000 and one is a school ground built without the intention of ever becoming a professional stadium.

Myreside has its faults and I think the club should sit down with fans over summer and make improvements. However I think if we ever get good we'll need more than 7,000 capacity so move back to Murrayfield.
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby bignose on Sun Apr 02, 2017 6:21 pm

Friday Knight Lights wrote:I agree Dolf.

To be fair, Myreside isn't as good a venue as Murrayfield but fundamentally one is a rugby ground built to comfortably fit 60,000 and one is a school ground built without the intention of ever becoming a professional stadium.

Myreside has its faults and I think the club should sit down with fans over summer and make improvements. However I think if we ever get good we'll need more than 7,000 capacity so move back to Murrayfield.


Then why are we p*ssing around there? (or not, given the toilet situation)

I can see not a single redeeming feature at Myreside.
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby GaryIPA on Sun Apr 02, 2017 6:37 pm

bignose wrote:
Friday Knight Lights wrote:I agree Dolf.

To be fair, Myreside isn't as good a venue as Murrayfield but fundamentally one is a rugby ground built to comfortably fit 60,000 and one is a school ground built without the intention of ever becoming a professional stadium.

Myreside has its faults and I think the club should sit down with fans over summer and make improvements. However I think if we ever get good we'll need more than 7,000 capacity so move back to Murrayfield.


Then why are we p*ssing around there? (or not, given the toilet situation)

I can see not a single redeeming feature at Myreside.


we are where Glasgow were 20 years ago we're that far behind them on and off the pitch
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby Friday Knight Lights on Sun Apr 02, 2017 8:47 pm

bignose wrote:
Friday Knight Lights wrote:I agree Dolf.

To be fair, Myreside isn't as good a venue as Murrayfield but fundamentally one is a rugby ground built to comfortably fit 60,000 and one is a school ground built without the intention of ever becoming a professional stadium.

Myreside has its faults and I think the club should sit down with fans over summer and make improvements. However I think if we ever get good we'll need more than 7,000 capacity so move back to Murrayfield.


Then why are we p*ssing around there? (or not, given the toilet situation)

I can see not a single redeeming feature at Myreside.


I may be wrong and the SRU might see Myreside as permanent but if we can average around 10,000 a match I just can't see that happening.

To be fair to the idea it's not like Murrayfield is the ideal ground - many have thought about a separate Edinburgh home, Scotstoun is better but as said you're still drinking in a gym hall and who knows what the early days there were like? Hopefully hp18 or disco can shed some light on their move.

I think people would be more positive if we were winning but the same is probably true of Murrayfield.
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Re: The Myreside Trial

Postby The Feral Goat on Mon Apr 03, 2017 10:01 am

It is very difficult to view Myreside positively when the on field performances have been so poor, it brings all the other issues into sharper focus, as DL said if we were performing on the pitch the stuff roundabout would matter less.

We need to remember a lot of the infrastructure is temporary solutions, although what would change in the short term should we move permanently is not clear, it is possible to build a toilet block at the very least? The only thing I recall was the likely installation of a 3G/4G pitch for 2017/18 if the trial was successful and Watsons having plans to redevelop anyway but presumably this is over years not months.

Personally where we play is not an issue for me but understand those that haven’t taken to Myreside.

It does not matter at present if it is Myreside or Murrayfield I don’t look forward to going to watch Edinburgh just now, feels like we are getting near rock bottom again.

Bottom line the match day experience starts with the team delivering on the pitch
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