How Glasgow Warriors are luring fans from Rangers and Celtic - but Ibrox £120k cost mooted in stadium debate

Wilson backs Franco Smith’s side to go all the way in URC

In a football-mad city, it can be hard for Glasgow Warriors to grab the attention of the sporting public, but Ryan Wilson believes more and more people are being won over by the rugby team who currently sit proudly atop the BKT United Rugby Championship.

Wilson was part of the last Warriors side to be crowned champions nine years ago and believes the current squad can emulate the class of 2015. That success sparked an influx of new supporters at Scotstoun and the former Glasgow captain detects another upsurge in interest.

The significant progress made by the team in the last two seasons under head coach Franco Smith, combined with disenchantment at the bitterness of the Old Firm divide, have increased the attractiveness of the match-day experience at Warriors, according to Wilson, who recalls a time when the club struggled to penetrate the city’s sporting psyche. He cites Sean Lineen for turning the club into genuine challengers and the missionary work put in by the former coach has been continued by his successors, from Gregor Townsend to Smith, the current incumbent.

There has been an upsurge in interest in Glasgow Warriors who are currently top of the BKT URC with three rounds of fixtures remaining in the regular season. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

“It’s hard for rugby to get a foothold but it’s definitely grown,” said Wilson who made over 200 appearances for Glasgow Warriors and won 50 caps for Scotland before hanging up his boots at the end of last season. “When I first turned up 15 years ago someone said to me, ‘Awright, big man, what you doing here?’ I said, ‘I play for Glasgow Warriors’ and he replied, ‘what’s that?’ And I said it was the rugby team and the guy replied, ‘whit? We’ve got a rugby team?!’ The guy couldn’t believe it! But we’ve put rugby on the map in Glasgow starting from Sean Lineen.

“It’s difficult. But there’s such a divide with the football, with Rangers and Celtic, that a lot of people are leaning into rugby now, especially with the matchday experience. A lot of families love coming to watch the URC at Scotstoun. There’s not that conflict that you get at football. Rugby has definitely grown so much in the last two or three years. And it definitely helps when the team is winning and making it to finals in Europe. The next step is looking at Scotstoun and can they grow that too. It has been difficult but rugby is definitely getting bigger in Glasgow.”

The Warriors’ next two URC fixtures take place in South Africa and the squad flew out to Johannesburg on Tuesday. They play the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday and the Lions at Ellis Park a week later in what are likely to be their toughest matches of the regular season. They will then round off their regular season with a home game against Zebre on May 31. Glasgow are currently four points clear of Leinster at the summit with the top eight qualifying for the play-off quarter-finals. Finishing first would give Glasgow home advantage throughout the play-offs which would mean a final in Scotland if they make it that far. Wilson thinks they can and points to the impact his side had when they clinched the old Pro12 title by beating Munster in the final at Kingspan Stadium.

“We saw an influx of fans after the win in 2015 over in Belfast,” he said. “There were a lot of people who jumped on board and wanted to come along and have a look. There’s a big push across the URC to try to get more kids involved as ultimately that’s how you’re going to grow the game.

Former Glasgow Warriors captain Ryan Wilson will be part of the Premier Sports team bringing live coverage of Edinburgh v Zebre Parma at Hive Stadium on Friday night with all the build-up from 7pm on Premier Sports 1. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

“I do think Glasgow can go all the way this year. If they can just hang on to that top spot they are so dangerous at home. They’re talking about a quarter-final at Scotstoun which I think they’re just about guaranteed. Then there’s chat about hosting the final at Murrayfield if they get there so having home advantage all the way could be massive. If they can go to South Africa and get at least one win and then beat Zebre at home they will be sitting pretty comfortably. Although with knockout rugby – as we saw with Glasgow losing to Munster last year [in the quarter-finals] – anything can happen.”

Smith’s impact cannot be overstated, says Wilson. The former South African international arrived in 2022 after leaving his post as head of high performance with the Italian Rugby Federation and Wilson thinks the Scottish Rugby Union will be tapping into his expertise as they try to revive their own pathways system.

“He’s been brilliant. He came in from an Italian background where he put a lot of the foundations in place for Italian rugby and you just look at their under-20s and how well they’re going plus the Italian national team who’ve had their most successful Six Nations ever. There’s a lot of talk in Scotland about grassroots and how we’re developing the younger generation. The SRU will be leaning on someone like Franco Smith who did such a good job with Italian rugby to come in and do the same. His sole focus at the moment is Glasgow Warriors but the SRU will be looking to see how they can use him for the whole of the nation.”

The last time Glasgow reached the final was 2019 when they lost to Leinster in front of over 47,000 at Celtic Park. Wilson doesn’t think it would go to a football stadium again if Glasgow do win the right to host.

“Ibrox isn’t an option because of the cost,” he said. “The pitch is too small and for the Commonwealth Games [rugby sevens] in 2014 they paid £120,000 to extend it. That would be the reason you wouldn’t be able to have it. Celtic Park isn’t an option either, probably down to cost. The reason they held it there in 2019 was because we wanted it in Glasgow. It will be Murrayfield this time around, I think, because of the cost of holding it anywhere else. Hampden is unavailable this year because of a concert, I believe.”

Murrayfield is also staging high profile gigs this summer, with Taylor Swift playing three nights from June 7-9. The URC final is scheduled for June 22.

Ryan Wilson will be part of the Premier Sports team for live coverage of Edinburgh Rugby v Zebre Parma from the Hive Stadium on Friday May 10 from 7pm on Premier Sports 1.