The Scottish Rugby Blog was the first online source of independent coverage and opinion on Scottish Rugby, and we are always looking to grow and improve with your help to spread awareness of this game that we all love at home and across the world.
If you are interested in contributing an article to the blog on a one-off or regular basis please get in touch, as there is still much that we cannot cover that we would like to, or even if you would just like to make a comment or suggestion.
Join Us
If you are thinking of starting a rugby blog, there could be advantages to joining with us instead of setting up your own site. Even though we are biased, here’s why we think it could be a good idea:
- Scottish Rugby Blog is already designed, set up, maintained and hosted, so it costs you nothing but your time.
- We can help guide your writing if there is an area you are interested in, with suggestions for posts as well as a team who act as sounding boards for article ideas. In short, you are not alone! We have an active private Facebook group for interacting and planning as well as just chatting about rugby news. You can also appear on the podcast!
- Scottish Rugby Blog already has a good network of contacts, and is already recognised in the rugby world in Scotland and abroad. Our correspondents have been asked to appear on radio, podcasts and write guest posts for global rugby sites and magazines like Rugby World, the BBC and Hauraki Radio (NZ).
- Scottish Rugby Blog has a strong online presence in the search engines (try typing “Scottish Rugby” into Google). Your articles have much more chance of reaching a wider audience; during the Six Nations peaks we have a highly engaged, high traffic readership. We also have a large Twitter and Facebook following where we interact and publicise our work.
- Earn Ad Revenue: you can post your own ad code that appears on 100% of your own posts. You can use a non Adsense system (we use AdSense for the main ads and unfortunately we can’t get multiple accounts to work – yet), or arrange private sponsorship for your posts for any amount you like, it’s up to you! Traffic information is made available to established writers to help you with this.
In short, we can be stronger together. All opinions (rugby-related ones anyway) are welcome under our umbrella , covering all areas of the game. If you disagree, we are happy to give your opinions an equal platform.
While the tone of the site is firmly irreverent, we still try to stick to good standards of writing and professional behaviour in our articles, so that being associated with the site is a good thing for your CV! Several of our past writers have gone on to professional careers in sports or rugby journalism. We are not looking to provide massive amounts of straight news coverage (see the excellent theoffsideline for that) and prefer opinion based reporting.
In particular, we’d be interested in hearing from people interested in writing or commenting on the following:
- Exiles – English/Welsh/Irish/French supporters who have exiled Scotland players at their local club eg Sale, Saracens, Gloucester, London Irish etc, and keep tabs on the form and appearances of Scotland players all over Europe, and perhaps the world! Fams don’t always see all the games and like to be kept up to date.
- Women’s Rugby – to keep us up to date with the growing women’s rugby scene in Scotland
- Age Grade Rugby – covering junior and schools rugby as well as the age grade international sides. A chance to spot the Scotland talent of the future!
- Sevens Correspondent – split coverage duties with our Chief Sevens correspondent, Ruaridh.
- Edinburgh Rugby – ideally we would like two writers to share duties, meaning something like you’d cover every second game where TV coverage is available. Would best suit someone Edinburgh based with plenty of spare time at the weekend!
The main focus of the site will always be Scotland’s rugby team, so during the very busy periods (Six Nations, World Cup), our regular writers chip in on those areas too, as well as covering the pro-teams year round.
In the first instance enquiries along with a sample post (or an idea for one) if possible should be sent to:
rory{at}scottishrugbyblog.co.uk.
Please make sure they are written to a good standard, spell-checked and ideally around 500 words.
Advertising & Sponsorship
Please only suggest rugby related articles with Scotland as a focus, not thinly veiled advertisements for gambling websites or guest posts aimed at boosting the SEO of you or a client. We will sometimes accept charity related articles or paid guest editorial posts as long as there is a clear rugby connection, preferably Scottish. If you are representing a rugby or sports brand, take a look at Stash Corner. Individual writers or categories are available to sponsor as each author has the ability to post their own ads, in the first instance get in touch with us at the address above.
Welcome to the team!
Rory Baldwin
Editor