It is over six years since the demise of the Scottish Claymores but their influence is still being felt.

Ross Templeton, a former member of the Claymores' Scottish development squad, is coach to East Kilbride Pirates' new junior team.

Training only began last autumn but the team hope to play in the Scottish Conference of the British League this year having been given a lottery grant to purchase full kit.

Since starting out with Glasgow Lions 13 years ago, Templeton - who plays at defensive back for the Pirates - has seen the sport suffer a number of peaks and troughs but believes the environment is right to start a junior team.

"We tried taster sessions in schools in East Kilbride and they were very successful," he outlines.

"We were involved in the Active Schools' programme and we found that PE staff were happy for us to come into schools and take classes for an hour.

"A lot of the children knew the sport and had followed the coverage on Sky Sports. To be honest, I was surprised at how many of them had NFL merchandise and followed teams.

"We were regularly getting 15-20 juniors, aged between 14-16, to our training a few months ago which is really quite good."

The 29 year-old is convinced the Claymores had a big impact on the game in the ten years they were around," he continues.

"I think the Claymores had a huge influence and it is still being felt today, especially by the Pirates.

"For the vast majority of the leading players and coaches, it was the Claymores who were responsible for getting them playing.

"Very few players at the team did not come into contact with the Claymores in some way or another.

"Just to have them in Scotland, meant we had access to the coaches and they would help us out wherever possible. They let us use their gym and I was very fortunate as I was part of their Under-21 development squad.

"It meant I got to see how the coaches worked and we hadn't seen anything like it in British sport before. I was lucky enough to be able to speak to Jim Tomsula, one of the coaches, who was appointed San Francisco 49ers interim head coach for the last game of the season at the end of December.

"Looking back, they were averaging crowds of 10,000 at home matches which was more than respectable and compares well to any Scottish sports team outside of the Old Firm.

"I think they were judged in the context of what the German teams were attracting in NFL Europe and not by how they fared compared to other Scottish sports."

With NFL matches having been sold out at Wembley in recent years, there is talk of a British franchise in the NFL in the long-term.

That day would be quite far down the line but the way the NFL is keen to globalise the sport, it is something that has undoubtedly been discussed.

I'm not sure how workable it would be or whether it would ever come off but, if it did, I'm sure they'd be looking to get some local players involved," Templeton goes on, "That would be very exciting for the likes of the Pirates.

"I think there's a strong chance of a Scottish player getting to the NFL in future but they would need to go through the high school and college system in America.

"If we could get a player to a suitable level and even get him into a high school at the age of 17-18 for a year, then he would have a chance of making it.

"I don't see there ever being a day when someone who is reared in Scotland can go straight to the NFL as it would just be too big a step."

The Pirates lead the way in the Scottish game having won Division One North in the British League last year and reached their second successive British final in their 25th anniversary year.

"We've had a really good three or four years but I remember a time when we struggled to raise a team," Templeton concludes.

"But it's really well run now and we have a good team behind the scenes in terms of administrative and coaching staff.

"Darryn Trainor - a Canadian - is our head coach and we also other very good coaches in Andrew Mackintosh and Steve Collins.

"It has given us a strong framework to build on and there are new players coming on board all the time."

RM

© Copyright In The Winning Zone, MMXI, All Rights Reserved