Murrayfield fights for its future in Twickenham's shadow

While the Rugby Football Union have been turning people away from Twickenham for next weekend's return of Martin Johnson's heroes, another of the UK's major international grounds is having to pull out all the stops, and gimmicks, to try to fill seats for the Celtic Cup final.

Ulster v Edinburgh might not have the same appeal as England v New Zealand Barbarians, but it does have the attribute of being a real game with something tangible at stake. More than the trophy, it is the credibility of the professional game in the Celtic nations which will be on the line at 2.30pm on Saturday.

Murrayfield is not the easiest ground to fill and the talk recently has been of the Scottish Rugby Union possibly selling their biggest asset to ease their £18.5m debt. Contrast that with Twickenham where the RFU have just recorded a 21 per cent rise in revenues to £71.8m, a doubling of turnover, an increase of 80 per cent in operating profit and a tripling of net assets in the last four years.

Next weekend's party should gross another £3m or more for the RFU, easing the burden of missing out on their autumn internationals. "There will be no envious eyes cast towards Twickenham. We all applaud their success both on and off the field and it is their high standards we are trying to replicate," the Celtic Rugby tournament director Keith Grainger said.

"We've had two highly successful Celtic League finals and the game between Ulster and Edinburgh Rugby will be our first Celtic Cup final. The new 22-game, home and and away Celtic League programme is proving highly successful and it is not just in England that the professional game is growing up and starting to thrive. Using Murrayfield for the Celtic Cup final was seen by some as a bit of a gamble. But in conjunction with Phil Anderton, the SRU's commercial director, we have put together an attractive package to turn the final into a real family occasion."

Pipe bands, cash-back schemes, free buses, a curtain- raiser between Scotland Under-19 and Welsh Schools Under-18, free mince pies and mulled wine, tours of the dressing rooms and special family packages have so far enticed 6,500 fans to part with their money.

More are set to follow as Grainger and Anderton try to prove there is life in Celtic rugby and Murrayfield is a viable venue for major cup finals. It is a different marketing exercise to Twickenham, but it is vital for the professional game in the northern hemisphere that it is successful.