I started on gliders did a Silver C conversion to PPL, became a Tug Pilot, joined the RAF, left the Service in the late eighties boom and eventually ended up in the LHS of a B737. I think the experience of tugging in a busy circuit was invaluable and the situational awareness was always useful.
It's certainly fairly dangerous - especially near the ground. I learned to be quite ruthless with the glider near the ground. If the glider pilot got too high then they were on there own.
As regards gliding clubs they are funny places and usually riddled with incestuous politics. Becoming a tug pilot means having a face that fits. Or, to be more practical about it, you have to able to fit in with how a gliding club operates - and they are all different.
I recall it being very political as to how many tows you were allowed to do on a given day. There was always the odd bugger would just hog the tug for most of the day only to be prised out with a lot of grumpy gesticulating.
Gliding and tugging were probably my 'salad days'. The pub crawls round the village pubs on a Saturday night were great fun too!