Rugby Was My First Love..........

We played in colour too........

I started playing rugby in my early teens for Stewarton High School, in fact I played for the first ever Stewarton school rugby team.  I remember it as if it was yesterday.  It was away at the now defunct Speirs School in Beith and we drew 0-0.  I then played for Kilmarnock Academy and Kilmarnock Rugby Club, under the tuition of Campbell Bone, before heading down to Southampton for a couple of years and then to Hamilton. When I moved to Edinburgh in 1979, I joined the local work’s team Ferranti RFC (now merged to form Inverleith) and played for them for almost 14 years before retiring when I moved through to Glasgow in 1995.  In fact if you do a search for Ferranti RFC you'll see that myself and Mike Gordon kept the name alive for a while by running under Ferranti RFC, if I had stayed in Edinburgh I would now be running for Ferranti AAC.


My main position was open side flanker (No.7), although on occasion, I played in the other two back row positions, as well as second row/lock and famously played prop against Duns in the borders. The game was refereed by top Scottish ref Jim Fleming.

Ferranti Vs Moray House at Saughton Park

I made a bit of a name for myself in the rugby world as a no compromise tackling back row player and even received a bit of attention in the press and radio. I made some great friends playing rugby and it’s a time I look bar on with some pride. I captained the club and fulfilled a number of roles on the committee and had the pleasure of delivering a number of after dinner speeches to the rugby fraternity. I shared the top table with the likes of Findlay Calder, Scott Hastings and Sean Lineen. It’s perhaps surprising that given my love for rugby that I haven’t been to a game in around fifteen years. I guess I felt that I had served my time and I must admit that I’ve always enjoyed playing rugby much more than watching it.  I do still look out for the Inverleith and Kilmarnock RFC results though.

However as I wasn’t feeling up to a run on Sunday, or much else for that matter, I decided that I would accompany my new lodger to the Glasgow Warriers game against Ospreys. We were just a wee bit late in getting to Firhill, where we joined with over 2,500 other supporters to cheer on the Dark Blues. I thought that £20 was a bit steep to watch a game but it’s a profession now for top players and somebody needs to pay their wages.

It was a gorgeous, sunny winter’s day but I must admit it wasn’t a great game. Ospreys were right in the faces of Warriers and on more than one occasion the local players received ‘man and ball’. There were a few school boy errors in the back row, some things never change; the usual handbag exchanges and inconsistent penalty and conversion kicking. Glasgow started poorly but upped there game, especially in the second have and ran out worth winners, defeating the reining Magnum League champions by 31 points to 23.

Richie Vernon, the 23-year-old Glasgow No 8 caught my eye with an impressive display, which might be rewarded with a place in Andy Robinson's side to face New Zealand next month. However there could be no argument that Warriers’ 6’10, Richie Gray was the man of the match. The Glasgow born Lock was literally head and shoulders above the other players on the pitch.

I don’t know when I’ll next make it to a rugby match but rest assured, I won’t wait another 15 years!