A warm welcome to Mansfield Park to all attending today and particularly to Vice President Blair Stewart, Past President Drew Johnston and all our other friends from the Honest Toun. Our two Clubs have a special relationship. Musselburgh Rugby Club was founded in 1921 and the Greens have been honoured to be their opponents in matches which marked their fiftieth, seventy-fifth and last season their hundredth anniversaries.
A man I will always associate with the Club is the late Davie Campbell, a great friend of Hawick and Border rugby, who entertained many a Rugby Dinner with his story of Jackson’s the tailor!
“Musselburgh was a burgh
When Edinburgh was nane,
And Musselburgh will be a burgh
When Edinburgh’s gane.”
The chorus of the Musselburgh song may not bear too much scrutiny in terms of historical accuracy but it typifies the pride and defiant spirit the men from Stoneyhill will bring to the game today and I am sure we are in for a close encounter.
It was good recently to welcome Ian Hamilton and the BBC Scotland “My Kind of Town” production team to Mansfield. Lisa Thomson was also there to be interviewed and to participate in a wee game of walking rugby. Watch the Hawick Paper for when it will be broadcast.
We have also managed to catch up with Hawick’s other Scotland Womens internationalist Lana Skeldon to make a presentation to her in recognition of her winning her 50th cap. We are very proud of what Lana and Lisa achieved at the World Cup in New Zealand.
Today marks a big milestone for Shaun Muir who first played for the Club at the age of seventeen. He has been the cornerstone of our pack ever since and today will play his 200th game for Hawick. Everyone at Mansfield congratulates him on this great achievement
- Norman. G. Davidson, although he was capped while playing for Edinburgh University is the town’s oldest internationalist. He won seven caps in the early 1950s, captaining Scotland against France in 1954 and also skippered the country at cricket. As if this wasn’t enough of a claim to fame Norman was the first baby born in the Haig Maternity Home in 1931. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1960 where he has had a successful career as a doctor. Getting contact details for him proved difficult but after appealing for information on the website and in the Hawick Paper I am delighted to say I was able to phone his Auckland home and have a grand conversation with him. At 91 he’s still sharp as a tack and has readily agreed to “put his thinking cap on” and send a contribution for our 150th anniversary book. Thanks to all who helped make this possible.
Hawick Rugby Club was founded on the 8th of December, 1873 and will therefore be celebrating its 150th anniversary next season, 2023-2024. Many things are being planned including on Friday 17th November next year, in conjunction with the Bill McLaren Foundation, a prestigious Dinner in a marquee on the pitch to mark the Club’s 150th and what would have been the 100th birthday of “the Voice of Rugby”, the greatest sporting commentator of them all. Save the date in your diary.
Back to today. Enjoy the game and join us in the Clubrooms afterwards.
