HAWICK V GHA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Today we welcome our visiting supporters who have travelled down from Braidholm for the game.
Who can ever forget Saturday 27 November, 2021, the last time GHA made the long trip down from Glasgow to play the Robbie Dyes? Storm Arwen had devastated the country with thousands of trees down. We had no power at Mansfield but thanks to John Andison and Greg McLeod we eventually managed to get the Force game on at 2.00 on the main pitch – they beat Biggar 2nds 41-5 – and Hawick v GHA at the Volunteer Park at 4.00 – the visitors’ bus had also broken down to add to the confusion. Hawick won 48-22. You’ll remember that Jae Linton came off and that our wonderful ever alert Doctor Morag Robertson saw how serious things were and summoned an ambulance. His broken neck could have been life-changing but thankfully Jae has made a complete recovery and will be crashing into the same opponents today. That afternoon’s annual Farmers Day “lunch” advertised for 12.30 didn’t get started until 6.00 – by candle-light! Kenny Speirs was our entertainer, Jill Douglas recalled her early Mansfield memories and gave us some fascinating insights into her broadcasting career and her father, Hawick’s national treasure” Henry, was presented with hugely deserved Life Membership of the Club. He had been in the dark about this but little did we realise when we planned it that we would all be in the dark! What a day!
Our Mansfield Park floodlights are not the best. We are currently seeing what can be done to upgrade them but with the lengthening daylight we have returned to a 3.00 pm kick off this afternoon.
Showing commendable initiative Hawick were actually the first club in Scotland to stage a floodlit match. Two dynamo machines, supplying a total of 3,200 candle power were hired for the evening of 24 February, 1879. The game against Melrose was widely advertised and a special train was chartered to bring spectators from other Border towns to see the wondrous spectacle. Unfortunately, the day before the match a severe snow storm hit the town. On the morning of the game a gang of unemployed workmen set about clearing snow from the field but a sharp frost made conditions treacherous for the players and spectators. The match should probably have been cancelled but by mid-afternoon the electrical equipment had been set up and spectators had started to gather. The Club had seriously underestimated the level of interest in the match and were ill-prepared for the large numbers who turned up. Only one gatekeeper had been appointed who sat at a kitchen table with a small lamp and bowl to collect the money. Inevitably crowd pressure and frustration built up and the gate was rushed. The match itself was something of a farce. Spectators stood on the pitch in front of the lighting equipment, casting their shadows across the field and obscuring the play. As a result, the players could not see properly and tackled shadows, fell over each other or hacked at non-existent balls. Hawick won but the majority of the crowd were more interested in the lights than the game. The lights were immediately put out at the end of the match leaving the crowd to find their way from the field in almost total darkness.
Let’s hope today poses fewer problems than those which faced us last time and our forefathers in 1879 and that we all enjoy a game of fast flowing rugby to lighten up a winter afternoon.
