The Scottish team pose for a photograph before the Five Nations Championship match against England...
You always sensed that Scottish rugby was the most true-blue amateur of all, and this weighty book of nearly 500 pages does nothing to disaffirm that view. The authors interview dozens of Scotland players from every post-war decade, and the mild surprise of crazy selections and slowness to develop on-field ‘moves’ gives way to amazement when Peter Brown reveals that on the eve of one 1960s Test in Wales, the selectors returned drunk from a dinner and tipped the players out of their beds at 2.30am!
The tale of Peter Stagg’s attempt to claim a copy of Playboy on expenses is one of many that will raise a chuckle, but the book’s two undoubted funnymen are Ian Barnes – one of whose tales is told in The Last Word overleaf – and Jim Renwick, who was merciless to struggling team-mates. For example, when Doug Morgan missed a sitter that would have beaten England in 1975, Renwick quipped: “Hell, Dougie, I could have back-heeled a chest of drawers over from there.”
What gives this exhaustive account of 60-odd years of Scottish rugby a sharper edge are the more serious reflections. The brutality of touring in Argentina, and the grinding poverty in Romania, where a hungry waitress licked a discarded chocolate wrapper, is sobering stuff; John Beattie admits he lost concentration at times in Test matches because he couldn’t quite believe where he was; while Donnie Macfadyen’s plea for support structures for former pros is a reminder that pro rugby is in its infancy. Great read, if loosely subbed.
RW RATING 4/5
BUY IT AT: birlinn.co.uk RRP: £20 PUBLISHED BY: Birlinn
Got a rugby book or DVD you’d like us to review in the Armchair Zone? Email alan_pearey@ipcmedia.com
This article appeared in the February 2011 issue of Rugby World Magazine
Do you want to buy the issue of Rugby World in which this article appeared? Back Issues Contact John Denton Services at 01733-385-170 visit http://mags-uk.com/ipc
Or perhaps you’d like a digital version of the magazine delivered direct to your PC, MAC or Ipad? If so click here.