I’ve looked at this photograph many times (see link here) but I have waited over a year to speak my mind on the issue. I waited my time to ensure that I avoided a knee jerk reaction.  It takes a bit of getting your head round when people you respected for their fearless rugby ability, crop up on the ‘fearty’ side of a debate.  A group of men who used to play a very ‘male’ sport called rugby tell the Scottish people, not to take a risk in the referendum.

When I saw this picture I felt very let down by the people in the picture many of who had been my sporting heroes when I was a young man.

At the time, I found it ridiculous that such such ‘brave hearts’ would advocate a safety first approach.

The press release appeared in most of the unionist newspapers. I choose this link from ‘The Record’.

But there is something else that is very concerning about this picture. I found myself finally tweeting my concerns about the picture yesterday. Would the average Record reader have known that the vast majority of the people who appear in the photo went to independent schools?

But there is something else that is very concerning about this picture. I found myself finally tweeting my concerns about the picture yesterday. Would the average Record reader have known that the vast majority of the people who appear in the photo went to independent schools?

Should it matter? I have one or two close friends who went to private school and they are not at all elitist.  They have worked in the public sector and are incredibly thoughtful people. The show a fair amount of knowledge about issues of politics .

Think on this; 95% of people in Scotland go to state school yet it is possible that almost 80% of the men in this photo did not go to state funded schools. I have always doubted the credibility of using celebrities as political footballs, hence, when I saw the picture I immediately posed the question are these the sort of people we should be taking our political advice from?

I severely doubt we need to accept lectures on politics from members of an elite class that just caused the biggest financial crash in our life-time.

The important thing about the referendum was that the masses rose up, they ignored the suggestion that they should, ‘know there place’ and  voted in large numbers for the anti-elitist messages that set out the need to build a socially just Scotland.

If I was going to listen to rugby players about politics, I would rather listen to ex-rugby players who have done the hard yards in Scotland such as Robin McAlpine (with whom I briefly played rugby at Biggar RFC).  Robin is a man, who is able to spot an empire striking back when it is in front of him.

Anti-elitist messages were important this past week or so when parts of Scotland were, once again, standing up to misogyny.  When men who consider themselves to be an elite have been behaving so badly this week, it made me pose the question, why would we ever want to make political judgements based on the advice of elitist men ?

I used to play rugby for a team called Boroughmuir RFC which was an open club with links to the state high school (that I also attended), called Boroughmuir HS.

I wasn’t a regular in the first team at Boroughmuir RFC – more of a squad player. But, I was lucky enough to play with and against a number of Scotland players.

I played against many of the people in this photo.

I can testify to these old men all being extremely capable rugby players but I can also state that at no point would I have gone to any of them for advice on politics, sexism, equity, social justice or anti-discrimination.

I can testify to these old men all being extremely capable rugby players but I can also state that at no point would I have gone to any of them for advice on politics, sexism, equity, social justice or anti-discrimination.

The photo made me think of a guy (who used to play rugby for Scotland) that  I have a lot of respect for, Iain Paxton. Iain is a very decent bloke (Iain coached, amongst other clubs, Boroughmuir – see this link for an example of what a big softie he is).

Iain went to a state school, Kirkcaldy High School in Fife – and is a very frank and down to earth man.

Iain played for Selkirk RFC, as did Iwan Tukalo and John Rutherford who are definitely in the photo.  The only time I can remember meeting John Rutherford was in the late 70’s/early eighties when I and a school friend spent an hour or so sending his practice kicks back to him when he was training his cultured boot on the Meadows in Edinburgh.

Yet, I did get to know John’s brother Billy Rutherford who coached at Bigger (I played there in the last year of my rugby career). Billy was hilarious and the heart and soul of the party.  I was extremely sad to learn recently that Billy had died of prostate cancer – may he rest in peace.

Coaches are key to what makes rugby such a great sport for teaching control to angry young men.  I certainly was an angry young man back then.  The SRU market the rugby community as a ‘family’ and that is why we take such a loss hard.  It is difficult to comprehend when coaches who helped you in your youth are taken so young (Billy was the relatively young age of 59).

I said, ‘But I have only got one working leg’, He replied, ‘that’s yin mair than aw thi ithers, huv a no telt yi aboot yon time a played twa lion’s tests with yin arm?’. So I played the game and found out things about my ability to dig deep that have held me in good stead ever since.

Similarly, we had a legendary coach at Boroughmuir called Bruce Hay and he was also taken at the young age of 57 in 2007 and we also lost Brian Haliday in 2014 aged 66, a gentleman of the game pictured here with Bruce Hay, Bill McNicoll and others in 1976.  As well as playing for Scotland, Bruce was a British Lion.  He played three tests on the 1980s tour of South African.

Andy Irvine spoke eloquently without notes at Bruce’s funeral.  He told us of Bruce’s courage and determination on the pitch and especially during the 1980 tour which involved him carrying a serious injury and them both having to experience the violence of ‘White’ South African rugby.

As I sat listening to Andy Irvine in Liberton Kirk, I was reminded of a time I was out injured when Bruce phoned me to tell me that all the other players in my position were also injured and, therefore, I had to play in an up and coming cup match.

I said, ‘But I have only got one working leg’, He replied, ‘that’s yin mair than aw thi ithers iv got, huv a no telt yi aboot yon time a played twa lion’s tests with yin arm?’. So I played the game and found out things about my ability to dig deep that have held me in good stead ever since.

Bruce told me that he only needed someone to hold up the scrum and block in the lineouts and that I could crawl between scrums and lineouts if need be.  In the end I was able to contribute a bit more than that – it is amazing what you can give when the adrenalin gets going.

Bruce’s family lived, at one time, at the Inch in Edinburgh.  Many ex-miners, including my grandfather, lived in this area.  Out of all the rugby people I have mentioned here, Bruce and his Liberton pals were the only ones who could talk about politics in a real and lived way.

However, as much as I loved and respected Bruce, touring South Africa during the apartheid era was not, to my left thinking mind, a politically sophisticated decision. For example, Harold Wilson’s Labour government had sent a letter to the team asking them not to tour.  Bruce had his own reasons for touring which I respected but disagreed with. Sadly, Bruce didn’t live long enough to be able to comment on the independence referendum.e, is lucky in that respect.  But, it didn’t escape my notice that Andy Irvine,  a person who went against the Labour governments urgings in 1980 – was on the same side as Labour in 2014.

So there it is, at least one of the men pictured in this press release advocating a No vote, chose to tour a country where Black South African’s lives were constrained by the most socially unjust political systems of our life time and against the wishes of the Labour government.

So there it is, at least one of the men pictured in this press release advocating a No vote, chose to tour a country where Black South African’s lives were constrained by the most socially unjust political systems of our life time and against the wishes of the Labour government. It is very hard to comprehend that the Labour party were on the same side as Andy Irvine during the referendum; its not so surprising, given their inadequacies, that the mainstream media failed to mention this political volte-face at the time.

It is very hard to comprehend that the Labour Party were on the same side as Andy Irvine during the referendum; its not so surprising, given their inadequacies during 2014, that the mainstream media failed to mention this political volte-face.

When Andy Irvine (George Heriots, Scotland, British and Irish Lions), spoke at Bruce Hay’s funeral he bridged a class divide and did it well. But let us not forget the sketchy role of rugby in UK politics or the role of class in Scottish rugby and society.

Class as always been an issue in Scottish rugby with teams like Biggar, Liberton and Boroughmuir suffering at the hands of the media for being ‘unfashionable’ clubs – a code word that meant they were not one of the ‘posh’ teams.  So its not suprising when lots of rugby players who used to play for the ‘posh teams’ come out against independence.

So, it is not surprising to see an elite trying to maintain their vested interest – that’s what elites are designed to do.  However, it is our job – if we are interested in social justice and equity – to oppose those vested interests.

But here might be another reason that they were against independence, it might be to do with them being feart of the risks.  Could it be they were on the ‘fearty’ No campaign side because they lacked the bottle for independence? Surely not. It’s hard to think that people who could be fearless on the rugby pitch would not want to run their own country.

They would not be alone.  I am also aware of ex-teachers, office suppliers and second hand car salesmen that were not able to bring themselves to vote Yes, despite me often seeing them sing Flower of Scotland with gusto.

So what do these ‘fearty’ guys have in common? What is it that makes them so feart? Their inferiority complex, in a rugby context, comes from what?

During interviews for the Scotsman – Iain Paxton and John Rutherford have, in the past, mentioned having inferiority complexes when, for example, they first went to tour with the British and Irish Lion’s.  They seemed to fear getting caught for being above their station.

Both men have mentioned (in past articles) the losing 1983 British and Irish Lion’s tour that involved less gifted Irish players being picked in front of Scottish players. The disastrous 1983 British and Irish Lion’s tour has now become infamous because the Irish captain of the lions played extremely poorly through out the tour but wasn’t replaced by Colin Deans; one of the greatest players I have ever seen grace a rugby pitch.

Yet, the Yes campaign needed, and still need, a strategy to address the fears of people over the age of 60, to address the inferiority complex that leaves older people pre-disposed to believe the media messages that continually say we are too poor, too wee and too stupid to run our own country.

But, that got me thinking about the times that  I have worked with young people in Ireland.  When ever I have been in Ireland,  I have notice that young people who live in Ireland have more confidence than the young people I worked with in Scotland. I gradually came to the conclusion that their confidence lay in the fact that a hundred years ago they became independent from the British state.

Irish young people don’t grow up thinking that they need to doff their cap to another nation or class of people.  Irish young people don’t grow up having to apologise for being an almost nation (a country/nation but not a nation state). They don’t have the same inferiority complex as Scottish people.  They expect to be captain of the British and Irish Lion’s even when they are playing poorly.

It interests me that Andy Murray had the guts to come out as a Yes supporter, nothing was given to him on a plate – he had to go to another country to become good enough to win. That tells you all you need to know about the class system in Scottish sport which does not support enough young people from state schools to succeed at home.

When you watched Murray on the court winning two grand slams (at the time of writing) and overcoming the massive pressure exerted by the main stream media at Wimbledon; you can tell he’s no ‘fearty’.  Andy Murray strikes you as a young guy who knows what it is like to find his own way in the world – I particularly like the fact that he’s not feart to greet his eyes out on the telly.

I tweeted Andy Murray during the referendum asking him would he be able to tell his children he voted Yes.  On the night before the vote he came out against the media negativity and said he was supporting Yes.  I’m not saying I had anything to do with that decision but I am saying unlike the rugby players – he was willing to take a risk concerning the media reaction.

He might have regretted the backlash from the London based main stream media – who didn’t like this ‘Jock’ getting above his station but at least he will be able to tell his first born that he voted Yes.

When we finally become independent – I would happily nominate him to be the first president (in the Irish head of state sense of the word) of Scotland.

Andy Murray’s leadership during the Davis Cup was exceptional.  He has been successful because he has developed the confidence that was lacked in previous generations of tennis players. There were lots of young people like Andy Murray who had the confidence to vote Yes.

Yet, the Yes campaign needed, and still needs, a strategy to address the fears of people over the age of 60.  The Yes campaign has to address the inferiority complex that leaves older people pre-disposed to doff their cap to their supposed ‘superiors’.  Predisposed to believe the media messages that continually say we are too poor, too wee and too stupid to run our own country.

Even without oil, Scotland’s GDP per head of population is the same as France (in the top twenty of the IMF’s table of wealthiest countries). We need to get out on the front foot at this coming Holyrood election and slay the myths and disperse the oil slicks that have been created to avoid the ordinary elderly Scottish person from understanding that our financial predicaments (such as women’s pension ages being raised to 67, block grant cuts and national debt) are not caused by the successful £143 billion Scottish economy that actually produces and makes things.

We need to demonstrate to older people that their woes are created by a Westminster based divisive and fractured UK economy that boomerangs between Labour and Tory led periods of boom and bust. We need to demonstrate that the solution is not some cobbled up deal with Westminster that keeps us running a country with one hand tied behind our back.

We need to demonstrate that the easiest solution is to become independent and give Women aged 60 to 67 their retirement back, whatever the Westminster elites say.

So a lot of ‘fearty’ rugby players chose not to vote yes .  In order to become independent we do need to persuaded our fellow Scots who are the same age as these ‘fearty’ rugby players to put aside their inferiority complexes and vote Yes.  If not for themselves, they need to be persuaded to vote yes for their female relatives who have just had 7 years added to their working lives.

Once, these ‘fearty’ older guys see the light, then we will have reached a big enough majority to win.