Watsonian Football Club is very sad to pass on the news that Alastair ‘Aly’ Campbell has passed away after a battle with cancer, he was 58.
If you have been to Myreside in recent years - indeed pretty much any time in the last 41 years - then you will have met Aly because he gave up so much of his time and energy to life at the club.
Aly, a prop by trade, played rugby for the George Watson’s College first XV before joining the club after leaving school in 1983.
As he recounted in 2022: “We had a good school team and I was playing in the front-row. Our coach Donald Scott told me that if I didn’t start doing weights I’d be too small in senior rugby.
“Well, I never did start doing weights and he was proved absolutely right!”
Aly played some first team rugby in his early years at Watsonian while he also played for London Scottish for a spell while based down south.
On returning to Myreside he played most of his rugby in the second XV downwards and became a real club man and someone who was there come rain or shine every Saturday.
In recent times, despite having a demanding job with Aegon and a busy family life, Aly became the man behind the third XV at Myreside and put a lot of effort into that.
He had a contacts book bursting at the seams of players who had turned out for the club in the past and each week he worked and worked until, by Thursday evening, he had a full matchday squad to give to Dennis Carmichael for the Watsonian Football Club records.
Even between the Thursday night and the Saturday afternoon at kick-off time that squad can change two or three times as call-offs and ‘the dog ate my homework’ excuses come trickling in.
However, Aly always managed to get out a squad, with the help of others including his great friends Fergus Henderson and Euan Robertson, and he took great joy in seeing people enjoy a game of social rugby, meeting new friends and representing the club that meant so much to him.
“You meet so many people in the social teams and it is always a good feeling getting a full squad out on a Saturday, getting a good win and then enjoying a couple of pints afterwards in the clubhouse,” he said in 2022.
The only thing Aly loved more than Watsonian Football Club - and his famous leather jacket of course! - was his family.
His wife Carlye was his biggest support while Aly was never prouder than when he turned out for Watsonians alongside his twin sons Adam and Colin - special memories.
The word legend can be overused in modern times, but we are sure many who have been involved with Watsonians over the last four decades will agree that Aly Campbell is a club legend.
Our thoughts are with Carlye, Adam, Colin, the wider family and Aly’s friends at this time.
Aly’s funeral will take place on Wednesday, June 12 at 4pm at Mortonhall Crematorium in the main chapel.
