Gary Heatly catches up with… er, Gary Heatly (!)…
Writing about other people I have always found relatively easy - as a journalist it has been my job after all since 2004 - but writing about myself is a bit trickier!
As I move on from the Media Manager post I have held since 2019 when Super6 began to a new, less hands-on role of Features Writer with the club, I thought it would be a good time to look back at my WFC ‘journey’ which goes back around 30 years as I edge towards the big 4-0 later in 2022...
It all began when I was a pupil at George Watson’s College and, as I began to move through senior school in the early to mid-1990s, I would be down at 1st XV home games on Saturdays with my dad Peter.
When I say I was down at the games, I’d not always be keeping a close eye on them because, more often than not, myself and others would be in the GWC playground kicking a football or a rugby ball about whilst the games were in progress.
We did have to keep a closer eye on things when a group of us youngsters - no doubt to help us with our maths - were tasked with manning the scoreboard at the 1st XV games.
In the 2021 Super6 season I updated the fancy, new scoreboard stationed at the Headmaster’s house end of the ground with a remote control, but back in those days the scoreboard was at the other end of the ground and was slightly more manual, put it this way we got used to putting numbers on hooks!
It was great fun and even after the scoreboard duties had ended our football and rugby playing while games were on, we’d make up for it afterwards across the road, playing on the old hockey pitch just next to MI until it got dark and we had to drag our parents out of the clubhouse…
Great times were had with many including Scott and Jamie Kennedy, Graeme and Mike Ker, James and Ali Easton, Craig Hardie, Graham MacGregor, Alan Nash and Ali Anderson - with a young Keith Morton soon joining in on the action too.
During that period, I often attended away games with my dad and the likes of Ian McDonald and his daughter Laura and sometimes my sister Louise and those were always fun road trips.
Seeing Watsonians win the Melrose Sevens in 1996 at The Greenyards - a memory now all the more poignant following Tom Smith’s recent passing - was amazing.
Being 13 at the time I probably did not take in the magnitude of the achievement, but 26 years on it is still brilliant to look back on while the strip they wore on the day is a classic.
Around that same time the 1st XV was regularly starting to challenge for trophies and the squad, with guys who would go on to have great international careers like Tom Smith, Stuart Grimes, Jason White, Jamie Mayer and Marcus Di Rollo coming through alongside excellent club men like John McDonald, John Kerr and Fergus Henderson and well-know players like Scott and Gavin Hastings, was a joy to watch.
Defeat to Hawick came in the first ever Scottish Cup final at Murrayfield in 1996, but the 1st XV won the top flight title in 1997/98 and that was a great day at the club.
Again, like at the Melrose Sevens two years before, being 15 at the time I probably never realised how big an achievement it was, but watching that team in full flow around that era was a joy.
Some of those players were among my favourites to watch over the years in maroon and white while I always enjoyed watching my old school pal Andrew Turnbull run in tries for fun, playmaker Colin Gregor was a magician with ball in hand, centre Bryan Rennie was a joy to watch in 2005/06 and Jamie Blackwood was an excellent scrum-half around that same time and beyond.
Forwards-wise it was great to see Steve Lawrie and Neil Cochrane play for the club as youngsters and then go onto the fine pro careers that they had while the industry of Iain Sinclair, Guy Hills and Gavin Brown set the bar in the back-row for many others to follow.
More recently it has been so good to see second-row Jamie Hodgson and back-row Connor Boyle play for the club in the Premiership and Super6 and move on to become fine players for Edinburgh Rugby. The former has earned full Scotland caps already and the latter cannot be far behind.
Sevens-wise the likes of Andrew Turnbull, Colin Gregor, Jamie Blackwood and Gavin Brown led the way alongside Mike Ker - surely very unlucky never to play for Scotland on the World Series - and it is great that the club always takes sevens so seriously and has a number of Kings of the Sevens titles to show for it.
With the Women’s XV players like Jilly McCord, Kath Vass, Mary Pat Tierney, Sara Mears, Keri Holdsworth, Sarah Louise-Russell, Alex Pratt and others were trailblazers and there are some excellent players currently in the set-up who are exciting to watch. To see the team as the best in Scotland is brilliant while a special mention to Sarah Jones for her hard work and commitment over many years.
Back to my timeline at Myreside and fast forward a few years from the 1997/98 league triumph and, while in fourth year studying Scottish history at university in St Andrews, Martin Macari got me involved in writing match reports for the club website and newsletter in season 2003/04.
The first report I did was of a GHA-Watsonians game at the start of that campaign just after the club had been promoted back to the top flight and lost out to Heriot’s in the Scottish Cup final of 2002/03.
The rest, as they say, is history…
Who knows how many match reports/articles I have produced for the various club platforms since then, but it has been very enjoyable and in those early days covering the matches helped me earn valuable experience as I looked to move into a career in journalism.
And I have one man to thank for that: Martin Macari. He was such a great guy, cleverer than most of us by far and a mentor to me in those early days. It was so sad when he passed away in 2017, but I’ll always be grateful for the help that he gave me.
Of course, he also organised the WFC tour to New Zealand and Fiji in 2005 to watch the British & Irish Lions play - what a trip that was!
I had just finished a masters course at Napier University in journalism and the trip brought together people from all parts of the club - including members of the Women’s section - and it was a brilliant few weeks.
Current club Director of Rugby Chris Hunter was the youngest on tour and, as is tradition, he had to carry a fluffy Lion around with him on the whole trip.
While he never quite reached the rugby playing heights of the youngest tourists on previous WFC Lions’ tours - Jason White in 1997 and Chris Cusiter in 2001 - he has done alright for himself and is a great club man - we all had such a good time on the trip, making lifelong friends in the process.
The 2005/06 Scottish Cup final victory over Currie came along and was another highlight while seeing the Women’s XV lift various trophies in recent years - especially the Sarah Beaney Cup at Murrayfield in 2018/19 - has been memorable, but it is those lifelong friends that the club has been most important for. Being awarded the I A L Hogg Trophy - given to the member who has done most for the club during the season - at the 2006/07 end of season awards dinner was also a nice moment.
Wins, draws, losses, I have seen them all - and also had a stint on the committee - but it is the people that make the club so special to me - people of all ages and backgrounds come together for one common purpose and it is quite a special thing at times.
It is great to walk into the clubhouse after matches on a Saturday or a Sunday and catch up with so many different people who have made a connection over the years and those bonds were highlighted earlier in the year when the clubhouse reopened - it was like nobody had been away.
There have been many memories made with club mates and lots of good times, but there have also been many lows.
The passing of good friend Keri Holdsworth in 2014 hit me hard as did the aforementioned passing of Martin three years later.
More recently, sadly, we have lost very good people who played a big part in life at Myreside such as Willie Morton, Mike Crerar, PJ Lothian and Iain ‘Stavvy’ Leslie.
They were all a big part of my WFC experience and are all missed greatly, but the brilliant thing about being part of a club is that we always remember them and can re-tell stories about them over a pint in the clubhouse.
I love catching up with good friends like Brian Urquhart, Euan ‘Robbo’ Robertson and many others at the club regularly and look forward to the future at Myreside. Meanwhile, club legends like Stewart Robertson and Dennis Carmichael are just amazing humans.
Post-Covid and in the Super6 era things have evolved and as long as everyone involved at the club keeps pulling in the same direction we will be just fine.
I look forward to my role as Features Writer going forward and wish new Media Manager Matt Farnham all the best with his duties and will be supporting him in the background.
See you at Myreside soon, mine’s a Tennent’s Birra Moretti…!
By Gary Heatly
The photos show Gary in the background of the celebrations when the club won the 1996 Melrose Sevens, with dad Peter in the clubhouse after the Scottish Cup win in 2005/06 (main image), at the club Halloween party in 2009 with Sarah-Louise Russell and Keri Holdsworth and with Brian Urquhart, Stan and Anne Buchan after the Women’s XV won the Sarah Beaney Cup in 2018/19
If you have any WFC news you want to share, please contact Media Manager Matt Farnham on media@watsoniansrugby.com
