Chariots of Fire

A fragment of history trapped in amber

London 2012 countdown is in its final stages and with the re-release of that great film Chariots of Fire the talking is almost over

Why should we as a rugby club focus on a performance on a running track in Paris nearly 90 years ago
The hint may come in the form of one of Liddells biographers John Keddie who was himself an excellent athlete and also played rugby for Boroughmuir in the late 1960s
It's this potent combination of rugby and athletics in this Olympic year that gives it so much significance

Over generations athletics and rugby were a happy and productive marriage bringing forward many Scots who excelled at both men like Arthur Smith and David Whyte

One of the founding fathers of Glasgow HSFP was Tom Connell who in 1883 set a disputed Scottish record of 51.2s for 440 yds during the Kilmarnock FC Sports held at the aptly named Rugby Park

Some twenty years later and some twenty years before Liddell Anniesland produced Robert Stronach who was capped out of Glasgow Accies whilst a teenager as a flanker and who also won the British 110 yds hurdles Championship on three occasions once at Stamford Bridge the home of Chelsea He would have probably gone to the Olympics in St Louis but couldn't get the time off work which was unfortunate as his best time of that year would have won him Gold

Liddell won his first Scottish cap in a trial match held at New Anniesland in 1922 and he also played for Edinburgh in the Inter City on the same ground
The Scotsman reported "great speed sure hands and the ability to turn his opponents failings to account"
He made his Scottish debut against France at Colombes Stadium the very same stadium where two years later he found Olympic glory

In the buildup to the Paris Olympics Liddell competed all over Scotland often in the west at the likes of Hampden Parkhead Ibrox and even Cappielow
Liddell even trained at Ibrox sometimes in the company of the Rangers team
At the Rangers Sports in 1923 he was beaten by Robert McLean of Glasgow HSFP in a 300yds race However it has to be mentioned McLean was off 13 yds whilst Liddell was on scratch

When Chariots of Fire was being filmed they needed some athletic looking extras to make up the famous beach sequence that goes with the memorable theme tune
Here was where one of Glasgow High's finest Ian Litster booked his place in screen immortality

Liddell and what he stood for still holds good today even in a society far removed from the Scotland of the 1920s

With the passage of time at rugby the older you get the better the player you were . In athletics you do not enjoy that licence because the watch was stopped and the unforgiving minute was read and recorded
That is why the World record of 47.6 for 400 m combined with Olympic Gold recorded by a Scottish rugby player on a 500m track at Colombes Stadium Paris almost 90 years ago remains an inspiration to successive generations

They mount up and with wings as eagles they shall run and grow not weary

Annieslands Olympic connections don't end there as will be revealed shortly

This article was originally posted on 16-Jul-2012, 07:43 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 16-Jul-2012, 07:51.