EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS REPORTS

Parker is promoting sporting fulfilment

BILL LOTHIAN


NEW Scotland clubs' rugby team coach Gary Parker admits that the day he was shown the door by pro football bosses was the launchpad to all-round sporting fulfilment.

Parker and Stirling County's Bob McKillop were yesterday named as the coaching team to lead a Scottish league select against their Irish counterparts in Dublin on March 10, on the eve of the Six Nations clash in the city.


On the books of Hearts during the early 1980s, one-time forward Parker claims adversity proved to be his making in terms of driving him on to goals such as contracts to play rugby and American Football en route to an admin post in which he feels can transform playing numbers for the better.

"I was not good enough to be a professional footballer in the sense that the club I was with at that time were all about the first team and did not have an involvement underneath," said Parker.

"It was a dilemma leaving football but I wake up every day and regret nothing. When it comes to sport and my involvement in rugby, soccer and American Football, I'd not change a thing.

"My best years have to be ahead of me because if you stop dreaming and stop striving you might as well pack in now."

So how does this outlook from Parker, 39, apply to guiding a new venture in Scottish rugby?

"I'm looking now to throw gridiron, soccer and rugby into one big pot and draw from a lot of experience and knowledge passed on from people like Alex MacDonald and Sandy Jardine, who were my mentors at Hearts, as well as rugby's Jim Telfer during a stint as a Melrose club player also representing Borders."

And what about American Football where Parker participated as a Scottish Claymores goal-kicker?

"American Football taught me about complete and ultimate professionalism and organisation and if there was an element of ruthlessness there it was because there were 700 people up for every job.

"Each sport has to be looked at individually and the rugby environment at the moment is a case of building up numbers and getting more people involved until all of a sudden people know there are 15 people up for your place."

And Parker is adamant the new team is part of a healing process stemming from unrest at the start of the pro era.

"Although I had good times at Melrose the politics over what format the pro game should take [clubs or districts] dragged me down whereas in my current post coaching Biggar I'm free to concentrate entirely on preparing players for matches.

"Stemming from that has come rekindled enthusiasm to contribute to a system whereby fresh opportunities are being created for individuals who maybe thought the chance of representing Scotland had gone because they weren't in the pro game.

"They are now thinking 'maybe I can find an extra five or ten per cent in my performance'.

"For me it is a chance to shape a better rugby environment so that individuals have a bridge between club amateurs and the professionals."

This article was posted on 25-Jan-2006, 15:55 by Hugh Barrow.