THE HERALD REPORTS
PE teacher and champion of rugby;
Born April 17, 1945;
Died June 30, 2006

Brian Gilbert, who has died aged 61, was one of the most inspirational figures in Scottish rugby. He was a coiled spring of hyperactivity, whose work, whether as a teacher, player or coach, was imbued with an optimism and good humour which contrasted starkly with the often depressing state of the Scottish game in recent years.
As principal of PE at Marr College in Troon, Brian nurtured rugby at the grassroots, introduced thousands of youngsters to the sport and was a true egalitarian spirit who refused to believe the notion that modern children are too busy with their PlayStations to focus on exercise.
"That is just lazy thinking by people looking for excuses, because I have seen the grins on the faces of kids when they score their first try or kick their first penalty, and they are as excited now as they were 30 years ago," he told me, during one of our regular conversations, as usual accentuating the positive with twinkling eyes.
Brian was also scathing about the argument – which has been wheeled out regularly by the SRU and SFA to gloss over their own shortcomings – that the teachers' strikes of the mid-1980s were principally to blame for the decline in participation numbers in rugby and football.
"For years, these bodies relied on an unpaid group of volunteers to do their jobs for them, and suddenly we have been cast as the villains," he told a seminar in Glasgow in 1995, attended by the likes of former British Lions Jim Telfer and John Beattie. "It is a load of nonsense and the administrators should take a long, hard look at themselves."
As a coach, and a member of John Jeffrey's club competitions working party as recently as last year, Brian detested elitism and complacency. Once, while interviewing him when he was in charge of affairs at GHK, he shook his head with a weary sigh at the non-appearance of a number of senior personnel and declared: "We're doing well in the championship, but now that we have chance of winning something, our guys are posted missing. It's the classic story of Glasgow rugby: when the going gets tough, our guys go skiing.
"Down in the Borders, you are not allowed to get married during the season. Up here, if it's a choice between a party or practice, it's drinks at the bar every time."
Brian's funeral service took place yesterday at St Margaret's Church in Dalry, Ayrshire, one of his former stamping grounds, in a peripatetic life. There were laughs as well as tears, which is exactly how the little fellow would have wanted it.

This article was posted on 6-Jul-2006, 12:55 by Hugh Barrow.