WELCOME

Good evening everyone and welcome to Old Anniesland for the long-awaited return derby between Hawks and West. It’s great to have league rugby back under the lights at Old Anniesland on a Friday night and with both teams desperate to win I’m sure you are in for a great game.

Undefeated at home and unlucky to lose a couple of away games, West of Scotland have had a good return to Premiership Division 1 and all the players, coaches and supporters must enter the second half of the season with a lot of confidence.

Confidence is something that the Hawks players have been gaining week on week and this was best illustrated when we played Ayr at OA on November 08. All 20 players gave 100% and I am sure that more performances like the one against Ayr will result in the victories the players and coaches deserve.

As everyone knows, it has been sometime since Hawks –v– West were going head-to-head in league rugby and I thought I would list some of the players who played on January 22, 2000, the last time both clubs were in the top flight:

Hawks: C. Aitken, T. Mathewson, G. Hawkes, C. Simmers, D. Wilson, E. Martin, K. Baillie, K. Sinclair, R. McKnight, G. Blackburn, C. Hanvey, G. Walsh, C. Docherty, I. Smith, S. Hutton, R. McKay, A. Ness, BJ. Mutter, A. Plastow

West: N. Scullion, R. Lothian, A. Gibbon, A. Henderson, J. Kerr, G. Eynon, Penman, D. Little, C. Di Ciacca, R. Balmer, S. McKechnie, G. Perrett, A. Borthwick, G. Howieson, M. Pope

The score at Burnbrae that afternoon was 34 – 8 to Hawks.

Once again a warm welcome to all the West players, President Gordon Cairns, the coaches and all the West supporters.

Tonight’s Sponsors
Many thanks to all the match sponsors for their support of Hawks rugby. Some have been long-standing supporters while it’s great so see a few new ones coming on board.

RICHARDSON OILS is a family run business based in Coatbridge. They started initially as a waste oil collection service, however, sales of fresh oil, dry store food products and catering disposables have increasingly formed the major part of their business. Welcome to Directors Roddy and Vincent Igoe for their first visit to Hawks.

HYPHEN DESIGN is a brand management and graphic design company based on St. Vincent Street. They have been helping Hawks with brand management including the logo, new Hawks website, brochure, stationery and advertising banners. Founder and owner David Russell has helped Hawks enormously over the last 18 months and we welcome him and his guests to Old Anniesland this evening.

HUGH STIRLING LTD are long-standing supporters of Hawks and everyone at Hawks is extremely grateful David Hogg, Jamie Stewart and their colleagues for their continued support. Formed in 1960 Hugh Stirling Ltd has developed and grown from a small maintenance and jobbing concern into one of Glasgow’s foremost all trades refurbishment, fit out and shopfitting specialist contractors.

CAIRN LETTING is owned by former Kelvinside Academy and GHK player (and recently Hawks Director) David Rowand. Based on Gibson Street, Cairn Letting offers a comprehensive Letting and Management service which can be tailored to suit the requirements of each landlord. Welcome David and guests.

SCOT SHERIDAN is a property development company with an office on St. Vincent Street has a strong track record in the commercial sector built up over a 15 year period. The two Directors, David Maclachlan and Dave Young have been strong supporters of club rugby in Scotland, including Hawks, so it is good to see them here tonight. I know that Dave Young in particular is pleased to see rugby back on a Friday night so hopefully the boys out on a show.

CROZIERS is a small, yet highly effective team of criminal defence lawyers based in Dumbarton. Paul Crozier has been involved with Hawks for a number of years, particularly as manager of the Hawks U’14s and U’15s that reached consecutive National Finals in season 2003/04 and we are delighted to see him along tonight.

BETA CATERING is the owned and run by everyone’s favourite chef, Alan James. Alan provides all the catering for the High School of Glasgow as well as Glasgow Hawks. He bends over backwards for the club and provides the best corporate hospitality in Scottish club rugby. Enjoy your night, Alan.

Thanks also to ANGLO IRISH BANK for their continued support of Hawks rugby. This is the fourth year they have supported the club and we are all extremely grateful to David Tannahill, Jim Kerr and all their colleagues for everything that they have done over this period. Anglo Irish has recently moved into brand new offices at 145 St. Vincent Street (7th floor) and I’m sure they would be delighted if you popped in.

Finally, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Lt Cdr Gary Framer of the ROYAL NAVY. At halftime tonight, the RAF’s Sea King helicopter, Gannet, will be flying into Old Anniesland to deliver the new playing jersey for the Junior Hawks who are sponsored this year by The Royal Navy. Gary has been instrumental in helping set this up and I’m sure that everyone here tonight will be impressed (unless a stricken fishing boat on the Clyde dictates that Gannet is elsewhere!)

Club News
Please see Grant Talbot’s column for information on our Youth Development programme and please note that the club are launching the Hawks Business Network on Thursday, December 11 with the aim of giving current and prospective sponsors the opportunity to meet one another once a month and enjoy the facilities here at OA. Please keep your eye on www.glasgowhawks.com for more information.

Next home games, Saturday, December 06

1st XV Old Anniesland Boroughmuir RFC KO 3:00 PM
2nd XV New Anniesland Boroughmuir RFC KO 2:00 PM

Kenny Baillie
Chief Executive
21.11.2008

This article was originally posted on 20-Nov-2008, 21:10 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 21-Nov-2008, 08:52.