WELCOME by KENNY BAILLIE

(These may be the views of Glasgow Hawks).

Good afternoon everyone and once again welcome to Old Anniesland for Round 14 of SHE Premiership Division 1. With nine games to go, all teams in the league are desperate for points which should make for another good game this afternoon. Boroughmuir have lost a couple of league games on the trot and Hawks have, with the exception of last week’s performance at Selkirk, been improving week by week so hopefully the form guide will indicate another excellent home win for Hawks.

That said, Boroughmuir currently lie sixth in Div 1 and I have always considered them to be a Top Six club so everyone knows that today’s game will not be easy, especially when we think back to the game at Meggetland earlier this season.

So, on a cold day, a warm Glasgow welcome to all the Boroughmuir players – the 2nd XV fixture between the clubs is being played at New Anniesland, KO 2:00 PM – to President Stan Watt and all the supporters who have travelled through from Meggetland this afternoon.

I would also like to officially welcome Byron Möhr and Mat Whittleston to Glasgow Hawks. Byron (25) has come to Hawks from Villager RFC in Cape Town, South Africa having been their top try scorer for the past two seasons, predominantly playing at outside centre. He also has a degree in Accounting Science from both the University of Stellenbosch and the University of South Africa.

Mat (25) comes to Hawks with an outstanding pedigree having played for the Randwick Club in Sydney for the past few seasons, winning player of the year in 2007. He just missed out on playing in this year’s Sydney Grand Final against Sydney University due to a leg injury, but if he had played he would have been in the company of 11 full cap Wallabies who were all released to play in the game by Robbie Deans, the Wallabies Head Coach. There are many of us in Scotland that would love to see a similar thing happen here! Mat is a qualified graphic designer and has a Major in Enterprise Management & Marketing.

Welcome lads…I hope it’s not too cold!

Today’s Sponsors

I would like to welcome back two long-standing supporters of Hawks rugby, HF Electrical and Keppie Design.

Based at 100 Albert Drive in Pollokshields, HF ELECTRICAL is a leading provider of specialist electrical and communication services to a wide range of clients throughout the world. Along with his guests and colleagues, I would especially like to welcome John Ferguson who has supported Hawks for a number of years and we are delighted to see him back at OA today.

KEPPIE DESIGN are also long-standing supporters of Hawks rugby and many of the guests have over the years enjoyed going home having watched another Hawks victory. Here’s hoping it’s the same tonight. Keppie is Scotland’s largest architecture practice and an award-winning, multi-disciplinary practice incorporating architecture, interior design, planning, landscape architecture and urban design.

RWC 2011

On Monday, the draw was made for the 2011 RWC in New Zealand. Personally, I feel that it is all a bit soon to be drawing the fixtures when there are still over two and half years to go until the start of the competition, but that’s rugby union for you. That said, it’s as good a group as Scotland could have hoped for and really gives them every opportunity to qualify for the QFs.

I would guess that we have more chance of beating Argentina and England than we would have had of beating New Zealand and France, so here’s hoping we put out our strongest team in every game and give ourselves the best chance of success.

Club News

Three things to keep in mind for the coming weeks:

Inaugural Hawks Business Network Meeting – Thursday, Dec 11 in the Jimmie Ireland Stand at OA starting at 7:00 PM. For people wishing to meet potential suppliers, partners and customers there are still a few places left so please contact me at [email protected].

Christmas Market – At our next home game, a number of small businesses will have stalls set up in the main stand and supporters can get some last minute Christmas presents including baking, music, cards/abstracts, handbags, jewellery or even speak to a herbalist.

Glasgow Hawks Supporters Club dinner – Saturday, January 31 in the Jimmie Ireland Stand. To celebrate the official formation of The Supporters Club, Glasgow Hawks are proud to present a special evening of
good food (courtesy of Alan James), good company (courtesy of the Glasgow Hawks Supporters Club) and hilarity (courtesy of the amazing Willie Allan and hopefully our own Bill Dunlop). This is a mixed event open to all and restricted to 120 places. Tickets are only £20 for members of the Supporters Club and Hawks Players and £30 to all others.

It promises to be an excellent night so please reserve your places now by e-mailing Allan Mackintosh at [email protected]. The dress code is smart casual and we will be looking for the usual donations for the raffle and for the auction. Again if you can help out in these areas with donations please contact Allan Mackintosh either by e-mail or via mobile 0776 416 8989.

Next home games, Sunday, December 21

1st XV Old Anniesland Currie RFC KO 2:30 PM
2nd XV New Anniesland Currie RFC KO 2:00 PM

This weekend’s fixtures

1400 Hawick RFC vs West of Scotland FC
1400 Heriot’s RFC vs Stirling County RFC
1400 Melrose RFC vs Selkirk RFC
1500 Currie RFC vs Edinburgh Academicals FC
1500 Glasgow Hawks RFC vs Boroughmuir RFC
1500 Watsonian FC vs Ayr RFC

Kenny Baillie
Chief Executive
06.12.2008

This article was posted on 5-Dec-2008, 17:28 by Hugh Barrow.