Hawks face old rivals West of Scotland FC at Burnbrae in the Scottish Cup playoff on Sunday March 20th

West one of the great old clubs one time member of the RFU is fast approaching it's 150th anniversary .The Club has travelled a long road during which there have been many ups and downs such is the nature of sport A journey that has taken them from Hamilton Crescent in Partick to Burnbrae Milngavie with more than a few stops in between

In early times not only did they excel on the pitch they also excelled on the track to such an extent that they helped form both the Scottish (Football)Rugby Union in 1873 and the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association in 1883
One such rugby playing athlete at West was Tom Connell educated at Glasgow High School but played and ran in the colours of West. In 1882 during the Kilmarnock F C Sports at Rugby Park he set a disputed Scottish record for 440 yards of 51.2 which converted to 400 metres gives you 50.9 --pretty useful today let alone 130 years ago and it was set on a grass track

In 1905 a famous West player W P Scott (known as the Bummer)because of his skill in foraging for the ball was in the Scottish side that beat England 8-0 at Richmond
In an era before instant messaging --of sparse telephonic communication and newspapers sometimes using pigeons and predating radio commentary you could wait for a day or more to read the reports in The Glasgow Herald so he decided to send his girlfriend back in Glasgow a telegram to convey the news The telegram was sent to Hillhead post office in Byres Rd and duly delivered to his girlfriend who lived in Atholl Gardens in which he reported the win and complimented the English team on their play. In the victorious Scottish team he played beside another outstanding all round sportsman Robert Stronach of Glasgow Accies who was the British 120 Yds Hurdles Champion on three occasions

West could even at times boast English Caps which is hard to believe in the modern rugby era

Players like scrum half Lionel Weston a teacher at Kelvinside Academy who went on to teach at that famous rugby school Stonyhurst College
Commentators of that generation felt it was playing behind the dominant West pack that won him his cap because they could boast three British Lions not bad for a Glasgow club side

John Currie who played lock for England alongside Richard Marques a formidable duo who lined up against the likes of Glasgow HSFP's finest Hamish Kemp and Jimmy Docherty
John Currie's pursuit of physical fitness on the pitch was not quite matched by his occupation off it as he worked for the Imperial Tobacco Company and managed the Wills Cigarette factory on Alexandra Parade
When asked by a reporter why he had been inactive in some of the line-outs in front of the West Stand at Twickenham during an England trial, he answered: "I only jump on the other side of the field. Then the selectors can see my number on my jersey when I go up."


Colin Payne who also played for Harlequins another lock who was capped in the 1964-66 the same era as our Club President Brian Simmers but I don't think they ever faced each other on international duty

For athleticism and rugby head for Burnbrae on Sunday KO is 3.00 pm

This article was originally posted on 14-Mar-2011, 23:17 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 15-Mar-2011, 07:57.