As Chic Murray once observed " it's a small world but I wouldn't fancy cutting the grass

Many Southern Hemisphere players arrive in Scotland with the most tenuous connections to the old country but not so Hawks lock Angus Hamilton certainly no need for three years residency in his case

Apart from his parental tree what a surprise for this scribe to learn about his Uncle Sam and so appropriate it came to light last week at Cartha

Not only did Uncle Sam who now lives in Adelaide come from Glasgow he was one of Glasgow's finest serving with the City of Glasgow Police whose old athletics ground Lochinch is 100 metres from Cartha

When Sam Irvine served with the Glasgow Polis they were a formidable force no force in the UK not even the Met had more experience of dealing with the big sporting occasions after all back in the day No Mean City was home to the three biggest stadiums in the world and they coped with the Old Firm matches and crowds of 130,000 on a regular basis at Hampden

But more through some modest research your webmaster discovered he was also a runner with that great southside institution Bellahouston Harriers a club with strong Old Anniesland connections not least through Jimmy Currie, Bill Dunlop and Mike Maclean


So the years pass and here this young lad pitches up at Hawks and he can play some
I for one have no doubts about his inherited stamina having run against his Uncle Sam on many occasions over road and country

This article was originally posted on 16-Dec-2013, 08:10 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 16-Dec-2013, 08:37.