Dr. John Mathers is a highly qualified Sports Psychologist covering the elite element of many sports but mainly golf, football and rugby.  A reasonable number in the audience might have anticipated a dry 30 minute talk full of jargon, statistics and technical language, a feeling not helped by John saying how relieved he was when told that his speech didn’t need to be funny.  In the event, John delivered a speech which included jargon, statistics and technical language but  which certainly was never dry.  In fact, he opened with a funny story taking a pop at his own profession.  Relief all round!  He outlined what he would talk about and stuck to it.  There was a “Hurray!  Boo!” moment when he promised to name some of his well known clients but none of his current ones!  John’s personal philosophy is to empower people to be the best version of themselves and to help them achieve their personal milestones.  Stating the recognisably obvious that everyone makes mistakes, his coaching (and not training he made a point of saying) is to help them not make the same one twice.  John’s list of the sports and competitions he has been involved in and the venues visited is, in anyone’s terms, impressive.  From cricket to tennis and snooker via football and rugby in all competitions over the world, the list seemed endless.  There was even a reference to a Women’s Rugby World Cup final involving referee Hollie Davidson, a particular favourite of GROGS.  John sounded like an employee of the Finland Tourist Agency when he extolled the attractions of the country which he had visited professionally for the Rally of 1000 Lakes.  Famous sporting names tripped off his tongue like boxer Willie Limond, who John worked with, Rafa Nadal, Andy Murray and Martina Hingis with the most mouth watering one being Maria Sharapova about whom he could not have waxed more lyrical.  However, he got as much pleasure out of helping a South of Scotland rally driver achieving a top ten finish as he did with a sports king winning a championship.  John ended with an endearing story about helping a family friend play in the North East Fife Bowling grudge match between Anstruther and Pittenweem.  This may or may not have been true but it was well told.  John accepted the bottle of Old GROGS whisky as a token of our thanks with the same aplomb as he had delivered his speech.

Talk about going out on a high note!  The final Lunch of the 2024/25 season was an undoubted triumph.  To the relief of all, the advertised speaker turned up and was an honest and sincere revelation.  Also, the meal was excellent and the company was in fine form with a record turnout challenging the very popular Christmas gatherings.  Chairman, Fergus Neil, was first class and even managed to make the routine reports that go with an end of year meeting sound interesting.  The Committee’s proposals for the disbursement of excess funds to popular rugby causes were unanimously approved.  The jovial atmosphere helped to relax the guest speaker, Kyle Steyn, the Scotland international winger and Glasgow Warriors captain. The South African born Scot, and self confessed Glaswegian, spoke easily from the heart without the need of notes and with no signs of the nerves that he purported to have.  This was not a litany of rugby stories, his experiences and heroes, although these were all mentioned.  No, this was a humble and insightful account of the core values of the man and how his own role models shaped him into being the person he is today.  His description of the importance of the system of values that his own parents and grandparents had instilled in him was refreshing to hear!  His maternal grandfather was, in Kyle’s word, the patriarch of the family and his importance in Kyle’s life was almost palpable.  A particularly interesting part of Kyle’s talk (and personal history) was when he described his father’s work as a policeman in S. Africa working first for President F.W. De Klerk and then as head of security for President Nelson Mandela.  Kyle described his introduction to rugby by recounting an episode at the 1995 World Cup final which saw him being photographed sitting on the great man’s knee with an All Blacks’ cap on his head!  There followed an interesting foray into a description of S. Africa politics of the day, all from the Glasgow Warriors captain who had hoisted the URC cup last year after a famous victory in his homeland.  He explained how he felt completely at home in Glasgow and was getting used to the Glaswegian fans’ way of direct talking, particularly after a defeat.  Not surprisingly, Kyle handled a number of salient questions very well being honest, knowledgeable and direct in equal measures.  This very likeable sportsman left with our thanks, a bottle of GROGS whisky and our good wishes for success in the upcoming Cup match against Leinster.

​History repeated itself with the GROGS curse striking again in March when the scheduled speaker, John Mathers, had to withdraw because of a family bereavement. However, the Committee performed the “rabbit out of a hat” trick again and found a very popular replacement guest speaker in Chris Fusaro, the Scotland and Glasgow Warriors flanker.  Chris gave a refreshingly honest and interesting account of his own rugby career and a diplomatically expressed view of the current state of Scottish rugby and some of the main characters in both the playing and administrative sectors.  He described himself as being from a 2nd. generation Italian family arriving in Scotland in 1949 and later settling in Cupar in Fife.  This was fortunate for the future rugby star who started his 24 year playing career in mini rugby with Howe of Fife.  He tried to make out that he was no better at passing or catching a ball at the end of his career than he had been at the beginning but no-one believed him.  Chris talked about the importance of mini rugby in his own career and in rugby overall.  He praised the human qualities that rugby fosters using Doddie Weir as an example of someone continuing with good work in the face of adversity. He loved his rugby from the very start and didn’t experience any of the strict coaching discipline he’d heard about  -  until 2012, coincidentally the year Gregor Townsend took over as coach at Warriors.  He enjoyed a very successful career there making many good friends and harvesting many happy memories.  He remembered Warriors turning the corner in 2011 by winning ugly, and creating “Fortress Firhill”.  They beat the mighty Leinster at the RDS stadium but lost to Treviso at home the following week. The combination of discipline and teamwork paid off when Warriors won the Pro 12 Cup in 2015.  Chris was honest and modest in equal measures when he described his professional career and some of the coaches he had played under.  Here, Dave Rennie got an honourable mention.  There was a dark phase in his career towards the end but the sun shone through and he remained a Warrior throughout.  He is now retired, a family man, working in the family business and a part time coach.  He has a treasure chest full of memories, friendships, experiences and, as GROGS could see, a modest appreciation of what Rugby has given him, not the least being the bottle of GROGS whisky which first time Chairman Neil Watson presented him with!

​David Johnston had been heralded as an interesting and insightful speaker and the GROGs were not disappointed.  Outlining the 4 subjects he would cover   -   football, playing and coaching rugby and (possibly the most intriguing) the historic rugby governance in Scotland David promised  “shameless name dropping” starting with Gavin Hastings then Gordon Strachan and Jimmy Johnstone, whom he had played against in his Hearts days, and many others.   We had a whistle-stop tour of his career from playing rugby at school, captaining the Scottish Schoolboys team, his brief career with Hearts F.C. ending with a serious leg injury, before returning to rugby with Watsonians.  The “Flying Ashtray”, as sports writer, Brian Meek, dubbed him, was home and his stellar career was about to start.  From Watsonians to Edinburgh District and other representative sides and finally to his international debut against the All Blacks in November 1979, David gave an interesting description of highlights and memories of his halcyon rugby playing career before another injury forced a premature end.  Still, 27 caps, a 1984 Grand Slam winning achievement and the best ever Scottish result against the All Blacks are not too bad highlights to look back on.  Thankfully, his rugby career was not finished as he took up a fruitful coaching partnership travelling the rugby world with Richie Dixon, including the 1996 Jim Telfer “dry tour” of New Zealand (sponsored by The Famous Grouse) and the unsuccessful Grand Slam decider against England at the beginning of the professional era, the ‘Wild West time’ as David described, until parting company with the SRU in 1998.  That led to him falling out of love with the playing side of rugby although he remained involved with the sport because of the continuing nonsense going on at Murrayfield.  He described 3 types of committee members  -  incompetent enthusiasts, honest soldiers and highly political animals.  In his opinion, the latter ruled the Murrayfield roost.  David could think of only a few of the hierarchy who had advanced Scottish rugby more than their own standing and vested interests.  The GROGs smelled blood!  The lawyer in David chose careful words when describing a former SRU CEO in terms that were not glowing especially when mentioning a supposed “sweetie jar”, the Keith Russell affair and the introduction of the Super Six.  Though he saw the past of Scottish rugby as bleak, he sees some brightness in the future. David cleverly fielded some astute questions before being asked to take ownership of a bottle of Famous Grogs whisky and our sincere thanks.

After a very successful Christmas Lunch, it was back to rugby for the start of a new year when GROGS turned up in record numbers for the January meeting to welcome Keith Wallace, the newly elected President of the Scottish Rugby Union.  As the Chairman said, it was a great relief to actually see Keith in person given the run of bad luck with cancellations we’ve had in recent times.  A major problem, Keith explained, in rugby today is the unavailability or unwillingness to make a season long commitment to playing, thus the necessity of having larger player pools.  He contrasted the average number of players in the Heriots pool when Andy Irvine’s team won the Division 1 title in 1978/79 was 17 compared to an average now of 46.  48 players in the Heriots pool have already been used in the 13 games played so far this season.  Changed times and startling figures!  Back in the day, he said, 100 club players would mean 5 teams could be fielded.  Now, such a number might only field 3 teams.  The days of the social players seem to be over.  With some it would seem to be the case that if they can't get into the first XV then they don’t want to play.  This and rising financial demands are 2 of the main causes of concern in maintaining an active interest in rugby at grass roots level.  Money is being ploughed into the game to try and encourage a resurgence of interest and not only at the elite level.  Women’s rugby, walking rugby and other forms are being encouraged by the SRU.  Keith feels that women’s rugby has already been the salvation of some clubs.   Although the sport is hurting at the moment, the Men’s and Women’s International teams, the under 20’s and the 2 Professional Teams are doing well at the moment and, in his own experience, many rugby clubs themselves are thriving so we shouldn’t be discouraged.  Before concluding with a toast to The Game of Rugby Football, Keith exhorted those present to support their clubs and to encourage others to do the same.  Surprisingly, there weren’t many questions but those that were asked were dealt with openly and extensively, including one about the position of the SRU regarding current and future head injury claims.  The Chairman wished the President well in his tenure and thanked him with a gift of a bottle of Special GROGS Whisky.

There was considerable disappointment when it was learned that the planned guest speaker, Baroness Ruth Davidson, had to withdraw as a result of a 3 line whip being imposed to discuss important Government business.  However, there was not one single cancellation as a result and an all time record number of GROGS attended the  Festive Extravaganza. Any disappointment was considerably assuaged when the Committee announced that, once again, it had managed to save the day by persuading the popular BBC weather presenter, Judith Ralston, to step in at incredibly short notice.  Judith had worked with the Baroness in their early days with BBC radio and considered it an honour to fill in for her.  Because of work commitments, Judith was forced to arrive fashionably late, to a welcome which was as loud and cheerful as it was warm.  Without intending to use a weather pun, it’s fair to say that she seemed completely blown away by it.  Whether this was solely down to her own popularity or because it brought the Chairman’s warm up act to an end, we’ll never really know.  Judith was a joy as a guest.  She brought a lovely smile to the Top Table and participated fully in all the nonsense that has become a staple part of the GROGS Christmas Lunch.  The only disappointment was that we didn’t get to hear her operatically trained voice rising above the cacophony of the efforts of the GROGs to sing both in tune and in unison.  The anguished look on Judith’s face when we monumentally failed on both grounds was a sight to see.  We were then treated to a cheerful account of Judith’s life and career.  There were moments of sadness when she recounted how she had achieved her childhood dream of becoming an opera singer then to have it dashed when suffering from irreparable damage to her vocal chords.  However, the voice fairy took pity on her and her speaking voice became the entrée to a career in radio from where she embarked on her current career as ‘Judith the Weather’ as the Chairman, Hugh Dan MacLennan, described her.  She didn’t need to explain that she loved her work.  This was evident. Her talk was peppered with nice little stories about her family, events in her career and the fun she has with her working colleagues, many of whom are well known celebrities in the broadcasting business.  Although she had confessed to not being a fan of whisky, Judith accepted with alacrity the special bottle of GROGS whisky offered to her with our grateful thanks.  This delightful lady will be welcome back to GROGS anytime!

​GROGS Lunches seem to becoming more and more popular as, once again, a record number of members gathered to hear a well-known character in West of Scotland rugby  -  Tony Peters, President of Marr Rugby Club.  When introduced by Chairman, Johnston Sime, we were told that Tony’s nickname was “Motors”, because of the business he was involved in.  Tony didn’t let us down although those who came along to perhaps learn why Marr is not doing so well this year or what the residents of Troon think about the goings-on in the denizens of Murrayfield were about to be disappointed.  On the other hand, those who came to hear Tony the stand-up comedian would have been delighted, as would most of the rest who might not have known what to expect.  His skill as a speaker was obvious from the start and his experience with a rugby orientated audience was equally obvious throughout.  Tony started off pretending that he had applied for an AI generated speech, which was clearly not the case.  This was all his own work!  He then gave the best advert for shopping at Asda that anyone listening would ever have heard before going on to deliver a series of one liners our only previous stand-up comedian speaker, Andy Cameron, would have been proud of.  Tony did mention rugby when he described the perilous position Marr finds itself in, standing in 10th place in a 13 team Premier League from which 3 teams will be relegated this year.  It was obvious he was hurting!  He also mentioned his own limited experience in the playing side of the game, a bitter disappointment to his father, a Welsh rugby fanatic.  Then on with the one-liners, particularly targeting some of the GROGs present.  He had obviously done his homework as all his targets were on the mark, perhaps with one exception towards the end!   Tony’s final story involved a punch line of “mind your own business” but the Chairman’s last piece of business was to express much appreciation and to award him with a well earned bottle of Famous GROGS Whisky.