​Again the guest speaker hoodoo hit us when Rory Lawson was unable to make the journey from London.  However, once again, triumph was snatched from the jaws of disaster when former Scottish internationalist Johnnie Beattie agreed to swap from April.  What a triumph it was with the 124 GROGs in attendance enjoying one of the most articulate, knowledgeable and interesting talks ever given at a GROGS Lunch.  Not surprisingly, Johnnie started by paying tribute to his 3 Lions tour father, John Snr. and his younger sister Jen, capped over 140 times for the Scotland Ladies football team.  He called himself  “the black sheep” of the family with only 38 international caps.  He described his club career with obvious fondness from being a centurion player with Glasgow Warriors to being recruited by the future France national coach, Fabien Galthié, to join and later captain the top French side Montpellier before moving on to Castres and Bayonne.  His ‘most incredible’ experience in France has made Johnnie a committed Francophile and his 3 children, all born there, consider themselves more French than Scottish.  His description of Fabien Galthié was insightful and intriguing.   He thinks of him as the best coach he has ever played under  -  “a tactical genius”!  At the same time Johhnie acknowledged that he (Galthié ) was not everyone’s cup of tea and is not liked much in France in spite of his success.  There was a curious comparison to his last season with Warriors when they were taken to the Royal Marine base in Arbroath and fully participated in their training to his first season with Montpellier when they ran 2 laps of a track and then repaired to the port where they helped fishermen with their nets and sat down to a couple of glasses of wine.  He didn’t say which regime he preferred!  No doubt his time in France playing with, and captaining, a range of players from many different countries stood him in good stead when he transitioned (as he put it) into a post playing career with radio and TV punditry and a collaborative role with World Rugby, which he loves!  After the Scotland win over France, Johhnie posed the question:- “how far can they go?”.  A Triple Crown title, he believes.  Moving to questions, he described the coaching in Scotland as extremely hard working and pointed out that there are 20k registered players in Scotland whereas there are around 340k in France.  Johnnie answered a number of questions with humour, insight and a depth of knowledge.  Although he forecast a S. African win in the upcoming World Cup Johnnie was shown massive appreciation with the presentation of a bottle of Famous GROGS whisky.

Some in the GROGS brotherhood feel that our luck would soon change trying to find substitute speakers at short notice.  Well, not this month because, after Gavin Scott of the SRU was unable to be with us when we had to reschedule the Lunch, the Speaker Gods smiled on us again and sent us a prize in the not inconsiderable size and talent of Glen Tippett, Head of Commercial at Glasgow Warriors. Glen made an impressive entrance by coming into the room with gusto and the 1872 Challenge Cup Trophy, won by Warriors for the third year in a row!  Once the audience got used to his New Zealand accent, Glen was a delight as a speaker talking about the “Golden Thread” of rugby and calling it the best sport in the world for culture, teamwork and discipline.  Steeped in many sports from childhood, he loves rugby the most and is so proud to be involved in it.  Like many Kiwis he left New Zealand for the European rugby tour, which included coming to Scotland.  Faced with 2 choices on 2 separate occasions – whether he and his wife of 24 years, Frances, should live in Boston USA or East Kilbride and whether he should join Watsonians or Ayr rugby clubs.  He seems happy with his picks of East Kilbride and Ayr RFC, being there at the beginnings and continuation of Ayr’s ascendancy.  Moving on to his role as a Development Officer with the SRU he rattled off a list of clubs he had linked up with and made positive comments about the burgeoning women’s game in Scotland!   Glen has been with the SRU for 12 years, in different capacities, the last 3 of which have been with Glasgow Warriors in “the best job in the world”.   With 3 good years in a row for the club, he was clearly pleased with himself, especially after the recent success of beating Toulouse.  In a wide ranging conversation Glen talked about rugby in general and the position of Glasgow Warriors in particular stressing that they are operating with good but limited facilities at Scotstoun and considerably limited finances compared to most of the other clubs they play against.   Hampden and an imaginary generous benefactor were mentioned but even they would not be the long term answers to keep Warriors competing with the big boys.  He praised the skills of Franco Smith and Duncan Weir and, in both cases, said “watch this space”.  Glen ended a very interesting talk by answering some very direct questions with equally direct answers and was gleeful in his acceptance of the traditional bottle of GROGS Special Whisky with our grateful thanks. 

​What a send-off to 2025 our Christmas Lunch Guest Speaker gave us! Baroness Ruth Davidson, happily attired in a Santa hat, contributed in a whole raft of ways to the fun and community singing that are staples to the most popular Lunch in the GROGS calendar year.  She had been scheduled to join us last year but had been called away on Parliamentary business at short notice.  It was well worth the wait for an absolute record number of members, many dressed in their finest Christmas garments craving the prizes awarded by Chairman Hugh Dan MacLennan.  The Baroness lived up to everyone’s expectations.  Here was an erudite, experienced and very likeable speaker with skill and humour thrown in.  She started with what would have been a surprise to many by talking about the time she lived in Glasgow as a student.  “She’s nearly one of us” someone was heard to whisper.  Then we had a couple of fun stories about council workers in Kelvingrove Park and her time at Buckhaven High School when she was ‘finding’ herself.  She briefly described her early start in journalism and politics and eschewed her qualifications for speaking to an audience steeped in rugby.  However, she is an active member in the kitchen on game days at North Berwick Rugby Club and a Director on the SRU Board  -  sufficient qualifications in most minds.  Not wanting to repeat what the Chairman of the Board had said when speaking to GROGS 2 months earlier about the Board workings, Ruth made a passionate plea to Santa, via an imaginary wish list, for a number of gifts when he lands at Murrayfield in a fortnight.  Starting with a wish for the new CEO at Murrayfield, Alex Williamson, to be given the gifts of wisdom and energy to provide the much desired success for Scottish rugby, she cleverly asked for special presents for many of the big names at Murrayfield from Al Kellock and Gemma Faye to Gregor Townsend and Franco Smith and highlighting Director of Rugby Development, Gavin Scott, hoping for 20 of his like at the SRU.  Overall, she hoped for support for the Murrayfield team because from that, she believes, will come success.  Unsurprisingly, Baroness Davidson handled all the questions professionally but was perhaps delighted that the first one allowed her to talk about her father’s football career, particularly with Partick Thistle.  Known as a connoisseur of the water of life, she clearly relished the gift of the rare bottle of Special GROGS whisky presented to her with much appreciation.

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.