The last Lunch of the 2016-17 year started off more somberly than most. First of all, popular former Chairman, Roy Dingwall, took ill at the beginning of proceedings and was taken to hospital before he had a chance to enjoy the lunch he’d paid for. Thankfully all is well with him and he was released the following day. Then, in the chair for his swansong as GROGS Chairman, Gordon Wilson expressed the Club’s sympathy at the recent death of founder member and GROGS stalwart, Tom Morrice. A period of respectful silence was held before Gordon opened and closed the AGM in 2 minutes with details of the proposed charitable donations. He also announced that Brian Rigby was the Committee’s proposal as his successor, at which point there was a further period of silence and by such silent acclaim, the appointment was approved! After a fine lunch, the guest speaker, Johnny Bacigalupo, was introduced. Johnny, part stand up comedian, part rugby aficionado, was a welcome return speaker to GROGS. In between a selection of hilarious one-liners and some pretty tall tales. he described his career as a prop playing against such famous names as Iain Milne, Ian MacLauchlan, Norman Pender and Sandy Carmichael before an unfortunate accident put an end to it. What was the playing game’s loss became the regulating game’s gain when Johnny moved into refereeing. He quickly moved up the refereeing ranks before being promoted to coaching referees and then to his current position of Performance Reviewer, a role he clearly relishes. Peppering his description of his rugby career, thus far, with humorous anecdotes about well kent players and officials, including a good story involving referee Allan Hosie and England internationalist Ben Clark, Johnny made it clear he is still very much a grass roots rugby man. He’d recently watched 2 different matches - an open game between Trinity and Portobello in East 2A League and a tight, bruising match between the professional sides, Edinburgh and Connacht. We were in no doubt which one he preferred. He also expressed his feelings about the modern game’s scrums and lineouts and, in answers to questions, how he rated certain high profile referees. For his entertainment and honesty, Johnny walked away with a bottle of GROGS whisky.