Bill Watson (rugby union)
| Birth name | William Sinclair Watson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 7 January 1949 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Edinburgh, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bill Watson (born 7 January 1949) is a former Scotland international rugby union player.[1]
Rugby union career
[edit]Amateur career
[edit]Watson played for Boroughmuir.[2]
Provincial career
[edit]He played for Edinburgh District.[2]
International career
[edit]Watson was capped by Scotland 'B' once against France 'B' in 1971.
He played for Scotland ten times, from 1974 to 1979.[3] He was the Boroughmuir club's second Scotland international player (after Ken Ross in 1961).[4]
Administrative career
[edit]Watson was a Director and then Chief Executive at the Scottish Rugby Union from 2000 to 2003.[5] He was sacked as Chief Executive in 2003 as part of management shake-up. It came after under-performance from the national team and the professional clubs.[6] Earlier that year Glasgow Warriors lost Jason White to Sale Sharks with Watson admitting that the Warriors could not compete with the English club in the cash stakes.[7]
He was a Director at Boroughmuir from 2012 to 2019.[8] He handed over the role of director of finance to Alice Shek in 2018, becoming vice president of the club.[9]
It was while Watson was a director of the club that Boroughmuir instigated the Bill Watson Youth Rugby Bursary Programme. It was backed by the Microtech Group in a four-year deal.[10] It was to cover all the costs of playing rugby for the youngsters, including touring. Watson stated:[11]
I’m delighted that we can actively support the next generation of talented young people to get as much enjoyment out of rugby as I have, without any financial worries. The support from Microtech Group will go a long way in helping our young talent to fulfill their potential, whether that’s playing rugby for pleasure or going on to play the game professionally.
Family
[edit]Watson's brother George Watson played as Lock. He also played at Boroughmuir and was capped by Edinburgh District. Unlucky not to receive a full senior cap for Scotland, he was named in Alan Lorimer's selection for Scotland's best uncapped team.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ "William Sinclair Watson". Espnscrum.com.
- ^ a b "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". News.google.com.
- ^ "Rugby Union - ESPN Scrum - Statsguru - Player analysis - Bill Watson - Test matches". Espnscrum.com.
- ^ "History of Boroughmuir Rugby Club, Edinburgh". Boroughmuirsports.co.uk.
- ^ "MR WILLIAM SINCLAIR WATSON's director profile". Companycheck.co.uk.
- ^ "SRU chief sacked". News.bbc.co.uk. 1 December 2003.
- ^ "RUGBY : White is a Shark". Thefreelibrary.com.
- ^ "OpenCorporates :: The Open Database Of The Corporate World". Opencorporates.com.
- ^ Preece, John (10 June 2018). "Boroughmuir adds Strength to its Senior Team". The Edinburgh Reporter.
- ^ "Boroughmuir Rugby Sponsorship | Microtech Support Ltd". Microtechsupport.co.uk.
- ^ "RUGBY FIRST AS BOROUGHMUIR ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF BURSARY PROGRAMME FOR YOUNG PEOPLE". Facebook.com. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ "Scotland's best uncapped team? Alan Lorimer's choice". Theoffsideline.com. 29 December 2019.
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- 1949 births
- Living people
- Scottish rugby union players
- Scotland international rugby union players
- Boroughmuir RFC players
- Scotland 'B' international rugby union players
- Edinburgh District (rugby union) players
- Rugby union players from Edinburgh
- Rugby union number eights
- Scottish sports executives and administrators
- Scottish rugby union biography stubs