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Bill Watson (rugby union)

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Bill Watson
Birth nameWilliam Sinclair Watson
Date of birth (1949-01-07) 7 January 1949 (age 75)
Place of birthEdinburgh, Scotland
Rugby union career
Position(s) No. 8
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
- Boroughmuir ()
Provincial / State sides
Years Team Apps (Points)
- Edinburgh District ()
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1971
1974-79		 Scotland 'B'
Scotland		 1
10
(0)

Bill Watson (born 7 January 1949) is a former Scotland international rugby union player.[1]

Rugby union career

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Amateur career

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Watson played for Boroughmuir.[2]

Provincial career

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He played for Edinburgh District.[2]

International career

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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

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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

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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

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  1. ^ "William Sinclair Watson". Espnscrum.com.
  2. ^ a b "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". News.google.com.
  3. ^ "Rugby Union - ESPN Scrum - Statsguru - Player analysis - Bill Watson - Test matches". Espnscrum.com.
  4. ^ "History of Boroughmuir Rugby Club, Edinburgh". Boroughmuirsports.co.uk.
  5. ^ "MR WILLIAM SINCLAIR WATSON's director profile". Companycheck.co.uk.
  6. ^ "SRU chief sacked". News.bbc.co.uk. 1 December 2003.
  7. ^ "RUGBY : White is a Shark". Thefreelibrary.com.
  8. ^ "OpenCorporates :: The Open Database Of The Corporate World". Opencorporates.com.
  9. ^ Preece, John (10 June 2018). "Boroughmuir adds Strength to its Senior Team". The Edinburgh Reporter.
  10. ^ "Boroughmuir Rugby Sponsorship | Microtech Support Ltd". Microtechsupport.co.uk.
  11. ^ "RUGBY FIRST AS BOROUGHMUIR ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF BURSARY PROGRAMME FOR YOUNG PEOPLE". Facebook.com. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  12. ^ "Scotland's best uncapped team? Alan Lorimer's choice". Theoffsideline.com. 29 December 2019.


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