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Two Aberdeen Wanderers with a VIP invite to Murrayfield

Two Aberdeen Wanderers with a VIP invite to Murrayfield

Guy Mullinor24 Mar 2017 - 19:20
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Alison Forsyth and Neil Christie represent Aberdeen Wanderers at Murrayfield for the Scotland v Italy Game

The atmosphere that day was superb, particularly at the end of the match
- Alison Forsyth, Wanderers First Aid Convenor

Reps from a selection of clubs were invited to Murrayfield for the Scotland v Italy game on 18th March 2017. Alison and Neil were there from Aberdeen Wanderers and here is Alison's account of the experience.

Neil Christie (Micros Coach) and I were invited by Aberdeen Wanderers RFC and the SRU to attend the Scotland v Italy match at the President's Suite at Murrayfield on 18th March.

Neil and I were with Mike Monro in a group from Caledonia region, comprised of two representatives each from Caithness RFC, Deeside RFC, Garioch RFC, Gordonians RFC and Aberdeen Wanderers RFC. It was great to hear Wanderers being publicly welcomed over the address system in front of three hundred guests!
Mike Monro was very aware of how the season was going for the Seniors, and made special mention of our adoption of the Granite City Colts in the Youth section.

We were all advised at short notice that we would be meeting Princess Anne and her husband Sir Timothy Laurence before the match - they were very relaxed and were interested to hear how rugby was developing in the North and North East, and in particular how Youth numbers were growing in the region.

Watching the Scotland v Italy match in such a prime seats above the half-way line was such a treat - in fact we were lucky enough to be right in front of the commentary and media sections. It was amazing to watch John Beattie, Andy Nicol, Andy Robinson and Andrew Cotter at work in the Bill McLaren Commentary Box!

The atmosphere that day was superb, particularly at the end of the match when the Scottish team went round the pitch to thank the crowd and acknowledge Vern Cotter's contribution to the squad; it was powerful stuff.

The dinner afterwards was delicious and of the highest quality - you simply could not have had better. It was quite a moment when the entire Italian and Scottish squads walked past the end of our table, plus other rugby luminaries such as Nigel Owens, John Jeffrey, Sandy Carmichael and Alan Lawson. We heard speeches from both Sergio Parisse, John Barclay, Chris Paterson and Rob Flockhart.
I took my chance afterwards and had a quick chat with Dr James Robson, who was very engaging and enthusiastic in the promotion of player welfare at all levels.

We stayed to watch France v Wales and then Ireland v England on the big screens around the President's Suite – such a gripping finale to the 6 Nations 2017 as I'm sure you'll agree! On our departure we were spoken to personally by the SRU President Rob Flockhart, who was very aware of our presence there and most appreciative of all the work that is done at club/grassroots level for rugby in Scotland.

It was just the most phenomenal occasion which will live very long in the memory; the rugby community is one that Neil and I are very proud to be a part of.
Our sincere thanks to Aberdeen Wanderers RFC, Mike Monro and the Scottish Rugby Union for making it possible.

Alison Forsyth and Neil Christie

Some photos from their visit can we seen here

Further reading