Stalwart of Meggetland

Grant Walling may be one of the lesser known members of the Boroughmuir playing squad, but having been at the club for five years his opinions and views can be considered as important as anyone else’s. The 27 year old prop first joined the club while at Edinburgh University. When scouting round Edinburgh clubs Grant was impressed by the friendliness of ’Muir, especially compared to close rivals Watsonians, “I made contact with both Watson’s and ’Muir and the response from Watson’s was, ‘Did you go to Watsonians Under18? No. Then were not looking for players right now’ whereas Boroughmuir came over much friendlier, telling me it would be great to see me and to get myself training”.

Grant, who hails from Kendall in Cumbria, stayed at the club after his studies firstly because he got a job locally, but also because he found the club so inclusive and polite, “Everyone was made so welcome and their was no snobbery. Everyone was involved”. Despite not being at the start of his career, Grant still has ambitions left in rugby. “I’d like to go on playing and enjoying rugby for as long as I can. I realise now, being 27, that I’ve already played my best rugby, that probably happened at Under-17 level when I was playing for Cumbria, and my target now is just to keep up the standard and also my fitness. Another ambition would be to play in a thirds team which goes the whole season unbeaten. We’ve come close a few times, losing the odd game, but to go unbeaten would be fantastic.” The enjoyment factor also arises in Grant’s reason for playing the game, “I just love the game. I was never going to be the fastest, strongest or most skilful player but rugby combines all those attributes so it’s a sport for all kinds of people. The social side is also important to me. In football, even after the match there is always those niggles and the fights spill over into the pub afterwards. In rugby though the whole atmosphere is a much more friendly one, the players and fans will go out together after matches and its just a scene I would much rather be involved in”.

The 3^rd team, for whom Grant plies his trade, have had an indifferent season as the prop himself admits, “We’ve blown hot and cold this year. We got off to and slow start and things have picked up but there is a level of inconsistency. There has been some really impressive performances but also some very disappointing ones. The thirds are a great team to play for because although it is the platform for those on their way down in the game, there is always a good crop of young players coming through and on their way up”. The professional set up in Scotland however, is completely baffling to Grant. “The way the system works in Scotland it just seems to bleed the clubs dry of any talent they have without rewarding them in any way. If you look at New Zealand they have clubs to start with, then districts and then the internationals. The SRU seem to have lost the link with the clubs by putting too much emphasis on the districts and I can’t name any single person who can truthfully say they support one of the Super Districts”. The controversial issue of foreigners playing for Scotland also produces strong opinions from Grant, “I have no problem with people, such as Calvin Howarth, who have never played for another International side, moving to Scotland, playing in Scotland and pledging their allegiance to Scotland. I have much more of  a problem with players who are from abroad and qualify for Scotland through say a Grandparent from the Channel Islands because then they have no tangible link with Scotland and tend to be playing just to get an international cap”.

Although he has seen little of the first team this year, Grant believes that they could go on to establish themselves amongst the top in the country. “The club has learnt from when it went down. They were big enough to admit they made mistakes and importantly they learned from them and bounced back. Now I think they can really become the best, but one thing that worries me is the possibility of a third Super District. That would wipe out another thirty players from the clubs, the majority from the top teams and its hard to see those top teams recovering from that”.

Away from Meggetland, Grant is a Post Doctoral Scientist at the Roslin Institute although he claims he had absolutely nothing to do with Dolly the Sheep. It can be hard though to fit rugby in sometimes, “It can be difficult if I have meetings or conferences and work to do over the weekend but as it was said to me a few weeks ago, ‘Rugby doesn’t pay the rent’. The moment Boroughmuir start paying my rent is the moment when I will be on time for every training session and game going”.

With loyal players such as Grant and the many others like him, its not only the 1^st XV at the club that are in a healthy state. As all three teams are going well this year there is reason for hope throughout Boroughmuir and Grant and the other “elder statesmen” combining with the youth coming through the ranks, the future of ’Muir looks to be in safe hands.

Simon Furnivall