The Knight Rider

When deciding to interview former club skipper Andy Knight I took the view that he should be allowed to speak for himself. I therefore simply posed the questions and sat back whilst Andy aired his views in full. A mixture of clear thought and irreverence is typical of one of the best known characters at Boroughmuir.

Andy, can you give me a bit of background about yourself.

I’m from a little village up near Thurso in Caithness. There’s not much to do up there so I came down here to go to university at Napier and followed in my brother’s footsteps by studying Hospitality and Management. Now I’m following him again, going to the same rugby club and going into the bar trade.

What do you do for a living?

Just now I’m a car park attendant and a barman, in layman’s terms. I’m manager of a multi-million pound property and my brother’s just opened another restaurant/bar and I’m going in as manager of that.

How did you come to join Boroughmuir?

When I first came to Edinburgh to go to Napier, I looked round a few clubs. I went to Watsonians but I wasn’t accepted straight away there and didn’t like the place, so I went to Accies because Rowan Shepard, another northerner was there. I started in the back row in the 7^th team, the next week I was in the back row in the 5^th team, then the 4^th team and then the 3^rd team. I turned round to them and said, “I’ve gone up in the ranks every week so I must be a good rugby player and all I want is a shot at scrum half”.  They then told me they had thirteen scrum-halves and they were going to play me in the back row, so my brother brought me along to Boroughmuir. That was 1990 and I’ve been here ever since. 

A few years ago you captained the side – how did that feel?

It was a great honour. At that time the club were really looking for someone who had been here a long time and had a lot of experience so I kind of got thrown in at the deep end. For me however, it was something I had wanted to do since I came here because I love the set up, I love the club and I love all the guys around it.

You’ve played in a number of different positions, which is your favourite?

Ah, a question asked many times. Propping up the bar is one of my favourite positions but on the field I would have to say scrum half. I see that as the best position I’ve played in so far. 

How long do you intend to continue playing?

Well my old man is now 56 years old and although he hasn’t played this season, I’m sure he’ll play at least once more. That’s all I’m prepared to say.

And when you’ve finished playing?

Who says I’m going to finish at that age? Come that time I’ve actually done a coaching course already, so I’ll hopefully go into coaching a club.

Who is the best coach you have worked with?

I have to say that I enjoyed the time Henry Edwards was here. He was a guy I admired, I respected a lot, and I liked the ideas he came up with. He’s maybe not the best coach but probably the guy I admire the most. Next I would have to say that I respect Iain Paxton a lot. Again, he’s not a backs coach but as a coach his way of doing things is twisted - I like that idea.

You have a reputation as something of a character at the club. Is this justified?

I like to enjoy my rugby, and I like to enjoy myself after rugby as well. The way I was brought up, you have a good fight on the field and off the field you have a few beers. You socialise with everybody. The whole idea behind the club atmosphere is getting everybody involved. I like to get everyone involved, from the quietest person to the loudest person and at Boroughmuir that’s all I’m aiming to do.

Will we win the cup?

As you know I’ve been injured again so it’s going to be difficult without having a super sub in there but yes, I totally believe we’ll go in there and win it and be the first team to retain it.

What was your best game for Boroughmuir and why?

There are a few games that stick in my mind, firstly there is my second game for the club when we played Lenzie and we beat them, I think 104 – 0 and I scored 48 points from stand off. To be honest though I don’t really have one game that stands out as my best for the club. Other games that stick in my mind are the day we got relegated when we were playing Kelso in the cup and also the cup final against Melrose in 1997. None stick out as my best game so I’ll say I haven’t played my best game yet.

Who is the best player you have played with?

The most consistent player I’ve played with is Bruce Reekie, the drop goal king. It’s difficult to say who is the best, everyone plays a different style and I’ve played with Stuart Reid, Peter Wright, Sean Lineen, Derek Stark, Ivan Tukelo and Doug Wylie so I wouldn’t like to say who is the best but Bruce Reekie is definitely the most consistent.

If you could change one thing about the club, what would it be?

I would definitely say the changing facilities for training.

How do you feel about the Super teams?

I think they were a good idea to start with. I could see the theory behind it I just don’t think we have the resources to have the super teams there. You can’t expect to get an international team from two teams competing against each other three times a year. The money would be much better used if it were pumped into the clubs. You could have your 10 or 12 first division teams and make each player at them professional, and pick your international team from that.

What about the national team?

I think the national team have built themselves up over the last three or four years with professionalism. The players are probably stronger than they have ever been, they’re probably more skilful than they’ve ever been but collectively they’re not as good. I don’t know the reasons for that, maybe they’re mollycoddled. They are a good set of players so there is no reason why they shouldn’t be good, but you’ve got to remember that every team they play against is getting better and it seems as though we’ve been left behind a bit.

If you could change one thing about Scottish rugby, what would it be?

Pump the money used on the districts into the clubs.

How do you feel the future of the club game will develop?

I would be surprised if the clubs didn’t get a lot of the best players back from the districts and you’d have semi-professional players, guys who are paid maybe by the clubs, maybe by the SRU. I would like to see the super teams do something for the clubs; they still don’t seem to be doing a lot. To be honest though I don’t really know what will happen in the future of club rugby but as long as Boroughmuir are still putting out teams I’ll be happy.

Are you looking forward to the Belfast tour?

I am. The Belfast tour will be a cut loose tour, I’m sure they’ll be a lot of drinking and I reckon I’ll have something to do with the social convening so as I said before, everyone will be involved.

Finally, what was the tour you have enjoyed the most?

Just recently I came back from the Dubai sevens and that was very good, my claim to fame being that I scored a try past Joe Roth. The best tour though has to be the Caithness sevens, no particular year as they are all brilliant.

Simon Furnivall