McGeechan qualifying for Scotland

Not trying a wind-up here or anything. Just genuinely wondering - since McGeechan was born in Yorkshire and has a Yorkshire accent - does anyone know what his Scottish connection is? Does he have Scottish parents or did he live there for a while? Wikipedia makes no mention.

And McGeechan is a solid Yorkshire name.

His father was Scottish, thus the Scottish name.

It's an Irish name.

Well let's agree that its a celtic name.....

According to a book I read about the 1990 England Scotland game McGeechan's dad was an incredibly passionate Scotsman. Basically there was no way that Ian was playing for anyone other than Scotland if his dad had anything to do with it and obviously after playing he then went into coaching.

His Dad was from Govan and a big Glasgow Rangers fan. Actually I don't think his Dad ever saw him play for Scotland, I think he passed away whilst Sir Ian was having his initial trials, but I suspect there formed a pretty emotional connection to Scotland at that stage which he couldn't turn away from, despite having been born and raised in Yorkshire.

I'm Scottish (although my wife is English) and live in London. If ever a child of mine even came close to being good enough to play international sport, it would be made abundantly clear by his father that selecting England was not an option.

Doesn't really matter though.. on the fact he was a starting centre for the lions 74 series victory in SA he could have walked into the England squad.

If he did so because it was easier to get test honours it may have been different but its clearly not the reason.

funnyExiledScot wrote:I'm Scottish (although my wife is English) and live in London. If ever a child of mine even came close to being good enough to play international sport, it would be made abundantly clear by his father that selecting England was not an option.

Well that's nice isn't it.

funnyExiledScot wrote:I'm Scottish (although my wife is English) and live in London. If ever a child of mine even came close to being good enough to play international sport, it would be made abundantly clear by his father that selecting England was not an option.

are you serious?

Of course I'm not being serious! I can't pretend though that I'd wouldn't prefer him/her to represent Scotland, as I'm sure was the case with Geech.

I assure you though that this is a very hypothetical scenario. I have a very limited knowledge of genetics, but given I never went further than 3rd XV rugby at school and my wife struggles to connect raquet and ball when playing tennis, I'd suggest that it isn't a decision our children will have to make - unless England are still scratching around for a 12 at that stage.....

funnyExiledScot wrote:Of course I'm not being serious! I can't pretend though that I'd wouldn't prefer him/her to represent Scotland, as I'm sure was the case with Geech.

I assure you though that this is a very hypothetical scenario. I have a very limited knowledge of genetics, but given I never went further than 3rd XV rugby at school and my wife struggles to connect raquet and ball when playing tennis, I'd suggest that it isn't a decision our children will have to make - unless England are still scratching around for a 12 at that stage.....

not unlikely

funnyExiledScot wrote:I assure you though that this is a very hypothetical scenario. I have a very limited knowledge of genetics, but given I never went further than 3rd XV rugby at school and my wife struggles to connect raquet and ball when playing tennis, I'd suggest that it isn't a decision our children will have to make - unless England are still scratching around for a 12 at that stage.....

Well I'm no expert in genetics either but by the sounds of that your offspring could probably do at least as well as Shontayne Hape....

funnyExiledScot wrote:His Dad was from Govan and a big Glasgow Rangers fan. Actually I don't think his Dad ever saw him play for Scotland, I think he passed away whilst Sir Ian was having his initial trials, but I suspect there formed a pretty emotional connection to Scotland at that stage which he couldn't turn away from, despite having been born and raised in Yorkshire.

I'm Scottish (although my wife is English) and live in London. If ever a child of mine even came close to being good enough to play international sport, it would be made abundantly clear by his father that selecting England was not an option.

+1 (x3)

roddersm wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:I assure you though that this is a very hypothetical scenario. I have a very limited knowledge of genetics, but given I never went further than 3rd XV rugby at school and my wife struggles to connect raquet and ball when playing tennis, I'd suggest that it isn't a decision our children will have to make - unless England are still scratching around for a 12 at that stage.....

Well I'm no expert in genetics either but by the sounds of that your offspring could probably do at least as well as Shontayne Hape....

At least