Doddie Weir

George Wilson "Doddie" Weir OBE (born 4 July 1970) is a Scottish former rugby union player who played as a lock. He made 61 international appearances for the Scotland national team. He currently lives with his family on a farm which he bought in the Scottish Borders.[1] The Doddie Weir Cup is named after him.

George Wilson Weir
OBE
Date of birth (1970-07-04) 4 July 1970
Place of birthEdinburgh, Scotland
Height1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Weight109 kg (17 st 2 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Lock
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1988–1989
1989–1995		 Stewart's Melville
Melrose		 ()
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1995–2002
2002–2005		 Newcastle Falcons
Border Reivers		 97
97		 (35)
(35)
Provincial / State sides
Years Team Apps (Points)
1992 Reds Trial ()
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1989
1990–2000		 Scotland B
Scotland		 1
61		 (0)
(19)

Early life

Weir was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was educated at Daniel Stewart's and Melville College. He studied at the Scottish Agricultural College from 1988 to 1991, gaining a Higher National Diploma.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Weir started playing rugby for Stewart's Melville FP RFC,[2] He then played for Melrose RFC in the Borders and was part of the team that won six Scottish club championships.

Provincial and professional career

He was selected for the Reds Trial side to play against the Blues Trial side on 4 January 1992. After the match, The Aberdeen Press and Journal gave a predictive howler of Weir in their assessment:[3]

No way, however, should the selectors revert to Doddie Weir for the boiler-room. The Melrose youngster's future must lie at No. 8. He is simply not heavy enough to tangle with the giant English locks.

He later moved to England in 1995 to join the Newcastle Falcons and was part of the Premiership winning side of 1997–98.[4]

He also started the victorious 2001 Anglo-Welsh Cup final.[5]

He moved back to Scotland to join the newly reformed Borders team in 2002 where he remained until his retirement from professional rugby. He finished his playing career together with Gary Armstrong at the Border Reivers in 2004.

International career

He had one solitary cap for Scotland B against Ireland B on 9 December 1989. The Herald columnist Brian Meek wrote: "Melrose's Doddie Weir still looks like he should eat more porridge, but his jumping and catching are a joy to watch... and he gets about."[6]

Weir's first senior appearance for Scotland was on 10 November 1990 against Argentina at Murrayfield Stadium.[7][8] A mainstay of the team throughout the 1990s, he was a fan favourite of the Murrayfield crowd. In 1997 he was the first recipient of the Famous Grouse Scotland Player of the Five Nations Award.[9]

He was once described by commentator Bill McLaren as being "On the charge like a mad giraffe".[10]

A lineout specialist, he was selected as part of the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 1997. Whilst on the tour he suffered a serious knee injury, as a result of foul play, while playing against Mpumalanga Province.[2]

His time in the national side declined in later years as the next generation of locks emerged, with the likes of Stuart Grimes and eventual Scotland cap record holder Scott Murray coming into the team. His final appearance was in the Six Nations Championship match against France at Murrayfield, on 4 March 2000. He won 61 Scottish caps, scoring 19 points from four tries (his first scoring four points under the old scoring system). Significantly 2 of his 4 tries came against New Zealand in the quarter final of the 1995 world cup. He is the only Scot to have scored 2 tries against New Zealand.

After playing career

Weir went on to work for Hutchinson Environmental Solutions, a waste management company that was started by his father-in-law. Weir was given the position of commercial director.[11] He is also active on the after-dinner speech circuit.

He occasionally appears on the BBC as part of the half-time analysis during Scotland matches.

Motor Neurone Disease campaiging

In June 2017, Weir announced that he had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), the announcement coinciding with global MND Awareness Day.[12] In August, he spoke about plans to set up a foundation named 'My Name's Doddie'[13] in order to "raise funds for research into a cure for MND and to provide grants to people living with the condition".[14] In November, accompanied by his three sons, he walked the match ball on to the pitch at Murrayfield for the Autumn international test match between Scotland and the All Blacks.[15]

A tartan was designed by Weir in collaboration with Berwickshire-based clothes firm ScotlandShop, in a bid to raise cash for his motor neurone disease research charity. The tartan features colours from the teams he played for: black and yellow of Melrose, blue and white of Scotland, and black of the former and white of the latter are also intended as a reference to his seven years with Newcastle Falcons.[16]My Name's Doddie: The Autobiography was published on 25 October 2018 through Black & White Publishing.[17]

On 31 October 2018, Weir appeared on BBC One's The One Show, where he stated that his charity had now raised over £1 million.[18]

In January 2020 Weir confirmed his involvement in a clinical trial aimed at finding drugs that could slow, stop or reverse the progression of MND.[19]

Honours

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to rugby, to motor neurone disease research and to the community in the Scottish Borders.[20]

Named in his honour, the Doddie Weir Cup is a perpetual rugby union trophy for matches played between Scotland and Wales; including those matches played in the Six Nations.

In December 2019, Weir was announced as the recipient of the Helen Rollason Award, which is presented every year during the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year show.[21]

References
  1. "On Your Tarm – Doddie Weir". BBC Sounds. BBC. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  2. Glover, Tim (27 August 2000). "A Weir and the likely lads". The Independent. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  3. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000578/19920106/658/0017. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. "Allied Dunbar Premiership, 1997/98 / Newcastle Falcons / Player records". espnscrum.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  5. "Newcastle snatch Cup glory". BBC. 24 February 2001. Retrieved 26 December 2009.
  6. Meek, Brian (11 December 1989). "Moore again stakes a strong claim". The Glasgow Herald. p. 23. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  7. "Interview: Doddie Weir flushed with pride as Scotland walk tall once again". The Scotsman. 27 November 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  8. Finding a reason to get up and fight : Doddie Weir’s inspirational Jersey Tales. World Rugby. 26 August 2001. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  9. "No grouse as Doddie Weir wins by a street". The Herald. 18 March 1997. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  10. Alan, Tyers (8 February 2015). "Rugby broadcasting is barely recognisable to the days of Bill McLaren". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  11. Ford, Coreena (11 November 2013). "Hutchinson Environmental Solutions celebrates 40 years". The Journal. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  12. "Doddie Weir diagnosed with motor neurone disease". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  13. "My Name'5 Doddie". My Name is Doddie Foundation. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  14. "Doddie Weir: 'I don't blame rugby for my MND'". BBC News. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  15. "All Blacks honour Motor Neurone Disease stricken Scottish rugby legend Doddie Weir". Stuff. New Zealand. 19 November 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  16. "Doddie Weir nails colours to mast for new tartan". thesouthernreporter.co.uk. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  17. "My Name'5 DODDIE, Doddie Weir – Black & White Publishing". blackandwhitepublishing.com. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  18. "The One Show". 31 October 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  19. Williams, Martin (15 January 2020). "Doddie Weir to take part in 'ground-breaking' MND trial". The Herald. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  20. "No. 62507". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 2018. p. N14.
  21. "Doddie Weir wins Helen Rollason Award at Sports Personality 2019". BBC Sport. 15 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
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