RIP the great Bill McClaren

Sadly today Tuesday 19th January we’ve learned of the passing of a rugby great Bill McLaren.

This was one of his greatest commentaries. It occurred in 1999 when Wales faced England at Wembley due to the building of the magnificent Millenium stadium. Here’s 2nd half action in which Wales came from a difficult position to stifle the English and deny them a Grand Slam! Oh dear!

Known as the voice of rugby up until his retirement in 2002.
McLaren was born in Hawick, in the Scottish Borders, in 1923 and grew up to be a useful flank forward. He made the Hawick first XV before serving with the Royal Artillery in Italy during the Second World War. He played in a Scotland trial in 1947 and was on the verge of a full international cap before contracting tiberculosis which nearly killed him and forced him to give up playing. He spent 19 months in a sanatorium before being given an experimental drug, Etreptomycin, which saved his life.

McLaren was married to Bette. His son-in-law is former Scotland rugby scum half Alan Lawson. They have five grandchildren, including Scotland scrum-half and Gloucester player Rory Lawson and Edinburgh’s Jim Thompson.

Bill McLaren studied Physical Education in Aberdeen, and went on to teach PE in different schools in Hawick right through to 1987, coaching several players who went on to play for Scotland - Jim Renwick, Colin Deans and Tony Stanger.

It was through his junior reporting with the Hawick Express that he launched himself into a career of commentary. In 1953, he made his national debut for BBC Radio covering Scotland’s 12-0 loss to Wales.

The switch to television came six years later. Recognition of his services came in November 2001, when he became the first non-international to be inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame. He was awarded an MBE in 1992, an OBE in 1995 and a CBE in the 2003 honours list.

McLaren is one of many post-war commentators who came through BBC radio to television in its infancy: Murray Walker (motor racing), Peter O’Sullevan (horse racing), Harry Carpenter (boxing and rowing), Dan Maskell (tennis), David Coleman (athletics), Peter Allis (golf) and John Arlott (cricket).

McLaren also features as a commentator on the games Jonah Lomu Rugby and EA Rugby 2001

Bill died on Tuesday 19th January 2010 at the age of 86.

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