General Club News

Check here for any news items that are too big for the main 'Stew Mel Man' page and, frankly, don't fit under any other category on the site.

To jump to the latest update, click here.

We had another great training session on Saturday - thanks to all who attended.

It's crucial that we get everyone down to every session as we are only a couple of weeks away from our first matches.

Please remember that the next session will be held at Inverleith on Tuesday, 28th July, and will start at 6.30 pm sharp.

See you then!

Jimmy Moran

Players are reminded that training will take place on Wednesday and Thursday this week - that's Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th August.

Wednesday's session will take place at Murrayfield, where we will be practising drills with the Wanderers boys. Please bring along trainers as well as boots in case we use the Astro pitch.

Changing will be in the Wanderers clubhouse, and the session will start at 6.30 pm sharp.

Training on Thursday will be at Inverleith as usual.

See you then!

Borth

The second annual charity match to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust took place at Barnton on Sunday 23rd August.

The 'home' side was made up of young players drawn from RHC, the Royal High School, Boroughmuir, Murrayfield Wanderers, Accies and ourselves, with Callum Mackintosh the sole Stew Mel representative.

The TCT team was captained by Kyle McPherson of RHC, who was diagnosed with cancer 4 years ago and was successfully treated at the Western General Hospital. Now in remission, he was one of the main organisers of the charity game.

There was further Stewart's Melville involvement in the Scottish Legends XV, which featured three particularly familiar faces - Fraser Pollock, Ross McNulty and Craig Joiner. Ross - half the man he used to be - managed to score two tries during the course of the game, one of them set up by Fraser, as the Legends recorded a fairly convincing victory.

The photo above shows both teams after the game. Click here for a close up of the TCT squad and here for the Legends.

Next year's game is already in the planning stages, and is pencilled in for Sunday 22nd August, 2010. You can read more about it, and ways in which you can contribute to the TCT charity, here.

Bill

Autumn Internationals

Please support the Club by purchasing your tickets for the upcoming friendlies from us. The Club receive a generous commission of 25%, extra revenue which would help cover our running costs this season.

Scotland take on three of the Southern hemisphere's fiercest opponents:

Scotland v Fiji Saturday 14 Nov 2.30 pm (tickets £5-£20)
Scotland v Australia Saturday 21 Nov 5.15 pm (tickets £5-£40)
Scotland v Argentina Saturday 28 Nov 2.30 pm (tickets £5-£40)

Application Forms (blue) can be obtained behind the bar at Inverleith, and should be submitted by Saturday 24th October.

6 Nations Away Matches

Although there is no commission to the Club, this is a service the Club provides to members.

Wales v Scotland Saturday 13 Feb 2 pm
Italy v Scotland Saturday 27 Feb 2.30 pm local time
Ireland v Scotland Saturday 20 Mar 5 pm

Application Forms (green) can be obtained behind the bar at Inverleith, and should be submitted by Saturday 24th October.

6 Nations Home Matches

The Club receives 10% commission on tickets for the France match but no commission on the England game.

Scotland v France Sunday 7 Feb 3 pm (tickets £15-£70)
Scotland v England Saturday 13 Mar 5 pm (tickets £15-£70)

Please note that tickets for the England game are in short supply, and, if you can obtain them elsewhere, that would be helpful.

Application Forms (white) can be obtained behind the bar at Inverleith, and should be submitted by Saturday 21st November.

Rugby League / Edinburgh 7's Weekends

The Club will also receive a generous 25% on ticket sales for these events.

Murrayfield Magic Weekend (Rugby League) Sat/Sun 1/2 May (tickets from £5)
Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens Festival Sat/Sun 29/30 May (tickets from £5)

Application Forms (yellow) can be obtained behind the bar at Inverleith, and should be submitted by Saturday 18th April 2010.

Don Rolls

Jobs For The Jersey Boys (6/11/09)

As most of you will be aware, Jamie Allan and Harry Bonn joined us two months ago from Jersey Rugby Club.

During their time in Edinburgh, they have so far been unsuccessful in finding employment. Unfortunately, unless they can find work, they will have to return to the Channel Islands.

The club, players and coaches are desperate to keep the two players and I am hoping someone may be able to help - or may be aware of suitable vacancies within the city.

Both players are recent University graduates - Jamie has an honours Degree in Sports Coaching & Conditioning and Harry has an honours degree in Engineering - but they are willing to do anything.

If you can help in any way, I would be most grateful if you could contact me on 07809 206366.

Moff

News round up (22/11/09)

Clark Sharp, an Honorary Vice President (and legend) of the club, has recently produced a fascinating book looking back at the sixty years he has been involved with rugby at various levels.

In that time, he managed to play for Edinburgh, became the first ever coach of an All Blacks Sevens team and acted as doctor for both the club and the Scotland squad.

You can download the book as a large (1.4 MB) PDF file by clicking on this link.

Many thanks to Clark for making the book available to us, and to Nosebag for packaging it into PDF format.

In other news, David Lawrence, one of the P3 coaches, lost his car key at Inverleith last Sunday (15/11). It's a Toyota key, without a fob or keyring, with lock/unlock buttons on it. If you happened to pick it up, please give David a ring on 07836 374740. There's a small reward on offer to the finder!

Bill

Clark Sharp (25/11/09)

Everyone at Inverleith was saddened to hear the news this week that club legend Clark Sharp died last Friday after a long illness. An Honorary Vice President of the club, Clark was also Honorary Medical Officer for the SRU.

In a long and distinguished rugby career, he played for Stewart's College FP (scoring 1032 points in 285 games for the 1st XV) and Edinburgh, became the first ever coach of an All Blacks VII and wrote two fine books about his 60 year association with the game.

A celebration of Clark's life will be held at Warriston Crematorium Lorimer Chapel on Friday, November 27th at 10 am, to which all friends and family are cordially invited.

Our thoughts are with Clark's wife Betty, their daughters Karen and Stephanie and the whole family at this time.

Alistair Napier

News round up (5/1/10)

Firstly, a very happy new year to all website readers.

Must start by passing on best wishes and congratulations to club legend Graham Lind, who got engaged to Susan in December. Lindy, never one to back away from a challenge, has already admitted that his new fiancée is a Nail - and Black Al has already commended Lindy on his attempt to purify Susan's bloodline!

Moving on, Jonny Jenkins has been in touch with details of the 10 a side tournament that he and various other Stew Mel team mates are hosting at Raeburn Place on 1st May. See here for full details.

Finally, Donald Macleod, president of Selkirk, asked us to pass on the following information:

"Selkirk is hosting a Supporter’s Lunch before the Selkirk v Stewart's Melville P1 match on Saturday, 9th January. The lunch will cost £22 per head for soup, a main course, biscuits and cheese and coffee with sandwiches after the match.

"We would be delighted if supporters from Stewart's Melville joined us for the lunch and I wonder if you could let your club members know about the function. Places can be booked by contacting Mick Craig at ettrickside@btconnect.com, preferably no later than Tuesday, 5th January."

The game has obviously now been cancelled due to the weather, but I dare say the lunch may still take place once the fixture is rearranged. Watch this space - or contact Mick Craig - for details.

Bill

Players are reminded that training will take place in the indoor show jumping arena at Oatridge College near Broxburn tomorrow, Tuesday 12th January.

The session will run from 7 till 8, so please be there by 6.45 pm with boots and trainers.

Anyone needing a lift, or wishing to join the convoy out to Oatridge, should get to Inverleith by 5.50 pm tomorrow.

Moff

Return to main Stew Mel Man page