Scotland Rugby League are trying to track down a dozen or so of their former international players as they look to recognise the achievement of all those who have played for the Bravehearts.
ScotlandRL media manager Gavin Willacy has spent many months tracking down the vast majority of the 179 players who have represented Scotland since their debut in 1995, with a view to building up player profiles on their newly revamped website, ScotlandRL.com. Only a few remain out of reach.
It has been a fascinating experience, I started looking at the beginning of this year and was able to find most of our old boys online or through old team-mates and social media. It’s remarkable to find where they all are now: we have Scotland internationals living all over the world.
There’s a university professor in Chicago, a player building a bistro on a tiny Highland island, a dentist in Aberdeen and a pilot at Gatwick Airport.
Iain Higgins, who played for us when he was at London Broncos and then went to Hunslet, is now a lawyer at the International Cricket Council in Dubai, where Wayne Macdonald lives now, too. Our players are clearly very gifted in more than one field!
A couple of former internationals pointed out that they had never received a cap and Scotland RL are now finding ways to rectify that with Chairman Keith Hogg assisting with the search.
Every player who represented Scotland should be rewarded with a cap to mark that achievement. We are planning to make caps available for all those players who have not previously received one in the build up to the World Cup.
In order to confirm their plans, Scotland are trying to track down about a dozen players who they have not yet managed to contact. They would like anyone who can put them in touch with the following players to email gavinwillacy@hotmail.com;
Glen BELL (1997 international, ex Dewsbury, believed to be in Auckland)
James COWAN (1996, ex Oldham)
Lee MILNER (1996, ex Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Halifax)
Martin KETTERIDGE (1995/96, from Doncaster, ex Castleford, Sheffield, Halifax)
Graham CAMERON (1995, from Whitehaven, also ex Barrow)
Gary CHRISTIE (1997, ex Oldham, Wakefield and Bradford)
Graeme SHAW (1998, ex Bradford, Oldham, Keighley)
PJ SOLOMON (1997/98/2003, ex Lancs Lynx & Doncaster, now in NZ)
Jon NEILL (1997 & 1999, from Whitehaven, ex St Helens, Huddersfield, Swinton)
Andrew LAMBERT (1999, ex Workington, Barrow, York)
Stuart McCARTHY (1995/97, ex Anglia University, last in New York)
Mark SMITH (1995, went to Dundee University)
Alex KILLEN (1995, was in RAF in Peterborough)
James HOWE (1995, Londoner, ex Saracens, Rosslyn Park RU)
And finally, the mystery man – James WALKER (1995), who we know nothing about!
