Author: The Author

We  have commented on John’s necessity to start with for having approval by his line management in 1986 for time off to do the job of Admin Officer for major Games such as the Atlanta Olympics.   He was actually quite fortunate at the time as he explains in the following comment.

… My forte lay as the Team Administrator and in January 1985 I was appointed Admin Officer for the GBR senior track & field team for the following four years taking in to the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988.    However for my sins this appointment was subsequently extended twice to take in the Olympic Games of Barcelona and Atlanta.   May 1983 I moved from the Regional Council Architect’s office in Dumbarton to Headquarters in Glasgow where I would remain for four years.   During this time a major reduction in staffing became necessary with the opportunity to take early retirement on 1st April, 1987.   Talk about being in the right place at the right time!   During this period at HQ and with the heavy commitments to athletics the Director was very supportive of my involvement at this top level at national & international level and I received considerable additional leave to cover my commitment.”

The amount of additional leave must have been colossal as we will see here.   The job of GB Olympic Admin Officer involved time with the team, time at the meeting and lead in international fixtures but involved all the pre-games planning which entailed meeting after meeting, conference after conference and a lot of additional tasks that those not involved were aware of.   We will start this look at a typical Olympic Games preparation.   

The Games were in August 1996, this meeting about the team management programme was a report bu John and Verona Elder (Women’s team admin officer) was in June, 1994:

The next big meeting was in September/October the same year.

There followed a timetable for the three says and a list  of attended representing every one of the sports and their function which covered two sheets of A4.   There were other aspects of team and village life that needed attention and there are two that might be illustrated.   First we have a self explanatory letter from John.

Then the follow up on official headed note paper:

Then there was the hospitality and cultivation of friends and guests.

Did the Famous Grouse come good?   

He did thank them officially in a letter of 26th September. Similar correspondence was carried out prior to both his previous Games with similar positive results. 

There were some more matters dealing with fluid intake directly affecting the team though.  Atlanta is a very warm, hot maybe more like it, city and more important for the athletes it has a very humid climate.   Fluid intake  would be high.   With an eye on the training camp/holding camp in Tallahasse in 1986, he sent this letter with estimated quantities of fluid in December 1985.   

That was all done before the Games year ever started.   Bear in mind that most of the officials were also working with international and representative teams too.   There was a meeting in April and May 1996 in London to discuss the Tallahassee recce. 

It was then all about the holding camp at Tallhassee and there was a meeting on 28th April.

The list of those involved shows, first, the size of the operation which really is a huge task, not something appreciated by all; and second the list of reporters and journalists from Press, radio and television.

We have looked at the reports on the camp already and one of the important but unspoken parts of the job was the making of friends (AKA contacts and allies) while there.   We have seen from his dealings with coaches, employers and others that John was a good diplomat – note this follow up from the camp.

All that remained was the information to be passed to those selected to represent Great Britain in the Games.

 Since Atlanta was John’s third and final Games, we will concentrate on them as an example of the amount of preparation that went into them, the tasks that he had to perform and some of the problems that could arise.   We will put it into the context of the organisation of the management team in a separate page.   There was a difference from the others in that before the sport started there was a a pipe bomb exploded in the Centennial Olympic Park which caused one death.   The perpetrator went on to two more explosions, fortunately for the Olympics they were in 1997 and 1998 before he was arrested.   Note the term Centennial above – they were held on the centenary of the modern Olympic Games in Athens.   On this occasion, although Athens was one of the cities bidding to host them, and in many eyes they were the favourites, the Games of the XXVIth Olympiad were awarded to Atlanta.

But first …  ‘kit’ is always a big issue and will be mentioned again and so we will look at the kit issue for Atlanta.   Each athlete and official received the following.

That is a formidable list of equipment and issued to each athlete in the appropriate size and number – there is scope for complaints to the Admin Officer if one of the Tshirts is the wrong size or if the tops and bottoms don’t fit and there had better be the correct number of Lion pins!

The Admin Officer’s first task is to do a recce of the facilities in Atlanta and at the holding camp and ensure that they are appropriate to the needs of the GB party and to take any remedial action necessary before the team’s arrival.

You will note from the comments in the Tallahassee Holding Camp that there were several items that would need attention before the Games – the quality of accommodation, lack of servicing oif previously used rooms for the arrival of party members, as well as some minor issues dealing with individual athletes and with the airline rpovision in Atlanta.   We move on to the visit of John to Atlanta leaving the Assistant Admin Officer in Tallahassee.

John was described by the General Team Manager after the Games to have carried out his responsibility ‘to his usual high standards’.   This was, as has been noted his last Games but two years later he received the following letter.

His reputation and efficient manner had remained and to quote the letter – he was “nominated by at least one current or potential Olympic team manager as a mentor.”   An honour indeed. 

 The following document in response to another letter which we do not have, gives a vaulable insight into what John saw as the role.   The post Atlanta report referred to is above.

The next page gives some insight into the preparation for the Games.   It is not simply a matter of picking a good and experienced chap and asking him to get on with it.  First of all every venue is different and presents different problems – of temperature, of humidity, of height above sea level, of distance and travelling time and so on.   There is a team dimension to it too.   As in any big organisation, the team needs to know each other, their working relationship which is almost certainly different from their social relationship, re-organisation of tasks to suit the new venue and the way of working in different countries.   That all requires a deal of preparation and the next page will look at that.

This not a report on the 1988 or any other Olympics   It is an account of the involvement of one of the country’s best ever administrators, John Brown and a preliminary look at what his involvement as Admin Officer meant after his selection.

John’s I.D. Card for Atlanta Olympics.

Neither the extent nor the depth of John’s work for the sport on the international stage is not known or appreciated in Scottish athletics.  It is therefore to give some indication, first, of the extent of his involvement.   This page has information about the first steps in the process.   It is not specific to any one Games but includes items picked from all three of his Olympics to illustrate the situation in general.

– how he was informed officially about the appointment,

-steps he had to take as a result such as informing his employers,

-plus two letters from after the Games congratulating him on his performance.   

The following page –   Atlanta Olympics – is an example of what he had to do and some of the problems he had to deal with at Atlanta.   The other Games followed a similar pattern.   And finally in this section there is an indication of all the pre- Games meetings that had to be attended as well as correspondence with sponsoring firms.   That’s at   Lead in to an Olympics.   

We have below a list of the various countries and meetings that he worked at over the period from 1980 to 1996.   Comments later.

The list indicates that he has served the athletics cause in Europe, Asia, and America.   He has traversed the length and breadth of Europe – in addition to all four home nations, he has been in Gothenburg, Helsinki, Stuttgart, Barcelona, Madrid, Stockholm, Lille, Paris, Rome, Ulm, Turin, Split, Budapest, the Hague, Ghent, Budapest, Leyden, Prague, Lievin, Lloret de Mar, Genoa, Karlovac, Japan, Le Touquet, Nice and Oslo.   I make that 25 venues but I may have missed one.   Many of them were visited more than once.   In the Americas, there were Atlanta, Havana and Toronto.   In Asia there have been Seoul, Chiba (Nihon) the holding camp for Seoul, and Tel Aviv.   Most venues were seen more than once – eg Atlanta was visited for recce visits as well as for the Olympic Games.   The Olympic Games he attended were in Seoul in 1988, Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996, world championships were in Rome, Tokyo and Stuttgart.

There is also the issue of when does a member of the management team get told/invited that they will be involved?   In the case of the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1986, John had four years to prepare.   Difficult enough when he knew the Scots athletes at least by reputation but many personally.   How much more difficult was it for a polite and diffident Scot to deal with and understand British ‘stars’ often already Olympic medallists?   The correspondence on these issues is revealing.   He had been of course told a few years before that he would be invited to be admin officer  for the Seoul Games and had done his homework and worked at other meetings as a lead in,  but the action kicked up a gear when he received this letter.

An additional factor in his job as Admin Officer (for Team GB) or Team Manager (Scotland) was the need to get time off from his day job. It is one thing for the athletics bodies to do the selection but if he could not get the time off then there was nothing he could do about it.   Like everyone else in the sport, he was an amateur.   Maybe financially but in every other way – approach to the job, having the psychological tools to deal with temperamental athletes, the diplomatic knowledge and techniques to persuade providers of equipment, transport or other necessary materials – he was professional.   In any case he had to seek permission to go to these events, and it helped if he could keep the line managers, politicians and locals informed of the success of the teams he had already been working with after gaining their permission.  Below is the correspondence from the Commonwealth Games in 1986 as an example.   They indicate how he kept them informed and how they enjoyed the sometimes reflected glory of the teams he worked with.    The first ones are from 1986 and were sent to individual councillors like this one to Charles Gray from John on BAAB headed notepaper.   

They all replied individually and we show this one from the ‘head of the house’ on Council headed notepaper.

Athletes often congratulate each other on their success and comment on each other’s performance.   Peer approval is a big factor in any sphere of life.   Running a successful athletics team is no different.   The team managers, coaches, administrators, medical personnel and so on all depend on each other just as members of a relay team or field sport do.   John has letters from Frank Dick, Mike Turner and others congratulating him on his performance after almost every major Games or big international meeting at the time.   This is from Dr Mike Turner , Overall Team Manager.

And from Frank Dick

The letters above mention various aspects of his job as admin officer and when discussing them, we need to have a look at the athletes on the Seoul team with whom he was dealing for a large part of the time.  The athletes included Liz McColgan, Elliott Bunney, Yvonne Murray, Linford Christie, John Regis, Daley Thomson, Colin Jackson, Mike McFarlane, Fatima Whitbread, Mark Rowland and other well known names throughout the team.  

Mike in an earlier letter, not shown here, mentions athletes with issues about kit – not the right size, not the correct quantity, maybe an item slightly imperfect.   Many athletes criticise each other as being ‘kit junkies’ who collect as much as they can get: Olympic kit must be at a premium and John always had these issues to deal with,  ‘kit’ being a term that included clothing (both for competition and off the track – from competition gear to team blazers and ties) and everything issued to the entire team down to the souvenir badges that they could swap with those from other countries.   It included big things like access to training facilities, transport to and from venues for sport, as well as just about anything and everything.  eg for social activities, athletes want leisure time activities, shopping trips and so on.  There will be much more on the duties of Admin Officer on the next page.  And that’s just the ones on his own team without having to deal with the hosts and other team officials.   From all accounts from athletes, management team, coaching team and even politicians he did the job remarkably well.   

For all the duties associated with being part of the GB team, John did not abandon the domestic scene – in the same folder as information about the Seoul and Atlanta Olympics were the following souvenirs of domestic celebrations.

We have looked at Eric’s career as a runner and at the start of his coaching career.   It is time to look a bit more closely at his career as a coach.   Now, in 2024 he is coaching a group of 12/13 year olds  as well as several older runners including Lauren Stoddart (pictured above), about whom more later.    Over the years in the 21st century, he has been mentioned in the Press – broadsheets as well as the red tops – and interviewed on television more than once.   He is still to be seen at cross-country races and track meetings as well but maybe fewer than of yore.  There have been several winning teams under his control and he still exchanges banter with other coaches and former athletes.    He is better known to the public at large for several outstanding athletes and we can look at them here.   The ‘big three are Chris O’Hare, Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr who were almost contemporaries and made up a good group of young athletes who are still friends.

Chris (DoB: 21/11/90) competed for Scotland and for Great Britain.    He ran in the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games.   Victor in the GB Championship 1500m once he also had two silver and one bronze medals.   He has a personal best for the Mile of 3:32.98,   and of 3:32.11 for 1500m.   Chris also has the honour of having run more sub-four minute miles than any other Scotsman as at August 2024.   The figures are: O’Hare 25 then Williamson 17, Clement 16, Robson 16. 

Jake ( DoB: 11/7/94) also competed for Scotland and Great Britain.   Jake has an excellent athletics pedigree with both mother and father former Olympic athletes.   The fact that they were more than happy to let him train as a young athlete with Eric is a great tribute to him – it is well known that many young athletes are worked too hard or are not taught proper technique for their chosen discipline.   His athletes always avoid the one and gain by learning the other.   Jake went on to compete in all the major championships – Olympic, World, European, Commonwealth, AAA’s and Scottish, he has one first, two seconds and three thirds in the GB championships, he also has a first and a second in the Scottish championships.   He has a personal best of 1:43.65 for 800m, 3:29.23 for 1500m and 3:50.30 for the Mile.   He is best known for his victory over Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the 1500m at the 2022 World Championships, the first middle distance gold medal won at a global event since Seb Coe in the 1984 Olympics.   Jake held Scottish records for 800m, 1000m and the mile.

Josh Kerr (DoB: 8/10/97) maybe better known to the wider public as arch rival to Norway’s Ingebrigtsen is a very, very good athlete in his own right.   He has competed for Scotland and for Great Britain, winning the World 1500m championship the year after Jake had done so.   Based in America he has competed in Olympic, World, Commonwealth and British championships with Olympic bronze in 202 and silver in 2024.   He has a first, two seconds and a third in the British championships.   Personal bests?   1;45.35 for 800M,  3;27.79 for 1500m and 3:48.87 for the Mile.   

All three began their running career with Eric and all still speak highly of him.   Most recently, after he won the World 1500m championship, Kerr went along to the club, signed autographs, had selfies taken and distributed some kit from his sponsors, Brooks.   And make no mistake, he is proud of what they have achieved – but het gets great satisfaction from what any athletes he has worked with does.   Take the woman in the photograph above.   Her name is Lauren Stoddart and she has won the Scottish Senior Women’s 3000n steeplechase no fewer than four times – consecutively, 2016, ’17, ’18 and ’19, which makes the feat even more impressive.   This is the record number of wins for the event and the record number of medals of any colour too.     Her personal best performances are 2:17.2 for 800m, 10:30.7 for 3000m, 63.2 for 400m H, 5:26.83 for 1500m S/chase, 6:48.03 for 2000m S/chase and 10:30.7 for 3000m S/chase.   She has been top of the event rankings four times and in the top 10 no fewer than 23 times.   A very good athlete and Eric is as proud of her as he is of any of his athletes.   

For a variety of reasons, Eric is starting to wind down the actual coaching at the track but he will probably have a surprise or two up his sleeve yet.   He has done a lot for the sport, for his club and it has all been appreciated – I know of no one with anything but praise and affection for Eric.  He has had a wonderful coaching career – so far!

This not a report on the 1986 Commonwealth Games.   It is an account of the involvement of one of the country’s best ever administrators, John Brown, his selection, preparation and involvement in what was to be the first such involvement in many Games including four Olympics.

The Games Opening Parade:   John is third from the left with his hand in the air!

The two and a half year lead in would be over at the end of July, 1986 and the Games would begin.   John had been working hard and at increasing intensity as the Games approached – that intensity would increase and the pressure mount during the Games year itself rising to a crescendo during the two weeks of the actual competition.   Much of the pressure for these Games would come from matters that had nothing to do with the athletics – or any other sport come to that.   

The Games were boycotted by a majority of countries, largely African, Asian and Caribbean states, and making it appear as a whites-only event. Of the 59 eligible countries, 32 boycotted the Games due to the Thatcher government’s attitude towards British sporting links with apartheid-era South Africa as opposed to the sporting boycott of South Africa. It resulted in the lowest number of athletes since the 1950 Commonwealth Games

Further controversy came about when it was revealed that due to the lack of participation and associated decline in anticipated broadcasting and sponsorship revenues, the Organising Committee was facing a serious financial black hole, and the boycott ended any prospect of securing emergency government assistance. Businessman Robert Maxwell stepped in to offer funding, taking over as chairman, but despite promising to invest £2m, Maxwell’s contribution was just £250,000. On a budget of £14m, the Games opened with a deficit of £3m, which later grew to £4.3m, and instead of putting enough money into the event to save it, the new chairman of the Games asked creditors to forgo half the payment due to them to keep the event out of liquidation. The debt was finally paid off in 1989, with the city of Edinburgh losing approximately £500,000.

The papers were full of stories about Robert Maxwell and his pontificating but with little money coming to back it, the government refusing to commit to emergency assistance and so on.   It was not a good atmosphere in which to hold the Games.   In addition there were some notable absences from the Scottish teams selected with athletes who had a good record and who had managed to do the qualifying time, height or distance being admitted.   One athlete offered to pay for his own  uniform or even wear a genuine Scottish uniform issued earlier in the year to compete.   Although there were only two running in the event in question and he had qualified, his offer was turned down.  

And John Brown was the team manager who had done so much work and travel over two years to have the team ready.   His task was much, much more difficult than it had to be.   He was fortunate in having John Hamilton, the popular manager of the Scottish cross-country team as his assistant manager – and David Lease, national coach,  as the team coach.   All three were well acquainted with the athletes, had been with them on trips to various other countries, knew their likes and dislikes and David had even stepped in on one occasion when the team was short of a pole-vaulter to compete in the event himself (he had been an international vaulter for Wales several years earlier) which gained him personally some kudos.   They needed all the experience and skills learned over the previous two years at least.   Since 1984, John himself had been with 5 Scottish or Scottish Junior teams on  5 occasions in 1984 to venues as far afield at Budapest, London and Swansea, in 1985 he had been with 4 GB teams to Karlovac (Yugoslavia), Le Touquet, Genoa and Tel Aviv, and 5 Scottish teams to Dublin, Flora (Spain), Nice and Swansea as well as a couple of home fixtures.   Their work with the actual team was  done well, having been in the athletes village several times during the period of the Games I can say that it was a good atmosphere there and there were several genuine high spots for the Scottish tea, with Liz Lynch capturing the headlines for her win in the 10,000m, Yvonne Murray ran well in the 3000m and Tom McKean had a very good meeting with his running in the 800m among them.   

John (and his wife) had to attend many Dinners, Lunches and Receptions which at times probably had to be endured rather than enjoyed but which were part of his official position.   He had to meet sponsors, encourage supporters, attend official council events and so on as well as work with the team.   There was the official team announcement to be made on 9th June and John’s presence was of course essential.

Then there was the meeting with the Tetley (Sponsor) hospitality co-ordinators –

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The Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland had a Scottish Reception, held at the University in Edinburgh on 23rd July.

 And there was always a Church Service which preceded every Games:

And many more at an increasing pace as the Games themselves drew nearer, an even after they had started.

Despite all the problems – political and financial – the XIII Commonwealth Games were a success due in no small part to the work done by dedicated officials and coaches like John Brown, Hilda Everett (Scottish women’s team coach), John Hamilton and David Lease as well as by the athletes in the arena.   The performances and results can be found in many places on the internet such as Wikipedia or on this website at 

www.scottishdistancerunninghistory.scot/1986-commonwealth-games 

Finally, just to show that he was indicate that he was in fact working while he was expected to attend all the above functions – and more, the list above is not nearly a complete one – we finish with his report on the actual team performance.

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

26TH JULY – 13TH AUGUST 1986

Scottish team performance is summarised below:

3 – 1st places               12 – 2nd places               18 – 3rd places

SECTION MANAGERS REPORTS

ATHLETICS (Men)   –   John Brown   –   Section Manager

Travel:   All athletes assembled at the Games Village under their own arrangements and no difficulties were encountered.

Accommodation: In contrast to the previous Games held in Brisbane in 1982, the accommodation provided in the Edinburgh University Pollock Halls of Residence was ideal.   Team members shared, two per room, but with the athletes being allowed to determine their own extent of residence in the Village, and by making appropriate pairings, many enjoyed almost single room accommodation and this was very much appreciated by the athletes.

Training Facilities: The training faciities provided by the Organisers were found to be adequate for our requirements.

Medical Support: The mdical team of doctors and physiotherapists can only be described as superb.   They were always on hand to provide expert care and atention in a very warm-hearted way, and on behalf of the athletes I would like to pay them a special tribute.   Of the many athletes who consulted the Medical Team only Lindsay Robertson (marathon) was unable to compete.

Discipline: No member of the team required to be spoken to regarding discipline or behaviour in general, and all supported the various functions and meetings with Royalty.

Boycott: It was most unfortunate that the Games suffered from the boycott with a third of the competitors being excluded.   In athletics very few potential medallists did not take part.   The depleted fields however meant that a number of our athletes who would have benefited from an earlier round, were being thrown into semi-finals or finals of events.   A number were unfortunate not to qualify for further rounds by the narrowest of margins.   

Results   * Aditional Event

100 metres

Bunney   5th   10.37;   Henderson   8th   10.68;   Sharp   eliminated in semi-final   10.62

200 metres

McCallum   eliminated in semi-final   21.39;  Whittle   eliminated in semi-final   21.69

400 metres

Whittle   5th   47.10;   Johnston   eliminated in semi-final   48.57;   Nicoll   eliminated in semi-final  50.07

800 metres

McKean   2nd   1:44.80;   Forbes   7th  1:51.29

1500 metres

Currrie  eliminated in heat   3:44.82;   Hanlon   eliminated in heat   3:50.57;   Robson   9th   3:57.20

5000 metres

Muir   8th   13:40.92

10000 metres

Hutton   –   30:16.50

3000 metres steeplechase

Charleson   –   9:21.73;   Hanlon   –   8:53.56;   Hume   –   9:05.40

Marathon

Graham   4th   2:12:10;   Clyne   10th   2:17:30;   Robertson   withdrawn on medical grounds

110 metres hurdles

Wallace   eliminated in 1st semi-final  14.23;  McDonald   eliminated in 1st semi-final  14.37;   Fraser   eliminated in 1st semi-final   14.28

400 metres Hurdles

Fulton   eliminated in 1st semi-final   57.90;   McCutcheon   eliminated in 1st semi-final  53.58;   Hardie   eliminated in 1st semi-final   55.68

Pole Vault

McStravick   8th   4.45m

High Jump

Parsons   2nd   2.28m

Long Jump

McKay   8th   7.39m

Triple Jump

Duncan   7th   15.68m

Hammer  

Black   8th   63.88m

Shot

Irvine   9th   16.73m

Discus  

Patience   52.54m

Javelin   

Maxwell   –   62.34m

Decathlon

McStravick   4th   7563 pts

4 x 110 Relay

Henderson, McCallum, Sharp, Bunney    3rd    40.41

4 x 400 Relay

Johnston, Forbes, McKean, Whittle    4th   3:18.43

This not a report on the 1986 Commonwealth Games.   It is an account of the involvement of one of the country’s best ever administrators, John Brown, his selection, preparation and involvement in what was to be the first such involvement in many Games including four Olympics.

John’s first experience of the Commonwealth Games had been as chief Wind Gauge operator in 1970; by the next Games in Edinburgh, in 1986, he was in a vastly different position.    His first Scotland team had been in 1979 as Admin Officer in a match against England and Sweden at Crystal Palace and he worked with more Scotland teams in 1980, ’81, ’82 and ’83.   It was in January 1984 that he was appointed Team Manager through to the end of the 1986 athletics season which would include the 1986 Commonwealth Games.   This overlapped with his first Great Britain and Northern Ireland team manager which had started in 1983 and we will deal with that later.   We are fortunate that he kept all his records in such an immaculate fashion.   It may well be the only such collection by any team manager or admin officer.  And now we can see just what was involved in such a task in the second half of the twentieth century.   We can open the first of John’s box files.    Although labelled XIII Commonwealth Games, the box contains information on other meetings at which he officiated for either Scotland or Great Britain.    John also officiated at this time in lower level ‘representative’ matches as well as internationals (A representative match would be Scotland  v   Midland Counties, or Scotland  v   Wales and Southern Counties).    We concentrate here on the Games and it will consist mainly of reproduced letters and documents with only linking comments.

The appointment for such a post is never made in the actual year of competition for obvious reasons and in John’s case it was made at the start of 1984.   The handwritten letter below from Ian Clifton congratulating him and assuring him of every support is dated 29th January 1984.

And of course there was the official letter of congratulations from president John Fairgrieve, dated 8th February 1984, which tells him that the SAAA will ‘pressure’ the AAA to give him more international experience than he already has in the two years leading up to the Games.

Whether it was because of the efforts of the SAAA, or because of his work done for them previously, the BAAB had invited John to be Admin Officer for the International against Yugoslavia in Split.

It is interesting to note that his first letter following the appointment was to the National Coach, David Lease, one that very topic:

David replied on 10th February and they met on Tuesday 14th at Haymarket in Edinburgh and spent the evening at David’s home discussing the Games and related matters.   Whether it was as a result of pressure by the SAAA or not, John was selected for the British Team to travel to Split later in the year.

These were different days.   Although officials like John Brown were officiating as Team Managers or Admin Officer for Scottish or British teams they were not full time employees of the governing bodies.   They were dependent on who their line manager was and their attitude to the sport.   Joh was fortunate in that respect.   Just look at the letter below giving him permission to go to four different meetings in four different venues from Norway to Israel. 

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There were of course a number of social functions to be attended dealing with various aspects of fund raising and awards dinners where the plans were explained and support for 1986 gained.    One of the biggest was the Royal Gala Performance with the Queen and Prince Philip present – John has kept the invitations and the elaborate programme for it.   We reproduce the pre-event letter simply because of the detail that was informed for those attending!

In July came another invitation to work with a Scottish international team – this time for the Eight Nations International to be held in Tel Aviv.   The correspondence is below.

And of course there was the British team competition in Split before the New Year.   We will leave 1984 and 1985 here and have a separate section on the Games year of 1986.   See link below.

Part 2:   The Games Year

The picture above is one of the best known Commonwealth Games group photographs, appearing on websites, in magazines and in newspapers.    It was of course taken before the 1986 Games in Edinburgh and almost all are easily recognisable to athletes and officials, and indeed to many Scottish team supporters.   But if you asked people to point out John Brown, not many would get it right and yet he was possibly the most important and sought after administrator  in Scottish teams at several Games and fixtures and was also a vital cog in the GB wheel at four Olympic Games which meant officiating with a number of  British teams in the run-up to these events.   He was ‘selected’,  if that is the appropriate word, for more major Games and international fixtures than any athlete.  In the photograph he is right in the middle of the front row above, between John Hamilton and Hilda Everett.    We are indeed fortunate that he was an immaculate record keeper and organiser and his documentation has been passed to John Mackay by his son, another John Brown, to help us put together this record of his career in the sport.   

We can start with information extracted from his own account of his life and career.

Born on 2nd June 1932, his father was a former pilot in the Royal Flying Corps but was by then back in civvy street and working as a janitor which involved moving around the city of Glasgow as his employment demanded.    John could remember the outbreak of World War 2 on 3rd September 1939.  

John had been a pupil at Whitehill Senior Secondary School in 1943, left school in 1947 and was employed by Glasgow Corporation Housing Department.   His father had been a sprinter of some ability with Maryhill Harriers and had even raced against Eric Liddell.   John wanted to follow in his footsteps and joined Maryhill Harriers on 26th March 1946 little knowing where it would take him.   What follows is his beginnings in the sport in his own words.   Because it contains some information about the sport in general at the time and indeed some social history as well as details of his career we have kept in some information not strictly relevant to his athletics.  eg How many of the present generation would know of Junior and Senior Secondary Schools?    Or about National Service?   Or about running cross-country without a shower afterwards?

“In June 1948 I had my first open handicap  event as a youth at Glasgow Transport Open Sports at Helenvale Park.   My final event was at Cowal Highland Games in August 1959.   During this period I had 504 competitive races.   Summer training took place at Balgray, Kelvinside Academy’s sports ground on Great Western Road.   In the wintertime our HQ was in Maryhill Baths’ communal wash house.   Every Tuesday and Thursday evening and on a Saturday afternoon we had training sessions.   After coming in from a muddy cross-country run on a good occasion we could have a cold shower but, on a bad day there was no shower and we had to go home dirty and sweaty.   In the summer of 1948 the Olympic Games were held in London.   Maryhill Harriers organised a trip to the Olympiad and I had a truly wonderful time there.   The opening and closing ceremonies were held in Wembley Stadium.   

In 1949 I became the Junior captain of Maryhill Harriers.   In June the club championships were held in the public park in Rothesay when I won the 100 and 220 yards championships.   Later in that year I also won the 440 yards championships.    Around this time I became Assistant Secretary of the Scottish Amateur Wrestling Association which came about through a Tom McMillan of Maryhill Harriers who was secretary of the association at that time.   Tom was also secretary of the Bute Highland Games and again roped me into being Assistant Secretary of the Games, an appointment that lasted for two years.”

 John went off to do National Service with the Air Force in November 1950.   After ten weeks square bashing, which was par for the course for all who did their National Service, John was passed out as the best recruit of the 108 recruits.   His organisational skills which had been developed to some extent at the Bute Games, was posted to the RAF Record Office in Gloucester he rose very quickly through the ranks.   A very successful and enjoyable period was spent with John returning home after the two years and starting work back at Glasgow Corporation and returning also to athletics.   

In 1955 he won the Glasgow Police Sports handicap 220 yards and also won the Maryhill Harriers Davidson Trophy which his father had won in 1921.   1956 was his best season in athletics with a first in the 220 and second in the 100 at the YMCA Championships and again at Shotts.   Then in the Dunbartonshire County Championships he was again first in the 220 and second in the 100.   He went on be a fairly successful sprinter finishing second in three 120 yards invitation races and then at Cowal won the 220 yards on the Friday night and also in the Saturday event.   1958 was his final season as a competitive athlete.   

John’s Photograph of the Opening Ceremony Parade at Meadowbank in 1970

John again: 

“When I stopped competing in athletics in 1959, I became an official of the Scottiah Amateur Athletic Association.   Starting at Grade 3 I worked my way up to Grade 1.   The 9th Commonwealth Games was awarded to Edinburgh where I was one of the Senior Technical officials.   By this time my speciality was the recording of wind  speeds required for the ratification of record performances.   Because of the difficulty of finding officials in 1969 I was sent to officiate at the August Bank Holiday in London,   It was a two-day fixture – Great Britain v France.    On the Saturday it was held at the White City Stadium.   This had been the premier athletics stadium in Great Britain where the 1908 Olympics had been held.   This was the last day that a meeting had been held there.   The second day of the meeting was held at Crystal Palace which became the new home for athletics in London.I did not find any suitable candidates south of the border so I returned home and eventually put a team together.   The IXth Commonwealth Games took place in Meadowbank Stadium.   It was a tremendous ten days of sport and my team of five enjoyed the atmosphere .   Throughout the Seventies I continued to officiate at many meetings from domestic championships to the internationals which came to Scotland.”

Officials List from the 1970 Empire &  Commonwealth Games programme

When he was elected to the SAAA General Committee in 1979 his qualifications as an official were as a Grade 1 Track Judge. Wind Gauge Operator and Marksman, and in 1979 he was a Grade 3 Timekeeper.   He was by then also a member of Garscube Harriers.   To these his experiences as an official and, mainly, administrator in international fixtures  and a very welcome addition to the governing body.   Within two months he had been elected by the committee to the post of Assistant Secretary  in succession to Duncan McSwein.   He held this position until December 1982, the start of the Association’s Centenary Year, when he was elevated to the position of Treasurer where he was successor to George Donald.   He held this position until the formation of the new Scottish Athletics Federation in 1992 which replaced no fewer than seven governing bodies covering athletics, cross-country running and hill running.   

He had ten years on the Council of the British Amateur Athletic Board.   This was a position in which he could influence affairs at British level whereas the President of the SAAA usually only had three years on the Board where as one former President said, “You spend one year playing yourself in, one year when you can do something, and one year on your way out!”   

We have had a preliminary look at John’s family background and his own early interest in the sport, how it developed and how he became an administrator and officials at International level.   He has left his documentation clearly labelled and organised and the intention now is to keep his organisational pattern to show how his career  really blossomed.

John in Cornwall in 2011 with some young hurdlers 

John Anderson who died on Sunday 28th July, 2024, aged 92,  was a coaching legend in Britain.   You can read our profile, which was written with his active co-operation, at this link.   Writing his profile was an interesting experience in itself.   Although I first met him in the early 1960’s when I was a young coach and he was SAAA National Coach travelling the length and breadth of Scotland encouraging athletes of all ages, teaching coaches and spotting talent.   He was one of only two coaches in Britain who was a senior coach in every event on the athletics calendar and had, he told me, coached 147 British International athletes.   When I phoned him about writing the profile, he was his typical enthusiastic self BUT – I had to telephone him on Monday at 1:00 pm.   That was the only time he could speak to me.   Except that after he spoke to me and I went out for the afternoon, I would return to a message from him on the telephone answering machine adding to or even correcting something he had said earlier in the morning.   The same procedure every time that I phoned him.   He added to almost everything he said to me to be sure I had it right or that I had all the information.   One senior coach, a master coach no less, said to me at one point that he would never coach children or very young athletes again, he was past all that.   Look at the picture above of John above, aged 79, with some young hurdlers.   He’d never have said he was “past all that.”

Scottish athletics owed John a lot.   Not just for his personal activities with athletes, coaches and clubs but also for some of the structures he put in place and also for the Scottish International Coaching Convention which was held annually in Edinburgh, an initiative kept going by a succession of coaches starting with Frank Dick, then carried on by Allan Jones and David Lease.   Some of the best coaches and specialists in the world came to Scotland and talked to the coaches.   We have several of them commenting on their thoughts and interactions with John since they heard the news on Sunday.   There were many who would say with Hugh Barrow, former Scottish and British international athlete, when he said he vividly remembered “Mini bus trips to Cosford John at the wheel with Doug Edmunds at the front as ballast  and Moira Kerr at the back on guitar singing the Wild Side of Life hammering over Shap”.   We start with Frank Dick who succeeded John as Scottish National Coach and is a very highly qualified coach in his own right, having worked with sportsmen across many disciplines.

I really got to know John after he invited me to coach at Scottish Schools Easter courses. I was still at Loughborough and hungry to learn from him. So when He asked me to join his staff it was a no brainer.   While it was great to work with Scotland’s next generation of National Athletes and learn through that experience the greatest learning was in the evenings. Debate and discussion went into the early hours every night. Alex Naylor, Eddie Taylor, Davie Morrison all got involved but John was at the centre, steering thinking in one direction or another. On several occasions you would be arguing A and John B. Two hours later it was the other way round.

So first picture of him was someone who would challenge you to think differently. Next picture was of someone who truly understood pedagogics and principles of training that were at core of Jordanhill’s Physical Education course. He was relentless in his focus on basics. It was no accident that Jordanhill produced two outstanding National Athletics coaches in UK, in John and Tom McNab. They founded their coaching on brilliant teaching – a Jordanhill trademark.

Next picture is really a blending of the first two. He made time to share his experience and expertise. So he was as much a coach of coaches as of athletes.

Finally, there is a picture of a coach with extraordinary adaptability to coach across the full range of athletics events. Very few coaches can do this. It is quite a sophisticated competence to balance what is generic and what is specific when applying your coaching skills. It’s this picture that defines just how world class he was.   Of course none of us is perfect and John’s intensity and passion whilst fuelling the energy that produced his incredible list of achievements, it could very occasionally create more heat than light. This however, served well to enrich my picture not only of the character he was but the immense depth of character he had.”

Hamish Telfer, and his friend Cameron McNeish, was coached as a young athlete by John and went on to become a GB coach himself and to be a sports historian, specialising in athletics history.   He has this to say of the man.

“John Anderson is of course remembered for his outstanding coaching of those who he took to elite level but John also coached those whose abilities were more modest of which I was one. He demanded only one thing; hard work. There were many like me and this hopefully represents their views as well as my own. He had a profound influence on not only my life but others who had aspirations, and he changed my life to give it structure and meaning. I was lucky as I got to tell John that a few years back and was able to thank him. Uncompromising (often), argumentative (usually) but he responded to the loyalty shown to him with a loyalty to his athletes and he should also be remembered for a strong guiding influence on those he coached.

 

Memories have flooded in of the times in the 1960s. 20 second runs in snow storms at Grangemouth on Christmas eve; conditioning sessions at Springburn (where he once went off to answer a call and we simply kept going without a break until he came back 30minutes later); helping him splice his loop films at his house; helping him as an athlete ‘demonstrator’ on coaching courses and of course arriving at his house on my small ‘motorbike’ with hypothermia, conking out and waking up in front of his fire and then being told to get into the car as we had a training session to do. There was also the trip to RAF Cosford (as it was back then) for an indoor meeting when in thick fog he told me to open the back door, lean out and tell him where the white line in the road was (we were driving overnight and it was pre motorway days). Finally there are the ‘sayings’ … ‘I don’t feel any pain!’; ‘I’ll tell you when it hurts’, ‘Even when I’m wrong I’m still right’ and of course the easy smile and the quiet ‘well done’. I’m glad I got to tell him what he did for me and of course for all the others like me.”

Eddie Devlin of Monkland Harriers, Clyde Valley AC, who ran for Strathclyde University when he was a student there, was everything that a good club runner should be: first of all he was a good runner, second he was reliable, third he was consistent and in addition he was one-club man.   Without Eddie Devlin the Monkland/Clyde Valley story would be very different – and many of the very best Scotland has produced would have won fewer medals.   His friend and contemporary Joe Small has penned the following profile of Eddie with additions by Ron MacDonald and Jim Brown.   As the picture above shows, Eddie was a steeplechaser and he appeared in the Scottish rankings in 1974 (9:46.0), 1975  (9:42,2), 1976 (9:43.0); 1977 (9:24.2) and 1978 (9:07.2) – this last ranking him ninth in Scotland.   He was also ranked with a time of 14:42.6 for 5000m in 1975.   As Joe says below Eddie was a reliable first stage runner doing so almost annually in the Lanarkshire County Relays as well as in the bigger races.   He ran every stage in the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay except for the two which were reserved for the very top men – the Olympians, the GB runners, the Scottish champions – namely two and six.   In 1980 he held his place at the head of the field and ran the fastest time on the seventh stage.   No matter the surface, whether on the track or on the road or over the country he did what his club needed him to do – and at times a wee bit more.    Now read Joe’s profile.

Eddie steeplechasing for Clyde Valley AC

Eddie Devlin, who died recently will be remembered as a tough competitor, always giving his best in any race.

He was a product of the St Patrick’s H.S. Coatbridge talent factory in the ‘60s & ‘70s presided over by P.E. teacher Bill Coogans. Among the other names to emerge from that school around that period were Martin McMahon, Ronnie MacDonald, Paul Bannon, Frank Gribben, Mark Watt, Jim Burns, Neil Agnew & myself.

There is some doubt as to when Eddie actually joined Monkland. He first appears in the 1968 Midland District C.C. relay team, when he would have been 18. Also, he is named in the programme for that season’s National Cross Country Championships, but running for Strathclyde University. There is no mention of him as a senior boy or youth, although Ronnie MacDonald distinctly remembers him winning medals over the 1/2 mile at Scottish & Lanarkshire Schools Championships. 

Eddie was a few years ahead of me at school, so my earliest recollections of him were after I joined Monkland Harriers, Eddie already being a member. He was active on the track, principally as an 800m/half miler, picking up a lot of prizes at highland games over those distances. I think his best time was around 1min. 56sec for 800m.

A Young Eddie Devlin in a Monkland Harriers Vest

On the road and country, Monkland were experiencing a bit of a resurgence at that time due to the emergence of people like Eddie & Ronnie MacDonald. The 4 man relay teams would usually consist of Eddie, Ronnie, Willie Drysdale & one other (Jim Brown arrived a couple of years later.)

The first notable success was in the prestigious Allan Scally relay in 1971, when Monkland finished third. Willie Drysdale running the first leg, followed by Jim Brown, Eddie & Ronnie MacDonald. In the same Allan Scally event, Eddie was a member of the winning Clyde Valley teams in 1978 and ‘79.

Undoubtedly his favourite event of the winter season was the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay. He had an unbroken run of appearances from 1969 to 1984, competing for Strathclyde University, Monkland Harriers & Clyde Valley AAC : 16 consecutive runs with two first place finishes, one second place & three third places. His best run I would reckon to be the in 1980 race, when he recorded the fastest time on the seventh stage, his `home’ leg passing through Coatbridge, beating the likes of Martin Craven and John McGarva.

Other relay successes included the SCCU Cross Country relay championships, being in the winning teams in 1977 (with Ian Gilmour, Brian McSloy and Jim Brown)  and ‘79 (with Colin Farquharson, Brian McSloy & Jim Brown.) Brown was quoted after the last event “on the splendid support they received from the two unsung members of the team, Devlin & Farquharson.” Doesn’t sound like Jim!   There was also a silver medal in the West District Cross Country relay in 1975 with John Graham, Ronnie MacDonald & myself.

Not much information, but other races such as the McAndrew and Lanarkshire road relays produced medals and prizes, for instance, we won the team race at the Strathkelvin 12, myself, Eddie and Neil Agnew being the team members.

One thing which surprised me when researching the above was the fact that Eddie was an accomplished steeplechaser. He appeared in the Scottish rankings on 5 occasions, with his highest placing being 9^th in 1978 with a time of 9min.07.2sec. He won a bronze medal in the event at the West District championships in 1975. If asked about his career, I would never really have thought of him as a steeplechaser.

Towards the end of his career, he ran in a couple of marathons, finishing the 1984 Glasgow Marathon in 29^th place, running the excellent time of 2hrs. 25min. 47sec. So starts off his career as a 1/2 miler, ends up as a marathon man.

Some personal anecdotes:

Jumping on the train to run in the Clydebank – Helensburgh road race. When we arrived at the changing rooms, the place was deserted – we were a week early! I took the blame for that one.

Travelling to a race in Edinburgh in Eddie’s car, a blow out on the M8. No problem, get the spare wheel out: problem, no jack. Three of us had to lift the car while Eddie swapped the wheels – luckily it was a mini. 

After winning the 3000m team race at Lochaber Highland Games. Presented with our prizes: a “Welcome to Fort William lapel badge” – Eddie in particular not amused!

The annual trip to Cowal Highland Games – being invited to run in the 3000m team race meant “expenses” were paid, a novelty for us amateur runners. Eddie was always there. This bonanza was usually squandered in the pubs of Dunoon before catching the last ferry & “Last train tae Glasgow Central” according to Ronnie MacDonald (& Billy Connolly.)

After we had finished running competitively, we knocked off a few Munro’s together, generally around Arrochar, Glencoe, Cairngorms etc. On one ascent of Ben Nevis, we arrived at the summit to find out that coincidentally, it was the day of the Ben Nevis race. We kept well out of the way, hill running not being our forte.

From Jim Brown:

Always a mainstay of the team…. Mr. Consistency. I recall numerous first leg runs always keeping us in contention. I remember the National Cross-Country relays at Aberdeen. We had two call offs on the morning of the race… John Graham and Ronnie MacDonald.  Eddie and Colin Farquharson were called in. Colin had a great run finishing in the leading group, I ran second and Eddie kept us in contention on the third leg , Brian McSloy anchored us to an unexpected win. Aberdeen were so confident they brought red and white ribbons for the trophy…. We borrowed them!

Like me he was a Highland games pot hunter. A particular favourite was Cowal highland games 3000 metres team race with travel expenses included. Most of the early evening was spent in the pub, expenses exhausted.. then watch the march of 1000 pipers.

He worked hard in putting the E to G team together and it was just reward when we eventually won it. Was there not a time when we had no runner for the Forrestfield leg? I think Eddie solved the problem by motoring through to Motherwell to return with Peter Fox who had already trained that morning.

He had a dry sense of humour at times and was as sharp as a tack…. Great club servant. I think he competed for Scotland at an inter area match cross country match.

Ronnie MacDonald remembered the “missing trophy” story:

Clyde Valley won the McAndrew Relay – at the race next year, the trophy was nowhere to be seen. For some reason, suspicion fell on Eddie (odd, as he wasn’t in the winning foursome.) Eventually the trophy was given up as lost. 

Below:   Eddie in the Glasgow Marathon

Mountblow Pavilion in the 21st Century.

Have a look at the photograph above of the once fine sports pavilion.   The rendering has fallen off the walls, ther doors have metal grills on them, even worse the windown in front of the central tower is shuttered, the windows have grills on them and the general picture is one of dilapidation.   The running track was, when last seen, a simple, red blaes, path surrounding what had been the small football pitch.   To the best of our knowledge the days of two full time groundsmen are gone.   We have the local vandals to thank for all the shuttering and metal grills.     The councillors of vision who conceived of, developed and boasted of it have gone – the Clydebank Town Council has gone and the governing body is based in Dumbarton.   The Commissioner of the Special Areas in Scotland which put up three quarters of the cost of the facility no longer exists and if it did, it would probably not be able to contribute from a Special Areas Fund.    But just by looking at the picture it is clear that no maintenance has been done on the building for many years.   

Athletically,  it was very well used by the club until in about 1960 there was a new track laid at Whitecrook in the east end of the burgh.   Unlike Mountblow it was an eight lane with ten in the straight, 440 yards, cinder track.   The Running Track Directory says: “The track was built in about 1960 and was initially known as the Whitecrook Running Track. At the time it was considered to be a state of the art cinder track with first class field facilities and was used by Clydesdale Harriers. In the late 1970s the name changed to the Whitecrook Community Education Centre Track following a change of name of the adjacent centre. However, in 1993, the local council decided that the cost of upkeep was too high and leased the whole playing field area to the Clydebank Rugby Club for 19 years for a peppercorn rent.”   The bigger track meant that there was a bigger infield with more room for field events.   At one end there was a high jump fan with good firm cinder approach and jumpers from other clubs were known to come along and train there – eg David Cairns of Springburn Harriers came along.   

There were some problems initially.   The track was very soft and some runners, like the former double Scottish Junior cross-country champion John Wright took to training at the Mountblow track.   The feeling was that the softer surface was an injury risk but once they learned about this the local authority added to the mix of the cinder and firmed it up.   The other little difference to Mountblow was that there were no changing rooms with showers, etc and the athletes had to change in the Primary School which was all of 100 yards away across the football pitches.   The Directory referred to above did not mention that there were three football pitches beside the track which gave a big perimeter for the endurance runners to use.   In addition at the track, it was so big that runners could run 300 yard reps on the grass inside the track if they preferred it or if recommended to do so by a physio.    It seemed a good change for the club to make.   Then when a pavilion was built beside the track it was even better.   The pavilion had many fewer dressing rooms than Mountblow, women and men used the same short, narrow corridor to access them and there was only one set of showers.   

This meant that the track at Mountblow was not being used very much at all with mainly occasional runners using it as a base for road or country running at weekends.   The hockey fields had long since been done away with and the Singer cricket team ceased to exist in the late 1950’s; Clydebank Cricket Club was officially disbanded in September 1987 – exactly 50 years after the facility was set up..    No cricket, no hockey, no athletics and that only left football.  Football was and is always wanting more facilities – in the 1990’s when Clydesdale Harriers had been evacuated from the track at Whitecrook various options were looked at with Jack Daly, the West Dunbartonshire official responsible for leisure activities.   He suggested the big pitch at William Street in Duntocher because it was seldom used – but that was ruled out because it was one of the few in the area that could be used for cup matches; part of the good grass at Mountblow which was not in use was also ruled out – this time because it was a ‘resting’ football pitch.   It was the same story with every piece of vacant ground.   The football lobby then started a campaign to turn Mountblow into a Football Centre.   They were successful and in February 2017 the area was ear-marked for an £850,000 overhaul including the pavilion.   It was opened for use in February 2020 and now has three 7-a-side pitches and one 11-a-side pitch suitable for all weathers.   

Mountblow as it is today: The pavilion is a shadow of what it was, football pitches everywhere and the whole open area divided up by fencing.   

It is easy to see why the multi-sports facility became a single sport venue.   If the cricket, athletics and hockey all went elsewhere with football the sole user, it was inevitable that this would be the fate of the Recreation Ground.   It was not inevitable that it would be allowed to get into the state it is in currently – that was a political decision.    Mountblow plan is below.   And what about Whitecrook?

Well, what about Whitecrook?   After we left the rugby club had had it from 1969 but were looking for other users for the pitch.   Local sports clubs came together and established the Clydebank Community Sports Hub in 2012.      The complex was described in the Clydebank Post as:

No running track.