: Peter Burns, Rob Robertson
: This is Murrayfield 100 Years of History in 100 Matches
: Polaris
: 9781915359377
: 1
: CHF 18.40
:
: Sport
: English
: 368
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
'A century of sporting and human history distilled with warmth and wisdom' - Mark Palmer, The Times In 1925, Scotland played their first ever game at Murrayfield Stadium. They opened this new home with a landmark result, defeating England with a late drop-goal to secure their first Grand Slam title. This was the first in a long line of epic encounters to have taken place on that hallowed ground over the next century.  In This is Murrayfield, celebrated rugby writers Peter Burns and Rob Robertson curate 100 of the most memorable, significant and sometimes quirky fixtures to have been played at Murrayfield over the last 100 years. Gorgeously illustrated with black and white and colour photography throughout, this is an insightful, fun and fascinating record of some of the greatest moments in Scottish rugby history.

Peter Burns is an editor and publisher, and is author of several books including Behind the Thistle: Playing Rugby for Scotland, Behind the Ryder Cup: The Players' Stories, White Gold: England's Journey to World Cup Glory. He is also the co-author of Behind the Lions: Playing Rugby for the British& Irish Lions, the bestselling When Lions Roared, This is Your Everest and Men in the Arena.

A view from the commentators’ box


‘Watching Scotland play international rugby has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. Ever since that first occasion when I marched down Princes Street with my dad, my wee hand in his, on my way to Murrayfield for the first time, every occasion when Scotland has played has been special to me. It remains a huge disappointment to me that I never got a chance to pull on the famous jersey, listen to the last-minute team talk and run out to play the auld enemy at Murrayfield. I have spent my entire life wishing that I could somehow have played, even just once, for Scotland in a full international. It would have meant more to me than anything else I can think of in a sporting context. When I played in that final trial at our national ground, just entering the dressing room was a thrill in itself. I was awestruck.’

Bill McLaren

Nick Mullins, ITV rugby commentator

I grew up in a little village outside Leicester called Birstall, so my first view of Murrayfield was watching Scotland games from there on television. I would be on the sofa listening to the great Bill McLaren and I had a tradition that I would have a plate of cheese and onion sandwiches and lots of bags of Walkers crisps to keep me going.

It was like watching action from Scotland’s Colosseum. Murrayfield looked terrifying and inviting in equal measure to a young Englishman growing up watching events that looked like they were happening a thousand miles away.

My first trip there was as a rugby producer for BBC Radio Five in 1994 when Scotland played England. I was there to make sure that commentators Ian Robertson and Miles Harrison’s equipment worked and, thrill of all thrills, Andy Irvine, one of the most exciting players to ever play the game and my Scottish rugby hero, was our summariser. It was a controversial game that England won 15–14 after a very late Jon Callard penalty that maybe shouldn’t have been given.

I joined the BBC radio commentary team the following year after Miles left for SKY and I joined Ian Robertson and Alastair Hignell on the BBC rota. When Bill McLaren retired from BBC television commentary Eddie Butler and I stepped up as trying to fill the hole Bill left behind was always going to be a two-man job.

Sometimes I don’t remember the score from a game I did last week but I can always remember when I first met Bill. Wales were training at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on the Friday before a 1993 Five Nations game against England and it was pouring rain. More often than not back then that Friday training session, or captains run as it is still called, would be the only time they had together as it was the amateur era and players all had jobs. I turned up not thinking Bill would be there, but at the far end of the pitch through the wind, the rain and the mist there was this tall, elegant man standing in his long coat with his blue tartan scarf r