Norman Mair

 ( 1928 Births ) 

Mair played for Scotland in 1952. He was capped once, playing against Worcestershire. He scored four not out in his only innings.

" I always have had a high regard for the coverage by Norman Mair, formerly of The Scotsman.

" Norman never was persona grata with all members of the Scottish Rugby Union because he wrote what he felt and had the ear of some very influential people in the game. There have been times when I have had to read one of Norman's sentences two or three times over in order to get the gist, but he has been one of the most perceptive of analysts and his articles have been both enlightening and enjoyable - especially the little humorous stories that were so often his punchlines."McLaren, p94

Writing of the Australian player Mark Ella, he once said: " Mark Ella has hands so adhesive that when he fumbled a ball against (in 1984) you would not have been surprised to see those Australians of the appropriate religious persuasion cross themselves"Ella, Mark & Smith, Terry (1987) Path to Victory, ABC Books, p54

Mair was always outspoken in his opinions. In the early fifties, for example, criticising the large number of new caps in each game in 1953 and 1954, he said that he consider the "inhabitants of lunatic asylums... had a fair grievance while the S.R.U. selectors walked around free and uncertified."Massie, p54

He was appointed MBE in the 1994 Birthday Honours. SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 11TH JUNE 1994

He died at Thorburn Manor Care Home in Colinton.

• Mair, Norman, 1994, Muirfield, Mainstream Publishing
• John Rutherford and Roy Laidlaw with Norman Mair, Rugby Partnership: Stanley Paul, 1988.

• Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 )
• McLaren, Bill Talking of Rugby (1991, Stanley Paul, London )
• Massie, Allan A Portrait of Scottish Rugby (Polygon, Edinburgh; )

• SRU Profile
• The Scotsman obituary