Dave Hilton (born 3 April 1970 in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is an English-born former

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He was capped 42 times for the

Scotland national rugby union team The Scotland national rugby union team represents Scotland in men's international rugby union and is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and participates in the Rugby World Cup, ...

. In his club career he played for

Bath Rugby Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground in the c ...

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

and

. His position of choice is as a

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

Rugby Union career

Professional career

During his club career, Hilton won the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

for Bath in 1998, as well as league and domestic cup successes for the same club. He left

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and played for Glasgow in the Welsh-Scottish League and then the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

. After being capped for Scotland on residency criteria he continued to play for Glasgow until 2003 before then returning to the English West Country to play for

, until his retirement in 2008.

International career

He gained his first cap for the Scotland against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on 21 January 1991 and his 42nd and final cap against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

on 16 November 2002. Hilton originally believed he qualified for Scotland as his grandfather was born there. However, in 2000 - and after 41 caps for Scotland - Hilton discovered his grandfather's birth was registered in

and not

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

as he believed. Hilton stated that his grandfather was born 16 weeks before the Bristol registration but he could not prove whether or not his grandfather was born in Scotland. Without adequate documentation he did not qualify to play for Scotland under the international eligibility rules. At around the same time it was discovered that Welsh internationals

Shane Howarth Shane Paul Howarth (born 8 July 1968) is a former international rugby union player who gained four caps and scored 54 points for the All Blacks before later switching allegiance to Wales national rugby union team, Wales, attaining 19 Welsh caps ...

and

Brett Sinkinson Brett David Sinkinson (born 30 December 1971)
Scrum.com is a

Grannygate Grannygate is the name given to several different sporting scandals, typically regarding eligibility of players for national teams. A rugby union version of Grannygate occurred in Wales in March 2000, a rugby league version occurred in New Zealand ...

and was embarrassing for the players and Rugby Unions alike. However both the

SRU SRU may refer to: Organizations * Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island, US * Scottish Rugby Union * Shri Rawatpura Sarkar University, Chhattisgarh, India * Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, US * Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai ...

and the WRU escaped without fines. As part of a subsequent TV investigation Hilton's great-grandfather was traced to Glasgow giving credence to Hilton's Scottish ancestry. Hilton had already moved from

to Glasgow to play for Glasgow Caledonians, now

, a year before the scandal broke so he had already a period of residence in Scotland. He had then to complete another two years in order to qualify again for Scotland under the 3-year residency rule. After that period of residency Hilton played once more for

in a victory over South Africa in 2002. On Grannygate and the belated

game Hilton was to explain: "I had a lot of friends in the game, even journalists, who knew I was honest and hard working on the pitch and that encouraged me to try to get another cap. It was natural, too, because I felt Scottish. I’d got two England U21 caps but it was just like playing for any other team and I thought 'this is not for me.' It took to 2002 until I was cleared to play for Scotland again and I won my 42nd cap against South Africa at Murrayfield. After trying for two and a half years to get this goal it was given to me through an unfortunate injury to Mattie Stewart. I was not at my best but it was great that Scotland didn't turn their back on me and I was very determined to prove I should be there. I played 15 minutes off the bench and the crowd reaction was brilliant. It was one of my favourite games for Scotland and the pride I had at helping us beat South Africa 21-6 for the first time in 33 years was unbelievable. I didn't win any more caps after that but it was all worth it."

Coaching career

In 2012 Hilton joined

Moseley Moseley is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants. The area also has a number of boutiques and ot ...

as forwards coach and occasional replacement prop, having previously been coach at Dings Crusaders. Dave also coaches Clifton RFC Under 14's, who in the 2016/17 season won the Gloucester County cup, The Nando's Cup, The Bristol Combination 7s Cup and were Finalists in the Bristol Combination Cup. Clifton later went on to win the Bristol Combination cup as well as another Nando’s cup and 3 more Bristol combination 7s cups. Dave now coaches Bristol Bears Women in the Tyrell's premier 15s completion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilton, Dave 1970 births Living people Bath Rugby players Bristol Bears players Moseley Rugby Football Club players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players Glasgow Warriors players Rugby union players from Bristol Sports scandals in Scotland English rugby union coaches English rugby union players English people of Scottish descent 1999 Rugby World Cup players 1995 Rugby World Cup players Rugby union props