Douglas Elliot (18 April 1923 – 12 March 2005) also known as W.I.D. Elliot and Doug(ie) Elliot was a Scottish 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 it ...

player, who played for .Massie, p.185 He was six feet three inches and over fourteen stone.Massie, p.187 He was a backrow forward, and has also been inducted to the

Scottish Sports Hall of Fame The Scottish Sports Hall of Fame is the national sports hall of fame of Scotland, set up in 2002. It is a joint project organised by sportscotland, the national governmental body for Scottish sport, and National Museums Scotland. It is also funded ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Elliot played for Edinburgh Academicals.

Provincial career

He was capped by Edinburgh District to play Glasgow District in the inter-city match of 1947. He was capped by Cities District in 1947 to play against Australia. He played for the Scotland Probables side in December 1947.

International career

He was capped 29 times for Scotland between 1947–54. He was never dropped, but did spend at least six matches away due to injuries including the whole 1953 seasons. He was one of the few Scottish players to escape untarnished by the 44-0 defeat by during the period. Elliot was the only Scot to be named by the South African rugby correspondent R.K. Stent amongst the best players who had faced the 1951-2 Springbok tour to the British Isles.

Allan Massie Allan Johnstone Massie (born 16 October 1938) is a Scottish journalist, columnist, sports writer and novelist. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has lived in the Scottish Borders for the last 25 years, and now lives in Se ...

talking of the 1950s, said: :"''Elliot was my first Rugby hero, and for a long time in the Fifties, he was the only one a Scots boy could have... the Scottish sides he played in, especially in the Fifties, gave him little chance to display his attacking abilities. All the same, match reports of the time make frequent mention of Elliot bursting from the line-out to run thirty yards... He was undoubtedly the nearest thing to a forward in the classic

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

mould that Scotland produced in the twenty years after the war, for he was fast also, possessed all the basic skills, and breathed aggression. It was fitting that almost his last game for Scotland was against the All Blacks in 1954, when he captained the side that held the tourists to a single penalty goal.''"

Bill McLaren William Pollock McLaren (16 October 1923 – 19 January 2010) was a Scottish rugby union commentator, teacher, journalist and one time rugby player. Known as 'the voice of rugby', he retired from commentating in 2002. Renowned throughout th ...

remembers in 1947 going for a Scotland trial, and playing at the back of the line-out, :"''the only time the ball was thrown anywhere near there and I got it I found myself enmeshed in a vice-like grip. The feeling was of two iron bands imprisoning my arms. The bands belonging to Douglas Elliot, one of the greatest Scottish wing-forwards, whose strength had been developed in his every-day life as a son of the soil. I was much impressed by the form of temporary paralysis he imposed on my arms and it did not surprise me that he remained Scotland's most capped wing-forward with 29 appearances until John Jeffrey gained his 30th cap in the second Test against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

in June 1990.''"

Farming career

Elliot was invited to play with the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

, but could not afford to spend six months away from his farm; his offer to pay for his flights (the Lions generally went by boat in those days.) The amateur era was quite different, in both ethos and time, but as Elliot once told Bill McLaren, farmwork could take a lot of time too: :"''prior to one Scottish game against at

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often con ...

he had attended a brief Scottish team get-together on the Friday afternoon but, as his father was not well, Douglas drove back home to the family farm some way out of Edinburgh and the car ran out of petrol four miles from home. He ran all the way home for the petrol and back to the car, did some shearing and some other farmwork before dark, was up with the lark because a field drain had to be repaired which took two hours, then took off for Murrayfield to join the Scottish team just in time for kick-off. What is more, Scotland won!''" McLaren says when selecting his all-time Scotland XV that "''I believe, for instance, that Douglas Elliot (Edinburgh Academicals)... would still have made massive impact in the modern game although it might have irked him not a little that he would have to give far more of his time from farming to attend so many squad sessions.''"McLaren (2005), pp.215-6

References

;Sources # Mclaren, Bill ''My Autobiography: The Voice of Rugby'' (2005) # Massie, Allan ''A Portrait of Scottish Rugby'' (Polygon, Edinburgh; ) {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliot, Douglas 1923 births 2005 deaths Barbarian F.C. players Cities District players Edinburgh Academicals rugby union players Edinburgh District (rugby union) players Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Scottish Borders Scotland international rugby union players Scotland Probables players Scottish rugby union players