David Ian Johnston (born 20 October 1958) is a Scottish former

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. Johnston played 27 times at centre 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, ...

. He was formerly a commercial property partner in Burness Solicitors.

Football

Johnston attended

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eight ...

in Edinburgh and played

, captaining the Scotland schoolboys team. He also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, even though his school didn't have football teams. Johnston attracted the attention of football scouts with his performances for the

Hutchison Vale Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale Football Club (LTHV) are a senior non-league football club based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Currently competing in the , they play their home matches at Saughton Enclosure in the Saughton area of the city. History ...

boys club. He signed for Heart of Midlothian in 1977 and made one appearance in a First Division match against

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, but was substituted due to injury. He left Heart of Midlothian in 1978 and became a rugby player, while also studying for a law degree.

Rugby

Johnston joined

Watsonians RFC Watsonian Football Club is a rugby union club based in Edinburgh and part of the Scottish Rugby Union. The club is connected with George Watson's College as a club for former pupils, and changed its policy in the 1980s to be a fully open club, ...

after ending his football career. He made his

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 ...

debut on 10 November 1979 against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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 ...

. Johnston was part of the Scotland team that won the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

in the

1984 Five Nations Championship The 1984 Five Nations Championship was the fifty-fifth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the ninetieth series of the northern hemisphere rugby un ...

and he scored a try in the win that year against

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 ...

. His final appearance came on 29 March 1986, against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. His career record was: played 27, won 14, drew 2 and lost 11 and he scored 4 tries. He took on the role of assistant coach for the 1988 Scotland rugby union tour of Zimbabwe, working with

Richie Dixon Richie Dixon (born c. 1947) is a former rugby union footballer, the former head coach of the Scotland national team, the Georgia national team and Glasgow Caledonians (now known as Glasgow Warriors). He was head of Physical Education at Currie ...

. Dixon and Johnson were sacked by the SRU in 1998.

References

External links

Player profile at Sporting Heroes
1958 births Living people Men's association football wingers Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale F.C. players People educated at George Watson's College Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Edinburgh Scotland international rugby union players Scottish Football League players Scottish footballers Scottish rugby union players Watsonians RFC players {{scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub