Finlay Calder OBE (born 20 August 1957) is a

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

international 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 it ...

player.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Born in Haddington, East Lothian and educated at

Stewart's Melville College Stewart's Melville College (SMC) is an independent day and boarding school in Edinburgh, Scotland. Classes are all boys in the 1st to 5th years and co-educational in Sixth (final) year. It has a roll of about 750 pupils. The school is twinned w ...

, Calder played at open side flanker. He played for Stewart's Melville and Heriots.

Provincial career

He played for Edinburgh District. He was part of the side that won the 1986–87 Scottish Inter-District Championship. He played for

Combined Scottish Districts Combined Scottish Districts is a select Scottish provincial amateur rugby union team that draws its players from Glasgow District, Edinburgh District, North of Scotland District, Midlands District, South of Scotland District and Scottish Exi ...

on 1 March 1986 against South of Scotland.

International career

He received 2 caps for Scotland 'B' in 1983 to 1984. His full international debut was against France in 1986. He won 34 caps representing

from 1986 to 1991. His last international game was 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 ...

in the third-place play-off match in the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

. He captained 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 ...

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

to Australia in 1989. Richard Bath wrote that :"''Calder's ability to use his drive, determination and innate knowledge of the game to overcome his undoubted shortcomings - in particular he was always a bit slow for an out-and-out open-side - helped him become one of the most effective back-row operators of the modern era. If he and the other two members of the Grand Slam back row John Jeffrey and Derek White could not impose their own game, they certainly would make sure that the opposition could not impose theirs''". When in 1989 Calder captained the Lions, he was the first Scottish player selected to do this since Mike Campbell-Lamerton in 1966 and the first captain to lead the side to victory since Willie John McBride in 1974.

Honours

Calder was appointed OBE in the 1990 New Year Honours.

Family

His twin brother Jim Calder also played for Scotland and the Lions. The brothers never played in the same Scotland side; Jim won the last of his caps against Wales in March 1985 and Finlay made his debut against France in January 1986. He has two children.

References

External links

Finlay Calder
- on the Sporting Heroes database
Fin Calder's Lions
- including nine Scottish players ( Gary Armstrong,

Craig Chalmers Craig Minto Chalmers (born 15 October 1968) is a former Scotland international rugby union player and coach. He represented Scotland, the British Lions and the Barbarians at international level. He made 60 international appearances as a player ...

Peter Dods Peter Dods (born 6 January 1958) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. His regular playing position was Fullback. Rugby union career Amateur career Dods played for Gala at fullback. Provincial career Dods was capped by So ...

, John Jeffrey,

Gavin Hastings Andrew Gavin Hastings, (born 3 January 1962) is a Scottish former rugby union player. A fullback, he is widely regarded to be one of the best ever Scottish rugby players and was one of the outstanding players of his generation, winning 61 ...

, Scott Hastings,

David Sole David Michael Barclay Sole (born 8 May 1962) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 New Year Honours. Rugby Union career Amateur career He was e ...

, Derek White and Finlay Calder himself)
Fin Calder looks back on the 1989 Lions tour to Australia
1957 births Living people British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Heriot's RC players Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Stewart's Melville College Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Haddington, East Lothian Scotland 'B' international rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players Stewart's Melville RFC players Scottish twins Twin sportspeople Scottish Districts (combined) players {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub