Gordon Mitchell (26 May 1865 – 30 July 1896) was a

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.

Rugby union career

Amateur career

Mitchell played for West of Scotland. He went on to captain the club. His time there was noted by the ''Dundee Evening Telegraph'' as 'one of the most brilliant in the history of the club'.

Provincial career

Mitchell played for Glasgow District in the inter-city matches of 1883 and 1884 and 1885. He was also capped for West of Scotland District in their match against East of Scotland District in January 1885 and 1886. He captained the West side in January 1887.

International career

He was capped three times for

in 1885. The ''Dundee Evening Telegraph'' noted that 'Mitchell was a typical Scottish forward in as much as his play was a combination of physical prowess and brain power'.

Administrative career

Mitchell became the 18th

President of the Scottish Rugby Union The President of the Scottish Rugby Union is the figurehead of rugby union in Scotland. Origin In 1873, and directly after the Scotland versus England international match, representatives from eight Scottish rugby union sides came together in Gla ...

. He served the 1890–91 term in office.

Death

Mitchell died on his way back from to Scotland from

Inhambane Inhambane, also known as Terra de Boa Gente (''Land of Good People''), is a city located in southern Mozambique, lying on Inhambane Bay, 470 km northeast of Maputo. It is the capital of the Inhambane Province and according to the 2017 census ...

, Mozambique. His obituary notes that he was an all-round sportsman with a talent, not only for rugby union, but for both cricket and running. However it goes on to say that he was not interested in either: he did not practise cricket and rarely 'donned his spikes' to run.

References

1865 births 1896 deaths People educated at Craigmount School Rugby union players from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Presidents of the Scottish Rugby Union Glasgow District (rugby union) players West of Scotland District (rugby union) players West of Scotland FC players Rugby union forwards {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub