George Graham (19 January 1966) born in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, is a Scottish former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

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 ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

; his role was

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 ...

forward. At 5'7" he was quite short for international rugby.

Rugby League career

He played for

Carlisle RLFC Carlisle RLFC were a rugby league team based in Carlisle, Cumbria. The club was called Carlisle Border Raiders for the 1997 season, after which it merged with Barrow Braves. History Early rugby league in Carlisle ''Carlisle City'', based at ...

from 1993 to 1996, scoring 6 tries, and represented

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 ...

during that time.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He played for Stirling County.

Provincial and professional career

He played for Glasgow District, while still at Stirling County. When rugby union turned professional he was signed by

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

and made 12 appearances for them as they won the 1997-98 Premiership.

International career

He played for Scotland 'B' on 5 December 1987 against Italy 'B'. He gained 25 caps for

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, ...

. Graham won his first cap against Australia at Murrayfield, 22 Nov 1997 and played his final test against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

at Millennium Stadium, 6 Apr 2002 which Scotland won 22–27.

Coaching career

Since retiring from playing Graham has moved into coaching. He was the Scotland forwards' coach with

Frank Hadden Frank Hadden (born 14 June 1954) is a Scottish rugby union coach. He is a former head coach of Scotland and Edinburgh Rugby. Hadden replaced Matt Williams and was appointed on 15 September 2005. Hadden coached the Merchiston Castle School 1st ...

until 2008 where he was let go following a review of the backroom staff after a disappointing 6 Nations campaign. The following year he became the head coach at

Gala RFC Gala Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders. Founded in 1875, it plays its home games at Netherdale. The team currently competes in Scottish National League Division One, the second tier of Scottish ...

where he has earned plaudits for the team's style of play. Recently he has been linked to positions back in the professional ranks of the SRU once more, amongst which were for forwards coach at

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

following Tom Smith's departure and also as a possible interim manager of the national side after

Andy Robinson Richard Andrew Robinson OBE (born 3 April 1964) is an English rugby union coach and retired player. He was the director of rugby at Bristol until November 2016. He is the former head coach of Scotland and England. From September 2019 to Decemb ...

's resignation as coach in November 2012. In late 2017 he took over from Darren Cunningham as coach of Hawick RFC who had lost 10 consecutive league games and sitting bottom of the BT Premiership but somehow managed to win 6 of their last 8 games and not just avoid automatic relegation but also a play off v Jed Forest and completed what many call "The Great Escape"

References

External links

Statistics at scrum.com

1966 births Living people Carlisle RLFC players Dual-code rugby internationals Footballers who switched code Glasgow District (rugby union) players Newcastle Falcons players Rugby league players from Stirling Rugby union players from Stirling Scotland international rugby union players Scotland national rugby league team players Scottish rugby league players Scottish rugby union players Stirling County RFC players Scotland 'B' international rugby union players {{Scotland-rugbyleague-bio-stub