Malcolm Allan (6 April 1900 – 1974) was a Scottish

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. He became an international referee and the 67th

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Allan was captain of Glasgow Academy in 1915–16 and 1916–17. He was captain of the rugby union team and the cricket team. He played for

Glasgow Academicals The Glasgow Academical Football Club is the third oldest rugby football club in Scotland. The club was also a founder member of the Scottish Football Union (the future SRU) in 1873. History Glasgow Hawks In 1997 the decision was made to ...

Provincial career

He represented Glasgow District in the 1921 inter-city match. He played for Scotland Possibles in the final trial match of 1921, scoring a try. According to ''The Glasgow Herald'' it was Allan's lack of pace that denied him a Scotland cap.https://www.theglasgowacademy.org.uk/media/1896/etcetera_magazine_14.pdf

Referee career

Allan was noted as a strict referee. One commentator writing of Allan's refereeing style wrote: ‘so woe betide anybody who persistently breaks the rules’. He was an international referee. He refereed the Ireland versus Wales match in the

1931 Five Nations Championship The 1931 Five Nations Championship was the seventeenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the forty- ...

. His last international match - the same fixture - was in 1948. He refereed in the

Scottish Unofficial Championship The Scottish Unofficial Championship was the top league of Scotland's best amateur rugby union clubs. The Championship was 'unofficial' as the Scottish Rugby Union held that the sport should remain amateur and at the time did not sanction competit ...

(1936). On one occasion, when refereeing a match at Netherdale, after hearing taunts from the crowd - he stopped the match and walked over to the crowd and delivered a lecture on the ethics of sportmanship before resuming the game. This caused embarrassment for the

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officials.

Administrative career

He was a

committee member from 1931 and in 1950 he was acting as a selector - along with Herbert Waddell - for the Scotland international team. He was elected Vice President of the

in 1952. He was

of the

for the period 1953 to 1954.

Outside of rugby union

He played cricket for Glasgow Academicals. He was best man to Max Simmers on his wedding in 1932. He worked for the India Tyre factory in Inchinnan. He later moved to Carlisle where he worked at Morton Sundour Fabrics. During the Second World War he was in the Home Guard; and captained the Home Guard XI cricket team.

Family

His father David Allan played association football for Queen's Park and the

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 team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allan, Malcolm 1900 births 1974 deaths Glasgow Academicals rugby union players Presidents of the Scottish Rugby Union Rugby union players from Glasgow Scottish Districts referees Scottish rugby union players Scottish rugby union referees Scottish Unofficial Championship referees