Norman "Norrie" Rowan (born 17 September 1951) is a former

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international

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player.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He played for Forrester and later Boroughmuir.

Provincial career

He played for Edinburgh District.

International career

He had 3 caps for Scotland 'B', the first against France 'B' in 19 March 1978. He received thirteen

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playing as prop forward for the

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."Former Scots rugby star to stand for Parliament"
''The Herald'', 6 April 1999. He was nominated for ''

Rugby World ''Rugby World'' is a monthly rugby union magazine running since October 1960. It is published monthly by Future plc and edited by Owain Jones who took over from long-standing editor Paul Morgan in January 2012. Paul Morgan was long considered a ...

s "Unsung Hero" award in 1989 – he was the only Scot to be given an award in that year,Starmer-Smith & Robertson, p100 after playing in all Five Nations matches that year.Starmer-Smith & Robertson, p133

Business and political career

As a businessman he has run a number of pubs and bars in Edinburgh, including the Tron Tavern in the Old Town, where it was traditional for the Scotland team to entertain visiting rugby players after international games. In 1996, he was fined £250 after threatening to kill a lawyer, after a business deal collapsed. The QC at Edinburgh Sheriff Court stated that: "It won't do, however angry you were about your own personal affairs... this behaviour will not be tolerated." Rowan stood for the Scottish Parliament elections in 1999. He is currently semi retired. In 2019 he was behind a controversial campaign opposed to the creation of a new homeless centre in Edinburgh city. The campaign distributed posters using the slogan "If you want a junkie for a neighbour vote Labour", echoing a controversial Conservative slogan from the Smethwick 1964 general election. The poster said the council was 'bringing 1100 junkies to a street near you'. In 2022 he maintained his anger over homeless people. He stated that 'These homeless people don’t belong in the Old Town'. He also attacked the Spaces For People measures; and attacked the council decision to ban strip clubs in the area. He ran for Edinburgh Council in May 2022, in the City Centre ward. He received 84 votes, less than 1% of the votes cast.https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/31141/ward-11-city-centre-results-2022

Edinburgh Vaults

Rowan helped excavate the

Edinburgh Vaults The Edinburgh Vaults or South Bridge Vaults are a series of chambers formed in the nineteen arches of the South Bridge in Edinburgh, Scotland, was part of the South Bridge Act 1785 and was completed in 1788. For around 30 years, the vaults were ...

, after he found a tunnel leading to them in the 1980s. From this tunnel he helped Romanian rugby player Cristian Raducanu escape the Romanian secret police and seek political asylum weeks before the Romanian uprising of 1989.Reid, Alisdair
"Romania comes in from the cold"
''The Sunday Herald'', 5 November 2006.

References

;Sources * Starmer-Smith, Nigel & Robertson, Ian (eds) ''The Whitbread Rugby World '89'' (Lennard Books, 1988 )

External links

Horror tale is stranger than fiction
article mentioning Norrie Rowan. 1951 births Living people Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Rugby union players from Edinburgh Boroughmuir RFC players Businesspeople from Edinburgh Forrester RFC players Edinburgh District (rugby union) players Scotland 'B' international rugby union players 1987 Rugby World Cup players Rugby union props {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub