londonhibby
18-06-2022, 10:15 PM
I'm posting this as a tribute to Brian Donald. Baker by trade, teacher and lecturer, author of the Fight Game in Scotland, journalist and boxing correspondent for the Edinburgh Evening News, who also worked for The Herald, The Scotsman, Boxing News, The Ring and Boxing Monthly.
A lifelong Hibby despite being born and brought up in Wardlaw Street, Gorgie, he was one of only two Hibbies in the Donald/Drummond family.
He became a Hibs supporter because of his father William, who had been a St Bernards supporter until that club folded in 1943.
When Brian showed that he was interested in football as well as boxing (he went to the Sparta Club and got to know Kenny Buchanan, who he featured on the front of his book, fighting with Jim Watt) William knew which club he should support.
William's first cousin was a girl called Jean Reilly, the mother of our esteemed and never-matched Lawrie (who also did a bit of boxing in his time).
Brian was hooked and was fortunate to grow up watching the Famous Five in all their pomp. He saw the league flag fly at Easter Road and can remember the Harp being removed, he attended the record-breaking derby on January 2, 1950, watched Hibs' many early European exploits and was at Tynie for the 7-0.
He took me to my first game in October 73, a 2-0 win for Hibs against Falkirk. We stood on that massive terracing roughly where the south stand is now.
Much later on, he taught adult learners at his former high school, Tynecastle, in a partnership with Lawrie.
He was delighted to see Hibs lift the Scottish Cup in 2016, having said to me many times he feared he'd not see it before he died.
He passed on his love of Hibs to myself and my children.
So RIP Brian Donald; born in 11 Wardlaw Street, Gorgie, Edinburgh, February 27, 1942, died in Dunblane, June 13, 2022, aged 80.
Glory, glory.
A lifelong Hibby despite being born and brought up in Wardlaw Street, Gorgie, he was one of only two Hibbies in the Donald/Drummond family.
He became a Hibs supporter because of his father William, who had been a St Bernards supporter until that club folded in 1943.
When Brian showed that he was interested in football as well as boxing (he went to the Sparta Club and got to know Kenny Buchanan, who he featured on the front of his book, fighting with Jim Watt) William knew which club he should support.
William's first cousin was a girl called Jean Reilly, the mother of our esteemed and never-matched Lawrie (who also did a bit of boxing in his time).
Brian was hooked and was fortunate to grow up watching the Famous Five in all their pomp. He saw the league flag fly at Easter Road and can remember the Harp being removed, he attended the record-breaking derby on January 2, 1950, watched Hibs' many early European exploits and was at Tynie for the 7-0.
He took me to my first game in October 73, a 2-0 win for Hibs against Falkirk. We stood on that massive terracing roughly where the south stand is now.
Much later on, he taught adult learners at his former high school, Tynecastle, in a partnership with Lawrie.
He was delighted to see Hibs lift the Scottish Cup in 2016, having said to me many times he feared he'd not see it before he died.
He passed on his love of Hibs to myself and my children.
So RIP Brian Donald; born in 11 Wardlaw Street, Gorgie, Edinburgh, February 27, 1942, died in Dunblane, June 13, 2022, aged 80.
Glory, glory.