David Ian Johnston (born 20 October 1958) is a Scottish former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. Johnston played 27 times at centre for the

Scotland national rugby union team The Scotland national rugby union team represents the Scottish Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. The team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship, where they are the current Doddie Weir Cup holders. They also participa ...

. He was formerly a commercial property partner in Burness Solicitors.

Football

Johnston attended

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eighteenth ...

in Edinburgh and played

, captaining the Scotland schoolboys team. He also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, even though his school didn't have football teams. Johnston attracted the attention of football scouts with his performances for the

Hutchison Vale Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale Football Club (LTHV) are a senior non-league football club based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Currently competing in the , they play their home matches at Saughton Enclosure in the Saughton area of the city. History ...

boys club. He signed for Heart of Midlothian in 1977 and made one appearance in a

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

match against

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, but was substituted due to injury. He left Heart of Midlothian in 1978 and became a rugby player, while also studying for a law degree.

Rugby

Johnston joined

Watsonians RFC Watsonian Football Club is a rugby union club based in Edinburgh and part of the Scottish Rugby Union. The club is connected with George Watson's College as a club for former pupils, and changed its policy in the 1980s to be a fully open club, ...

after ending his football career. He made his

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

debut on 10 November 1979 against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen, Saughtonhall and Roseburn. The A8 road (Scotland), A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murra ...

. Johnston was part of the Scotland team that won the Grand Slam in the 1984 Five Nations Championship and he scored a try in the win that year against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. His final appearance came on 29 March 1986, against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. His career record was: played 27, won 14, drew 2 and lost 11 and he scored 4 tries. He took on the role of assistant coach for the 1988 Scotland rugby union tour of Zimbabwe, working with

Richie Dixon Richie Dixon (born c. 1947) is a former Scotland international rugby union player, the former head coach of the Scotland national team, the Georgia national team and Glasgow Caledonians (now known as Glasgow Warriors). He was head of Physical E ...

. Dixon and Johnson were sacked by the SRU in 1998.

References

External links

Player profile at Sporting Heroes
1958 births Living people Men's association football wingers Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale F.C. players People educated at George Watson's College Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Edinburgh Scotland international rugby union players Scottish Football League players Scottish men's footballers Scottish rugby union players Watsonian FC players {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-1950s-stub