Finlay Calder OBE (born 20 August 1957) is a

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 ...

international 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.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Born in Haddington,

East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...

and educated at Stewart's Melville College, Calder played at open side flanker. He played for Stewart's Melville and Heriots.

Provincial career

He played for Edinburgh District. He was part of the side that won the 1986–87 Scottish Inter-District Championship. He played for Combined Scottish Districts on 1 March 1986 against South of Scotland.

International career

He received 2 caps for Scotland 'B' in 1983 to 1984. His full international debut was against France in 1986. He won 34 caps representing

from 1986 to 1991. His last international game was 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 ...

in the third-place play-off match in the 1991 Rugby World Cup. He captained the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

tour to

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in 1989. Richard Bath wrote that :"''Calder's ability to use his drive, determination and innate knowledge of the game to overcome his undoubted shortcomings - in particular he was always a bit slow for an out-and-out open-side - helped him become one of the most effective back-row operators of the modern era. If he and the other two members of the Grand Slam back row John Jeffrey and Derek White could not impose their own game, they certainly would make sure that the opposition could not impose theirs''". When in 1989 Calder captained the Lions, he was the first Scottish player selected to do this since

Mike Campbell-Lamerton Colonel Michael John Campbell-Lamerton (1 August 1933 – 17 March 2005) was a Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland international player. He was also a British Army officer. Military career He was educated at Ottershaw School ne ...

in 1966 and the first captain to lead the side to victory since Willie John McBride in 1974.

Honours

Calder was appointed OBE in the 1990 New Year Honours.

Family

His twin brother Jim Calder also played for Scotland and the Lions. The brothers never played in the same Scotland side; Jim won the last of his caps against Wales in March 1985 and Finlay made his debut against France in January 1986. He has two children.

References

External links

*
Finlay Calder
- on the Sporting Heroes database
Fin Calder's Lions
- including nine Scottish players ( Gary Armstrong, Craig Chalmers, Peter Dods, John Jeffrey,

Gavin Hastings Andrew Gavin Hastings, (born 3 January 1962) is a Scottish former rugby union player. A fullback, he is widely regarded to be one of the best ever Scottish rugby players and was one of the outstanding players of his generation, winning 61 c ...

, Scott Hastings, David Sole, Derek White and Finlay Calder himself)
Fin Calder looks back on the 1989 Lions tour to Australia
1957 births Living people British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Heriot's Rugby Club players Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Stewart's Melville College Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Haddington, East Lothian Scotland 'B' international rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players Stewart's Melville RFC players Scottish twins Scottish Districts (combined) players 1987 Rugby World Cup players 1991 Rugby World Cup players {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-1950s-stub