Tuesday’s meeting with one of the heroes of Scottish sport had been planned for some time, a result of his mischievous message in response to a column I had written several weeks ago in the wake of The Herald’s revelations about abuse of a triathlon coach’s relationship with an athlete.

The theme of that piece had been the ‘omerta’ which afflicts Scottish sport whenever there is any hint of criticism of its establishment and it had reminded David Sole, Scotland’s 1990 Grand Slam captain, of an occasion when an attempt was made to stop him from offering criticism, even although he was on the board of sportscotland at the time.

The clumsiness and misplaced arrogance of that bid to silence him, which he was to describe during our chat, felt all the more timely in light of both the accusations of a whitewash that have followed the enquiry into British Cycling sparked by Jess Varnish and, closer to home, a story being carried in Herald Sport today concerning former Scottish Squash head coach Stuart Crawford’s explanation of how his attempt to blow the whistle on concerns he had about how the sport was being run, were dismissed by sportscotland officials without investigation.

Read more: Stewart Weir: Giving me good news when his was so bad was typical Doddie Weir

In spite of the seriousness of some of that subject matter our chat was a highly enjoyable one, but the mood became rather more sombre when we addressed the day’s brutal news, the announcement that Sole’s former international team-mate Doddie Weir is suffering from Motor Neurone Disease.

As our head of sport Stewart Weir noted in this space yesterday, that was the subject of the right kind of omerta as Doddie’s close friends in the sport maintained a dignified silence on the diagnosis he had been given several months ago, until he was ready to announce it on his own terms and in his own way.

It was devastating news whenever anyone found out about it, though, and it was evident that Sole – Doddie’s first international captain when the lanky teenager joined the squad immediately after that Grand Slam win for that summer’s tour of New Zealand, then when he went on to win his first cap against Argentina later that year – could hardly be fonder of a man who has always retained a boyish charm.

“He’s got this really mischievous and good sense of humour and is just one of life’s delightful men. You never get a sense that there’s any side to Doddie. There is no malice running through him or nastiness to him,” he observed.

His consequent expectation is that the one good thing that will come of a desperate situation is that considerable impetus will be given to the scientists seeking to improve the lot of MND sufferers.

Read more: Stewart Weir: Giving me good news when his was so bad was typical Doddie Weir

“The rugby community tends to corral itself and be very supportive of its own and because he’s affected so many people whether fans or players, everyone will have a memory that will make them think of Doddie fondly because he’s such a larger than life character and in most cases it will revolve around making people laugh,” said Sole. 

“So if he is working to support people with this condition he will not be short of finding support and I would happily do whatever I can to help out because he’s just one of those really likeable guys who brightens up any company. 

“I think the rugby community will gather round and be very supportive and can raise the profile and raise funds which will be great in the longer not only for Doddie but for other sufferers of the condition, but it’s very, very sad.”

In saying so, Sole has witnessed at first hand just how valuable that support can be in terms of providing impetus to research that can bring about dramatic changes of prognosis. 

Read more: Stewart Weir: Giving me good news when his was so bad was typical Doddie Weir

“I think he can bring a lot of attention to what is a very important cause and we can sometimes tend to forget how quickly the rate of pace of change in bio-genetics and bio-engineering is happening,” he noted. 

“The landscape five years from now could be fundamentally different. I recently spent a week out in Silicon Valley looking at what they call exponential technologies, everything from robotics and artificial intelligence to neuroscience and nanotechnology and it’s just extraordinary the rate of pace of change. So who knows what treatments may be available."