Arthur Orr

Died June 16, 2019

Arthur Orr, who has died aged 75, was a well known Scottish rugby player and athlete at a time when some top sportsmen were still able to combine a winter sport with a summer one. He was unfortunate not to be awarded a cap despite having represented Scotland in a Test against Argentina in Buenos Aires during the 1969 tour as the Scottish Rugby Union deemed the host nation unworthy of that status. As a versatile athlete he won two Scottish Championship bronze medals at pole vault and was a good sprinter and 400ms. hurdler, while in veteran athletics he shared in world and British relay records.

Best known as a pacy centre three quarter, the club with which he was most associated was Royal High School F.P.’s for whom he played nearly 200 games over 12 seasons between 1961 and 1973 while also enjoying spells with London Scottish and, briefly, Edinburgh Wanderers. He also represented the select team, the Co-Optimists, and featured regularly for the Edinburgh district side. Other highlights included two appearances against the touring Australians during season 1966/7, one for a combined Edinburgh/Glasgow side and the other for the Scottish Districts Select.

In the summer he represented Edinburgh Athletic Club in Scottish and British League matches in which he could always be relied on to notch useful team points. Although he only took up pole vaulting in his mid 20’s he achieved a high standard and continued competing till he was over 50. Representing Royal Sutton Coldfield Athletic Club, he shared in an indoors world record for the 4 x 200 ms. relay in the 40/5 age group in 1986 and also claimed British records for outdoors sprint relays.

Arthur Victor Orr was born in the Restalrig area of Edinburgh to parents William and Agnes nee Greig, his father a wages clerk. The middle child of three, between Peter and Heather, he was brought up mostly in Duddingston. At the Royal High School, he shone at sport including rugby, cricket and athletics and showed promise in art. He was also an enthusiastic member of Leith Boys’ Brigade. His father who had been a noted sprinter and later an Edinburgh Athletic Club official, encouraged his sporting endeavours.

Arthur made his debut for R.H.S. F.P.’s in season 1961/2 in a drawn match against Watsonians before becoming a mainstay of their team over the next twelve seasons, apart from a spell with London Scottish between 1968 and ’70. His ability was soon noted resulting in being regularly selected for the Edinburgh district side and featuring in international trial matches in 1965 and ’66, receiving good plaudits, alongside clubmate and future Scotland captain Pringle Fisher. He was knocking on the door of international selection and after joining London Scottish was selected for the Scottish party to tour Argentina in September 1969 in a squad replete with well known internationalists under the captaincy of Jim Telfer.

He scored two tries in three of the six matches he played which included the first Test in Buenos Aires, a 20-3 defeat. However there were mitigating factors as the Scots were down to 14 men after 25 minutes when Ian Murchie was badly injured after a stiff armed tackle, the referee was Argentinian [and not impartial], the ground was bone hard and it was extremely hot. The game was played against a backdrop of serious civil unrest and when the party moved to Rosario for a match it had to be postponed 24 hours because of rioting. Future Scottish captain,Ian McLauchlan later wrote,” It was like the Wild West there.” Given how nowadays a cap can be awarded for a brief substitute appearance, it was a source of much disappointment to Arthur never to be awarded one.

In the abbreviated 7-a-sides game he was a member of the R.H.S. teams which won the Hawick and Murrayfield tournaments and were defeated finalists at Melrose in 1968.

In 1973, he married Heather and the couple soon moved south to live mostly near Birmingham where Arthur was a chartered accountant for several companies including Metro-Cammell. They had four children, Jason, Christian, Ashley and Lyndsey but separated in the 1990s and later divorced.

In 1982, he received an award for bravery from the West Midlands Chief Constable for having apprehended a burglar later found to be armed with a loaded starting pistol. He pursued him on foot for a quarter of a mile and then stopped a bus which the culprit had entered before boarding it himself to restrain him till police arrived, a characteristically brave and selfless act.

Having returned to Scotland he met his long term partner Nina in Edinburgh in 2002 and they later settled in Broughty Ferry where they remained.

Arthur’s love of sport continued throughout life as he took up golf and enjoyed keeping fit. He was also a music lover with a good baritone voice and a classical guitarist, playing for his own pleasure. He also developed a love of poetry and had a couple of his own poems published.

A warm, big hearted individual with a strong moral compass, he gave of his best in everything he did and encouraged others, especially youngsters in sport, to do the same.

He is survived by Nina, his children, sister and two grandchildren, Caitlin and Henry.

JACK DAVIDSON