Sandy Carmichael MBE
Wednesday, 27 October 2021
It is with great sadness that we announce the peacful passing of Sandy Carmichael earlier today surrounded by his beloved family. As a player, coach, Honorary President and most importantly, as a much loved and irrepressible character 'Big Sandy' will be greatly missed by us all.
Our thoughts and condolences are with Alison, Trevor, Melanie and the rest of the family at this time.
A personal and heartfelt tribute below provided by Neil Stobie:
Alexander Bennett Carmichael was so proud of the grandfather he never knew. Alec Bennett played for Celtic, Rangers and Scotland. He moved across the city because he was getting married and the money he would get from Rangers would pay for a house. He was a famous name in Scottish sport in the early part of the twentieth century. His name would live on through his grandson until the present day.
I saw Sandy’s international debut. Scotland v Ireland, 25 February, 1967. Sandy was to be a spectator, too, but David Rollo withdrew at lunchtime with a hamstring injury. Scotland lost a scrappy game by three points to five but Bill McMurtrie wrote in the “Glasgow Herald”, “the late change…….did not upset the scrummaging”. Praise, indeed, for the young West prop. He had replaced a British Lion, one of the greats of the Scottish game.
The rugby playing career of Sandy Carmichael is well documented. Fifty Scotland caps, the first Scot to reach that number. The first international prop to do so. Two British and Irish Lions tours, to New Zealand in 1971 and South Africa in 1974. A member of the Barbarians side that defeated Ian Kirkpatrick’s All Blacks at Cardiff in 1973, “The Greatest Game”. He was a superb all round athlete. At school, Loretto, he was a top 440 runner. He was in the Scottish Schools hockey squad. Playing days over, he coached West, in steel toe-capped wellies. Woe betide any player who got it wrong at training. He coached West Ladies. (I was so looking forward to telling him about the success of the present day West Ladies.) But he was so much more than just a sportsman. It was Sandy the man I was fortunate to get to know long after his playing and coaching days were over.
Sandy was a wonderful ambassador for our Rugby Memories project. His great friend and teammate David Shedden lived with dementia. Sandy was such a support to David, joining him at our group at Burnbrae, memories sparked by the old team photographs they appeared together in. Sandy was a wonderful raconteur. We took him to our Memories group at Stirling County. We showed highlights of the Baa Baas match, then Sandy did a Q&A. He got as much out of it as the group did. He was a regular caller to Michael White to discuss how the project was progressing.
Sandy was very much part of the community in his adopted home village, Kilbarchan. He knew everyone and they all knew him. We watched on as he formally opened the refurbished Co-op, his “fee” being a donation to Rugby Memories. He played Santa for the kids at The Trust Inn. Our role as Santa’s Little Helpers was to pass a pint to him through the curtains when he had a break. Beers with the Laird of Kilbarchan was always something to look forward to. The venue was always the same, The Trust. It was always scampi and chips to accompany a pint or two of the black stuff. A joyous couple of hours listening to Sandy tell the most wonderful tales from his career. Avoiding bullets and scoring Test winning tries in Argentina, Sunday School in New Zealand, mysterious injuries to players in South Africa. His try from halfway, or was it half a yard, against Wales. His role in Colin Meads’ ordering off in 1967. (The great All Black had been warned for swinging a boot at Sandy before Meads repeated the offence, Dave Chisholm this time, and Kevin Kelleher sent him off.) He told of his lungs burning after only ten minutes of the Baa Baas match, the fastest game he ever played in. Sandy missed the post-match celebrations. He showered, changed and headed to the airport. He had a Scotland squad session the next day. He couldn’t remember who Scotland played the following week. It was Wales. Scotland defeated JPR, Gerald, Phil, Gareth, Delme, Melvyn et al by 10-9. Not a bad eight days. For years, his front row partner, Ian McLauchlan, Mighty Mouse, insisted he was younger than Sandy. Then, one night, Sandy got a telephone call from Mrs McLauchlan inviting him to a surprise fiftieth birthday party for her husband. Could Sandy attend? Damn tooting, he could. He was only forty-eight. He loved telling that story. Sandy was a great listen when he spoke of the technical side of the game, the scrummaging, of course. He considered Ray McLoughlin of Ireland the best loose head he played against because he was so technically good.
Wherever you went in rugby and mentioned the name of A B Carmichael, the response was always the same. Whether it was the guys at Langholm, or JPR at the Bridgend Breakfast Club, we were always told to wish him well, “a great guy”. A few years ago, the 1974 Lions had a reunion dinner. Sadly, Sandy was in hospital and could not attend. The telephone rang. By the end of the call, every Lion at the dinner had spoken to Sandy. That meant so much to him, that said so much about him.
Our condolences, of course, go to Sandy’s family and friends. One friend, in particular. David Shedden’s daughter, Lynne Stevenson, thought the world of “her pal”. Sandy’s health had not been great for some time but throughout lockdown, he called Lynne to make sure she and her family were okay. What a joy of a man.
