A Ross Scott

“The Primary Aim of a Harrier Club is not to train runners for competition in the Athletics Arena but to encourage healthy strenuous Open Air Exercise.”

(A Ross Scott)

A R Scott first appears in the club records in season 1892/93 as ‘AR Scott, Butterbiggins Road, Glasgow’ and that year had won no first prizes anywhere but did have one second prize to his name.   This single prize is the only record of him actually being a racing member and almost all of his career in athletics was as an administrator and financial expert.   The following two seasons were remarkable only in that he became a Committee Member before taking on extra responsibilities.   The accumulation of these increased at a rapid rate.   The progress is impressive:

1895/96:   General Committee member  +  Team Leader for HQ District Number 4.

This was the first time that he was to be referred to as ‘A Ross Scott’, the

name that he would be known by thereafter.

1896/97:   Vice President  +  Team Leader  +  Finance Committee Member.

1897/98:   President  +  Team Leader  +  Finance Committee  + Rep to West District

Committee of the SCCU with Andrew  Hannah:   they  would  be  club

representatives for many years on many Committees.

1898/99:   President  +  Team Leader + Finance Committee Member + Rep to West

District Committee +  SCCU’s representative to the SAAA (with Andrew

Hannah.)

1899/1900: President  +  Representative to SCCU  +  SCCU’s rep to SAAA.

1900/01:   President  +  Finance Committee  +  Handicapping Committee  +

representative to SCCU Committee.   (As treasurer on the SAAA

Committee he did not have to represent a club but was there as an

office  bearer.)

The position of team leader was part of the club system to have all districts represented on the Committee with the team leader representing them; at the same time there were committee representatives to the areas – MF Dickson was the representative to the Dunbartonshire Section for instance.   The ‘District No 4’ refereed to included the Glasgow Districts of Hutchesontown, Gorbals, Cathcart and Pollokshaws.

His career from this point on is remarkable for its longevity and its concentration on finances.   It might be thought that he would become gradually divorced from grass roots athletics and involved in the national scene.   After all he was treasurer of the two major athletics bodies in the country and secretary of one of them.   This did not happen.   For the remainder of his career in athletics he stayed on the club committee but only held the two positions: he was a general committee member and stayed on the finance committee where one of his colleagues was Matthew F Dickson who would follow his career almost exactly, taking over as SAAA Treasurer in 1911 when Ross Scott ceased all his athletics activities leaving all committees in the same year.

The record can maybe be best seen if the jobs he had are listed side by side:

He was succeeded by club mate Matthew F Dickson who also specialised in finances but who restricted himself to the SAAA.   A Ross Scott’s 13 years holding down what was effective three of the top jobs in Scottish Sport was a quite remarkable feat and one unparalleled in Scottish Athletics.    He attended Club Committee Meetings for many years and attended the club’s 40^th Anniversary Dinner in 1925 where a report said “Official positions in the general government of the sport were held by A MacNab and Andrew Hannah who were both Presidents of the Cross Country Union but perhaps no man worked harder for the expansion of the recreation than A Ross Scott who was secretary of the Cross Country Union from 1898 to 1911.   A Ross Scott also had the honour of being the Chairman of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association in the year 1903/4 and the only other Clydesdale to hold that position was Andrew Hannah.   Both are still hale and hearty.”  

 The quotation at the top is from Ross Scott himself and it seems light years ahead of the times in terms of insight.   When all around him were seeking competitive advantage, he was playing up the health benefits of athletics for all.

Known mainly as an extremely competent administrator, he was also a top ranked official who actually was one of those at the London Olympics in 1908.    The Summer Olympics of 1908 was to have taken place in Rome, but due to an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the venue was changed to London, with each of the UK nation’s supplying officials.

The final of the 400m had four runners on an unlined track.   There were three Americans and one British  runner: Scotland’s Wyndham Halswell.   Halswell was blocked by the American John Carpenter and the race was declared void. The final was rerun with only one runner, after the other two Americans athletes refused to take part. Wyndham Halswell, ran the race to win gold, becoming the only athlete ever to win an Olympic gold medal by a walkover. A Ross Scott was one of the judges for the rerun.

That report on the 50^th Anniversary Dinner was written in 1929 and ten years later his death was recorded in the club minute of 4^th September 1939 as follows: “J Gray announced the death of Mr A Ross Scott one of the founders of the NCCU and Secretary of same for a number of years.   Mr A Ross Scott was also President and Secretary of Clydesdale Harriers.”