A DOZEN or so years ago a young physiotherapist, recently graduated,
watched Scotland's rugby internationals on television and thought how he
would like to be out there, instead of his former lecturer, tending to
injured players. For James Robson, though, it has been no fantasy.
Robson was Scotland's physiotherapist in the World Cup last year, and
he is going on even further. He heard at the weekend that the Scottish
Rugby Union's nomination had been accepted for him to be on the medical
team for the Lions' tour to New Zealand next year. He acknowledged that
it has been a bonus for him to have degrees in both medicine and
physiotherapy: he will be the Lions' doctor rather than physio.
From 1977 to 1980 Robson studied at Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh,
and in his first year there one of his lecturers was David McLean, the
Scotland XV's physio at that time. McLean, now at Queen's College,
Glasgow, has since moved on in rugby to be the national squad's fitness
coach. Others have been running on to the field with the black bag.
That, though, is not the only link between Robson's student days and
his SRU duties. The medical examiner at the end of his physiotherapy
course was none other than Donald Macleod, chairman of the union's
medical advisory committee and, coincidentally, Robson's predecessor as
the Lions' doctor in New Zealand on the 1983 tour.
After graduation Robson worked in the physiotherapy department of
Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary. ''I saw the limitations of that job,'' he
recalled. ''I'd always wanted to do medicine and go into general
practice. I saw the potential in being an all-rounder, doing sports
medicine as well.''
His plan for his own future could hardly have worked out better,
though he readily acknowledges he has been lucky that ''openings have
cropped up.''
Robson went to Dundee University in 1982 to study medicine, and it was
while he was there that he was drawn into rugby's net as the first
qualified physio that the North and Midlands district team had enlisted.
Since then he has progressed through the ranks, though he does not
forget the roots. He serves Dundee High School FP as dutifully as
Scotland.
His first engagement with Scotland was on the tour to North America
last year, and shortly afterwards he was offered the World Cup role.
Bill Collins, who had been the Scots' senior physio earlier that year,
had gone to Rangers. ''He had had the World Cup lined up. So I got it by
default,'' Robson recalled with typical modesty.
Robson could not go on Scotland's tour to Australia earlier this year.
Time was not available when he was settling into practice in Dundee, but
he returned to the frame with the Scotland A team in Madrid earlier this
month.
Even though Robson is going on the Lions' tour he will be accompanied
by a physiotherapist. Kevin Murphy, England's long-serving physio, will
be making his third trip with the Lions, having been in New Zealand in
1983 and Australia in 1989.
On those two tours the Lions had unbalanced medical duties, with the
physio oversubscribed in comparison with the doctor. Next year, however,
the physiotherapy workload can be shared: Robson's dual qualification
will be a bonus for the Lions as well as himself.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article