Doddie Weir

George Wilson "Doddie" Weir (4 July 1970 – 26 November 2022) was a Scottish rugby union player who played as a lock.

He made 61 international appearances for the Scotland national team and represented the British & Irish Lions.

He then studied at the Scottish Agricultural College from 1988 to 1991, gaining a Higher National Diploma.

Weir started playing rugby for Stewart's Melville FP RFC.

He was invited on a Scottish Schools tour of New Zealand in 1988.

By 1989 he was playing for Melrose RFC in the Borders and was part of the team that won six Scottish club championships.

He had one solitary cap for Scotland B against Ireland B on 9 December 1989.

The Herald columnist Brian Meek wrote: "Melrose's Doddie Weir still looks like he should eat more porridge, but his jumping and catching are a joy to watch... and he gets about."

Weir's first senior appearance for Scotland was on 10 November 1990 against at Murrayfield Stadium.

A mainstay of the team throughout the 1990s, he was a fan favourite of the Murrayfield crowd.

His first Rugby World Cup was in 1991, where Scotland lost in the third-place play-off to New Zealand.

Weir was selected for the Reds Trial side to play against the Blues Trial side on 4 January 1992.

After the match, The Aberdeen Press and Journal wrote:

No way, however, should the selectors revert to Doddie Weir for the boiler-room.

The Melrose youngster's future must lie at No. 8. He is simply not heavy enough to tangle with the giant English locks.

He featured for the Barbarian F.C. invitational side on six occasions, making his debut against Newport in 1992 and captaining the club on his final appearance against the Combined Services in 2002.

In March 1993, he was drafted in to Scotland's Sevens team for the Hong Kong Sevens when Iain Morrison sustained an injury.

He moved to England in 1995 to join English Division Two side Newcastle Gosforth.

The professional era was underway and Weir was now playing full-time.

For the 1996–7 season the club took the new name of Newcastle Falcons and gained promotion.

The following season the club won their first Premiership title.

With the change to professional rugby, he was recruited to Newcastle Falcons playing 1997–2002 and he captained the club.

In August 2000 he was named as Newcastle Falcon's captain for the forthcoming season.

He captained the team that was victorious in the 2001 Powergen Cup final.

He played 97 matches for the club.

He returned to the Borders in 2002 but retired from professional rugby in 2004.

In February 2002, the Falcons announced that Weir, Gary Armstrong and George Graham would all leave the club at the end of the season to join the newly reformed Borders Rugby team.

Weir remained with the Borders team until his retirement from professional rugby.

Weir and Armstrong finished their playing career at the Border Reivers in May 2004.

In 2016 he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease (MND).

He became involved with campaigning and fundraising, setting up a foundation named "My Name'5 Doddie" which had raised £8 million for MND research by the time that he died from this condition.

The Doddie Weir Cup is named after him.

Weir was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the eldest of four children.

He was the son of Nanny (Margaret, née Houston) and Jock Weir.

From early childhood he was always affectionately known by the traditional Scottish nickname Doddie, rather than being called George.

He was brought up on Cortleferry Farm, near the village of Stow in the Scottish Borders.

He was brought up with horses and he competed at local gymkhanas along with his sister Kirsty.

Later he went on to represent Scotland at national equestrian events.

Once, at the Scottish Horse Trials, he competed against Princess Anne.

Weir was educated at Fountainhall primary school and then at Daniel Stewart's and Melville College in Edinburgh from primary six onwards.