Jim Telfer* played 22 times for Scotland’s rugby union side, though he’s more famous as one of the most successful coaches the game has seen. Born and raised in Melrose in the very heart of Scottish rugby country, Telfer managed to combine a truly outstanding career as a player and coach with a successful professional life as a Borders high school headmaster. In 2021, he was inducted into the Rugby World Hall of Fame. He’s a man entitled to be given a fair hearing.
Now, on the eve of the start of the 2023 Six Nations Championship, Telfer has called for Flower of Scotland to be dumped as Scotland’s anthem.
I agree.
The song, written in the 1960s by Roy Williamson of The Corries, celebrates Scotland’s victory over England at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. For the first few decades of its life, Flower of Scotland was confined mainly to folk clubs. As far as Scotland’s sports authorities were concerned – football, rugby, athletics, cycling and so on – Scotland’s national anthem was God Save the Queen.
In 1990, the Scottish Rugby Union became the first national sports body to use Flower of Scotland. Fittingly, it was played at the start of that year’s game against England, which Scotland handsomely won. The rest is history. Flower of Scotland is now heard at all international sporting events involving Scotland (we dream of hearing it played at a World Cup final).
The song lifts the hearts of Scots everywhere. We all know the words. Most importantly, it’s ours. It’s uniquely ours. We don’t share it with any other nation. It allows us to be Scots without bothering very much at all about politics, or religion, or class, money, school, clan or even ethnic origin. New Scot or ancient Scot this is our history and the story of a great victory sung to gird the loins of those who today wear Scotland’s colours in pursuit of peaceful sporting success. So, what’s the problem?
Telfer argues that Flower of Scotland defines Scotland in terms of England. That resonates with me. There must be more to Scotland than beating England. I admit there is a certain meaty joy to getting one over on the Auld Enemy, but let’s have a broader canvas. Let’s have an anthem that speaks of the Scotland that is distinctive, warm, welcoming, outward-looking, beautiful, literate, ambitious, peaceful and with a wholly positive vision for humanity.
You might have guessed my choice of anthem. Not only an anthem for sport, but an official anthem for Scotland. The anthem played wherever Scotland stands.
For me, it must be A Man’s a Man for A’ That. It is the greatest hymn of praise to common humanity ever written. I defy any Scot to read the last verse and not be filled with the best of motives:
“Then let us pray that come it may, (As come it will for a’ that,) That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth, Shall bear the gree, an’ a’ that. For a’ that, an’ a’ that, It’s coming yet for a’ that, That Man to Man, the world o’er, Shall brothers be for a’ that.”
Would you choose A Man’s a Man or keep Flower of Scotland; or go for something else entirely?
Bylines Scotland would love to hear what you think, email editor@bylines.scot to send in your views.
*In addition to 22 Scottish caps, Jim Telfer played numerous times for The British Lions (now The British and Irish Lions). For many years, he held senior coaching roles with the Scottish national XV and with the Lions.
