To fill the void of this Saturday, our regular date for the Sevens, we are indebted to the late John Golightly’s grand-daughter Naomi for this week’s Peeps into the past.

This was the famous day on Saturday 5th April 1969 when Haddington A played Haddington B in the final, after the late withdrawal of another team.

The teams can be deduced from the autographed programme as follows:

Haddington A	Haddington B
Colin Young	Allan Golightly
Alan Smith	Finlay Guy
Malcolm Jones	Derek Sampson
Ronnie Skea	Robin Skea
Frank Strang	John Golightly
Stuart Cunningham	Hugo Erskine
Dick Short	AN Other

In my head I have Ian Scambler playing for Haddington B. However he was also a back, if so a back would have to play in the forwards, unusual in those days.

Fascinating match ups:

The Skea brothers against each other
Erskine v Cunningham, both excellent hookers at Sevens and Fifteens
Six Club Captains and two vice captains, and some very good sevens players
Naomi’s “Grumpa John” and Great Uncle Allan in the same side.
Finlay Guy playing in his early 30s against youngsters like Colin Young, who in turn would add age and experience to a largely Colts Seven some 14 years later.

Records state:
“There were many heated touchline arguments before the final was played as to the likely victors, but the judgement of the selectors was vindicated when the A team won quite convincingly”

This youngster was certainly impressed by how good Haddington were at Sevens!

We have attached a picture of the first sevens squad of that season, but we have none of the Final itself or the two teams, so if anyone can help, and the line-ups can be confirmed, then great.

Rugby and HRFC was the winner!