British Lion Billy Steele

This is an article I have written for The Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser out on Thursday 31st May about my good friend Billy Steele who has just received this presentation as he represented the British and Irish Lions on their tour of South Africa in 1974.

British Lions Cap for Langholm Man Billy Steele

Langholm has been very fortunate that over the years there have been 8 players from the town represented Scotland but only one of these players has ever represented The British and Irish Lions.

Billy Steele was born in Langholm in 1947 and started his playing career with Langholm before he left the town to begin a career in the RAF. Although he never again lived in the town he came back on numerous occasions to play for Langholm Rugby Club.

He was first capped for Scotland on 15^th March 1969 when he played against England at Twickenham, which Scotland lost 8-3.

In 1974 he was selected to tour South Africa with The British and Irish Lions. This was to become probably the finest rugby team to leave these shores and the 10-week tour become a legend. It still remains the only unbeaten tour by the British and Irish Lions.

They played a total of 22 games winning 21 of them and drawing the final game of the tour against The Springboks in Johannesburg on 27^th July 1974. This was very controversial as Fergus Slattery scored a try in the last minute of the game but the referee disallowed it and the result remained a draw. 

The Captain of The Lions was the famous Willie John McBride and Billy was one of 6 Scottish players in the tour, namely Andy Irvine, William Steele, Ian McGeechan, Ian McLauchlan, Sandy Carmichael, and Gordon Brown.

It was also the tour that made the song Flower of Scotland so popular and eventually become the Scottish National Anthem. The song was very popular among the tourists despite the fact there was only 6 Scots in the touring party.  The Lions had won the first test in Cape Town against the Springboks and so 2 weeks later were heading to the Pretoria stadium in the bus. They started singing Flower of Scotland as they got near to the stadium and were only half way through it when the bus arrived. They continued to sing it, led by Billy Steele and despite the Rugby authorities at the stadium trying to get them to leave the bus they finished the song and in the words of Captain Willie John felt 10 feet tall as they left the bus and there was no way they would be beaten after that. They won the Test Match by 28 points to 9.

On return to Great Britain after the tour of South Africa the team were voted the Team of the Year award at the BBC Sports Review of the Year in December and Billy Steele as choir-master led the team in the song Flower of Scotland before millions of viewers. The song was adopted as National Anthem in 1990 during the Five Nations Championship match between Scotland and England at Murrayfield, which Scotland won 13-7 to win the Grand Slam. The Scottish Football Association adopted it as the National Anthem in 1997.  

As part of a Strategic Review of The British and Irish Lions in 2014 it was decided to form an Alumni, The 1888 Club and in turn recognize and honour the contributions of this unique group of players. The 1888 Club is made up of all those who have played for the British and Irish Lions and the year 1888 was the original tour out of which subsequent Lions tours were born.  

Anyone who has played for the Lions has been awarded a unique playing number. To celebrate the 835 players who have contributed to the Lions the club has awarded the 419 living Lions and the next of kin of the 416 deceased Lions this ceremonial cap. Each player will be sent a branded presentation box containing a hand-stitched ceremonial cap, each bearing the player’s unique Lions number, a velvet protective bag, a recognition letter from Chairman Tom Grace, and a photograph of the touring party from their tour.

Billy was delighted to receive this presentation box on Tuesday 22^nd May and his wife Tricia has taken these photographs at his home in Burntisland. In his phone conversation with long time friend Gavin Graham he said he was pleased to have played in the amateur era of rugby and the tour of South Africa in 1974 was an unforgettable experience. They were away from home for 10 weeks and the fellowship and camaraderie of the tour was like nothing he had ever experienced before or since. It had been a privilege to represent The British and Irish Lions and this gesture of awarding these special caps brought back so many happy memories.