The items within The Sporting Scot have been selected for their entertainment value none more so than the classic humorous essays on sport by A.G. Macdonell. The anthology includes selected writings from novels, short stories and light verse, together with journalism, reports and analysis about sport. It also reflects an awareness that journalism and literature sometimes overlap, i.e. fiction can resemble reportage and great sports writing attain the quality of literature.
There are four chapters, arranged thematically. The book’s opening chapter looks at the Scots contribution to world sports and games, as part of Western culture. Games as diverse as bowls a sport that Scots gave its distinctive form, by writing down and codifying its ’laws’ athletics and cricket. One unlikely occupant of the parent US Hall of Fame is Bobby Thomson, a baseball great from Paisley.
Unsurprisingly, golf, the game that Scotland gave to the world, has a chapter; and another is devoted to the mighty, undisputed world sport of football. This section also covers the traditional village ball games and the Rugby code. The final chapter assembles a melange of sports, games and pastimes under the heading of ’Highland Games’ distinctively Scottish, although one of them, namely curling, has recently come onto a world stage. Shinty, also included here, is an exciting sport, with a literary heritage, that deserves to attain a similar kind of status.
Brian Osborne and Ronnie Armstrong have edited a large number of books, including the best-selling edition of Neil Munro’s Para Handy stories and Erchie and Jimmy Swan. Brian lives in Kirkintilloch and Ronnie in Cardross.
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