Life of Reilly

I WAS sad to read of the death of Hibernian legend Lawrie Reilly at 84. I never met him but will long remember a kind letter from him 58 years ago.

As a teenage schoolboy living in England and a fanatical Scotland fan I was desperate to go to Wembley in 1955.

Greatly daring and cheekily I wrote to my hero – “Dear Mr Reilly” – asking if there was any chance of him getting me a ticket.

I received a reply back by return handwritten (how else in those days) saying how sorry he was not to oblige since he only received two tickets. However he hoped that one day I would be playing for Scotland. Unfortunately the talent scouts never spotted me as a student in the Glasgow Colleges League but I did get a chance in the 1970s to play against some of his international successors in a charity match in Paisley. Perhaps he did me a 
favour. The score at Wembley was 7-2 to England but characteristically Reilly scored for us.

A memory of a kind man and a great football player.

(Rev Dr) Iain Whyte

Carlingnose Point

North Queensferry, Fife

Taken from the Scotsman