Mike Campbell-Lamerton
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Date of birth | 1 August 1933 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Place of birth | Valletta, Malta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 17 March 2005 | (aged 71)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 17 st (110 kg; 240 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Colonel Michael John Campbell-Lamerton
Military career
He was educated at
He and his lifelong friend,
Three years later, serving in Cyprus during the EOKA campaign, he fell 60 ft from a helicopter in full combat gear, sustaining severe back, hip and leg injuries.
In his military career, he rose to the rank of
Rugby Union career
Amateur career
He played rugby for his regiment (The 'Dukes'), the
Provincial career
He played for the Blues Trial side against the Whites Trial side in 1962 and 1963.
International career
His debut for Scotland came against
However, he also says that Lamerton was not a good national captain: "He was perhaps over-conscientious and a worrier, and hardly spoke the same language as many of the team; it affected his play."[3] In terms of sheer entertainment value, Massie says, "I doubt if any other Scottish lock forward has given so much fun, not even Alastair McHarg."[3]
Richard Bath writes of him that he was:
- "A strong scrummager who held his own in the at the line-out and was a considerable presence in the loose, Campbell-Lamerton excelled in the second row for Scotland from his first cap in 1961 until his 23rd in 1966."[2]
Allan Massie provides a more colourful description of him:
- "The sight of captain M.J. Campbell-Lamerton of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment surging round the tail of a line-out like an enraged hippopotamus was one of the most stirring spectacles in Scottish Rugby. A huge man, 6 feet 5 inches and often over 17 stones, he made an abrupt and unheralded entry into top-class Rugby for a Combined Services team against a Scottish Select at Murrayfield in December 1960. The game was played in a thick haar, and almost the only impression spectators retained of it was of this man-mountain surging out of mist as a mastodon from a primeval swamp. It took him into the Scottish team and he stayed there til 1966 to win twenty-three caps."[5]
Lions in New Zealand (1966)
Though the
Campbell-Lamerton, would not have been out of place in the modern game: he was a big man, at 6 feet 5 inches, weighing more than 17 stone, yet athletic enough to play No. 8 as well as his accustomed position in the
At one stage the manager,
Coaching career
After the tour he retired from playing rugby. In 1972 he was appointed to coach the British Combined services team.[7]
Post-military
He left the Army in 1985 and became
Family
Campbell-Lamerton was born on 1 August 1933 at the Royal Naval Hospital in
In 1956 Campbell-Lamerton met and married Marie-Christine (née Cottrell) while stationed in Gibraltar.[8] They had three sons: Jeremy, (born 1959) who also played lock for Scotland five times in the 1986–7 season,[2] Michael Patrick (born 1958), Ian Anthony (born 1962) and a daughter Clare Josephine Margaret (born 1961).
Awards and honours
Campbell-Lamerton received a
References
- ^ a b c "Obituaries - Col Mike Campbell-Lamerton". The Independent. 29 March 2005. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
- ^ a b c Bath, p123-4
- ^ a b c Massie, p175
- ^ Massie, Allan (19 March 2005). "Lion who won hearts of the fans". The Scotsman. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
- ^ Massie, p174
- OCLC 873089823.
- ^ "Scots Lion to coach Services". Glasgow Herald. 23 November 1972. p. 3. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- ^ "Michael Campbell-Lamerton OBE". The Scotsman. 30 March 2005. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
Sources
- Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1-86200-013-1)
- Massie, Allan A Portrait of Scottish Rugby (Polygon, Edinburgh; ISBN 0-904919-84-6)
External links
- Mike Campbell-Lamerton at ESPNscrum
- profile at Barbarian F.C. player archive