By Matt Vallance

Brian Hislop – farmer, rugby player and coach

Born: 27 August, 1952

Died: 24 May, 2017, aged 64.

WITH the untimely death, after a lengthy and courageous battle against cancer of Brian Hislop, Borders rugby, and in particular Langholm, has lost an influential character and a genuine personality.

An old front-row adversary, former Ayr prop and Director of Rugby Jock Craig said of Brian: “He had a dry sense of humour, but you knew, before you even went onto the field against him, you were in for a tough afternoon, with no quarter asked or given, but, off the park, he was terrific company and he is a huge loss to Langholm”.

Kenneth Pool, the Chairman of Langholm said of Brian: “He was a big man and a great character. He was always willing to give good advice and to help-out where he could around the club.”

Rugby was in Brian's DNA. His father Walter played for Langholm for many years, and, aged just four, Brian and his elder brother, also Walter, received their first rugby ball. From then on, it was Brian's life. He played at Langholm Academy, walking the three miles from the family farm to Milntown to watch Langholm, like everyone else in the “Muckle Toun”, rejoicing in the anus mirabilis of 1958-59 when Langholm won their only Border League title – and the unofficial “newspaper” Championship.

On leaving school, he began to work his way up to succeed his father in the Langholm front-row. Walter Hislop Senr. Would ensure his two sons made the six-mile round trip – often cycling - from farm to rugby club to train and play and this, plus the natural gymnasium of the farm in which they worked gave Brian and Walter the natural agricultural strength which made prop Brian and hooker Walter such important players during some 20-years in the Langholm front row. Stacking up to one thousand bales a day during the haymaking season is as good as any iron-pumping gym session.

Langholm might have been one of the lesser Border League sides, but, nobody relished a trip to Milntown to face them and as his reputation grew, Brian was selected for the South side in the Inter-District Championship. He also featured in Scotland Trials, although, he did himself no favours when he played in one trial, competing for the loose-head spot against David Sole, when he ignored suggestions he call-off, having injured a hip two days earlier, when the forestry tractor he was driving had overturned in one Borders forest.

Sole got the Scotland call, Brian got no closer to wearing the thistle than to twice sit on the bench for the Scotland B team, for the matches against France in 1983 and again in 1984.

After retiring, Brian established himself as an excellent coach of young players, patiently explaining the basics of the game to newcomers; while his in-depth knowledge of the dark arts of the front row saw him utilised by the SRU as a scrum technician with the national age-group sides, passing-on his knowledge of front-row play to another generation, including his own son Robin, who won 16 Scotland Under-20 caps during two seasons in the national age group side, before going on to a professional career with Edinburgh, Rotherham Titans and Doncaster Knights.

He was still farming and active around the place up until two or three days before his death – he saw no reason to sit around feeling sorry for the hand he had been dealt and, typically, kept himself busy.

Brian is survived by his wife, Frances, son Robin and daughters Catherine and Lisa. His funeral took place at Ewes Church, near Langholm, at noon on Tuesday, 4 July.