Walter Sutherland (rugby union) explained

Walter Sutherland
Birth Date:19 November 1890
Birth Place:Hawick, Scotland
Death Place:Hulluch, France
Ru Position:Wing
Amatteam1:Hawick
Ru Provinceyears1:1910
Repteam1:Scotland
Repyears1:1910-14
Repcaps1:13
Reppoints1:12

Walter Riddell Sutherland (19 October 1890 – 4 October 1918), also known as Wattie Suddie,[1] was a Scotland international rugby union player.[2]

Early life

Sutherland was the son of Alexander and Isabella Sutherland of the Imperial Hotel in Hawick, Roxburghshire. He was educated at Teviot Grove Academy before training to be a sanitary inspector in Hawick. He also played cricket and football and was a champion runner, winning the Scottish Borders title at multiple distances.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He played for Hawick RFC.[3] [4]

Provincial career

Sutherland played for the South of Scotland in 1910.[5]

International career

He gained 13 caps playing for the Scotland national rugby union team between 1910 and 1914 and was regarded as the best Scottish wing threequarter of his day.[6]

Military career

The outbreak of the First World War put end to his rugby career, and he served with the Lothians and Border Horse, later the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and finally the Seaforth Highlanders. Second Lieutenant Sutherland was killed in France on 4 October 1918, aged 27, just five weeks before the armistice.[3] He is buried at the Houchin British Cemetery in Pas-de-Calais.

External links

Notes and References

  1. McLaren, Bill Talking of Rugby (1991, Stanley Paul, London), p19
  2. Web site: Walter Riddell Sutherland . ESPN scrum . 2021-06-11 . 2021-06-11.
  3. Book: McCrery . Nigel . Into Touch: Rugby Internationals Killed in the Great War . 2014 . Pen and Sword . 9781781590874 . 202–203 . 24 June 2018 . en.
  4. Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007)
  5. Web site: Register . registration . British Newspaper Archive.
  6. Bogle, Kenneth, Walter Sutherland Scotland's Rugby Legend 1890–1918