SCOTTISH rugby has lost a great servant with the passing of Charlie Ritchie, as proud and committed a sporting character as the North-east has ever known.
A great sadness for Ritchie was that his elevation to the top post in Scottish rugby, Scott
ish Rugby Union president, after a 16-year period serving the game on the SRU general committee, came just six months after his wife, Helen, passed away. She had been his companion and supporter as he rose through the ranks from playing in the front row for Aberdeen Grammar School FPs to representing Scottish Rugby Union as president.
Helen had travelled with him to Australia on a Scotland tour in 1992, and as a paying spectator to South Africa for the 1995 Rugby World Cup, but she died in December 1996. Ritchie had also suffered with a tumour before this. It was removed, but left severe and noticeable tissue damage, which Ritchie simply brushed aside, as he did any minor irritations.
He had served rugby in the North of Scotland with terrific commitment and enthusiasm and no little aggression, as he regularly fought the sport's corner against what he often termed the "south and Edinburgh mafia".
Ritchie was never slow to speak his mind, and often had a wry response to bland platitudes, not to mention probing questions from the press, but he remained a warm soul; someone you would be pleased was in your team rather than against, and a character who earned respect throughout the sport and across the country.
In the North-east, particularly, people genuinely looked up to Charlie Ritchie. They saw a canny standard bearer and were happy to join forces with him.
Ritchie's early years were spent at Ferry Hill Primary School, then Aberdeen Grammar, where he was a clever pupil who enjoyed many subjects, including languages and, obviously, rugby.
He spoke German and served two years' national service in Germany with the intelligence corps before returning to Aberdeen, where he worked for Guardian Royal Exchange insurers, specialising in motor insurance.
But that was almost a side issue to his real work, in the "office" of Rubislaw. The rugby ground was his second home. It was where Ritchie's passion for rugby was at its most vivid, from when he played on Saturdays, incredibly making more than 500 appearances as a hooker or prop between 1951 and 1970, to when he helped start mini-rugby on Sunday mornings, introducing sons Niall and Malcolm to the game; from helping to organise fixtures for senior sides to leading golf outings under the Grammar banner.
His commitment to the sport after his playing days almost seems part of a bygone era, but it was the kind upon which Scottish rugby relied for decades. Ritchie was secretary at Grammar FPs for 12 years, a district selector for 11 and North District secretary from 1976-82, when he was elected the North's representative on the SRU.
There he served for 16 years, fulfilling a wide variety of roles, including chairing various sub-committees, acting as liaison officer for touring sides and managing the Scotland squad on tour to Australia in 1992 – all the time as a volunteer.
He still had full-time work commitments and a family on whom he doted, and one only has to check the miles travelled from Aberdeen to Murrayfield, or the paperwork he got through, to appreciate the effort he put in.
After he retired from Guardian he and Helen bought the Colwyn Hotel in Aberdeen and became known far and wide for their warm Scottish hospitality.
But rugby remained at the heart of Ritchie's life, and even after his involvement with the SRU committee he remained an active member at Grammar, taking on the role of rugby section president at Rubislaw, and someone club members could turn to for support and sage advice.
Only after another large and aggressive tumour was discovered at the turn of the year did he begin to accept that he could not run through the day quite as quickly as he once had. He never complained – that wasn't his style – and he still took his seat at Murrayfield for the RBS Six Nations matches in the spring.
But this was one fight Charlie could not win. He kept up with rugby courtesy of a warm seat in the house, Sky Sports and the friendship of club members, while he could rely on seven-year-old granddaughter Jessica to check his ball-catching skills and keep him well entertained.
All who knew him were unsurprised that Charlie fought his illness with courage and without a whinge, which was why the news that he had passed away this week brought an overwhelming feeling of loss in rugby circles, particularly across the North-east.
Aberdeen Grammar School FPs will have a minute's silence before their Division Two match with Jed-Forest tomorrow as a mark of respect. A tribute in the club programme states: "…we can nowadays never hope to replace someone of his stature and all who now play or take part in rugby are due him a great debt of gratitude. His greatest legacy will be our success in building upon his lifetime's work to continue to grow and strengthen his beloved sport in Aberdeen, the North-east and beyond."
Ritchie asked that his body be donated to medical science, so there will be no funeral, but a memorial service is being planned for next midweek, where else, but Rubislaw.
The full article contains 934 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
