Rugby Club ISSUE 83 | Page 21

Greenock Wanderers Michael McLaren is a scrum half for the 1st XV at Greenock Wanderers. He recently told us, “My dad Jim, who met my mum Jennifer on a skiing trip, impressing her with his chivalry, carrying her skies up the slope was a great fan of rugby and a quick winger and both he and Jennifer were supporters of the club. Michael’s uncle Stewart Mackay played hooker for the Wanderers. I aspired to be like my elder brother Donald who played rugby for the club and at the age of 3 started playing mini rugby. I was always on the smaller side so Scrum-half was an ideal position and although I did play Standoff, at 6 foot 3 I still play the same position. I just loved everything about playing rugby! After time away from rugby through work commitments and subsequently the family business I returned last season at age 34. McLaren packaging are a long-standing club sponsor and have always liked to give a little back to the club. I enjoy being part of the club which is working well on and off the pitch and particularly as a mini myself I like the efforts made to encourage children to play. I urge my team mates to knuckle down and wishes everyone continued success for the remainder of the 2018/2019 campaign!” Ambitions “We made it to National 2 which for a small town with high unemployment was a good feat. A lot of the Glasgow clubs are not far from us so I would like to think in five years time that we could make it back to the equivalent of National 2. I’m not sure what that will look like with the changes that are being made but that is where we’d like to be in the next five years and I’d deem that to be a success. We rely heavily on our sponsors and volunteers and I’m pleased to say that we have a lot of people now that want to be associated with the club because of the work the team is doing on the park.” www.rugbyclubmag.com 21