Oban’s Dee makes worldwide sporting history
OBAN Lorne RFC president Dee Bradbury made history at Murrayfield national stadium on Saturday, when she was elected as the Scottish Rugby Union’s (SRU) first female vice-president.
When the SRU’s new president, Rob Flockhart, steps down in 2018, Dee will also become the governing body’s first woman president since it was founded 145 years ago and the first female in the world to lead a ‘tier one’ rugby country.
She won a three-way election for the role by a margin of 25 votes, securing 98 votes to Ian Barr’s 73 and John Davidson’s 25 at the SRU’s annual general meeting.
Dee, a retired Oban police officer, said: ‘My first reaction was delight the clubs have had the vision to support me in this role, and the second reaction was that I must go and phone my 85-year-old father which I did, and that was an immense moment.’
President Flockhart said Dee’s appointment is ‘fantastic for Scottish rugby and Scottish sport. It sends a message out that rugby really does encompass every part of society, men and women, boys and girls.’
Dee, a former pupil of Keil School, Dumbarton, is married to Nick and has two sons: Magnus, who plays for Edinburgh Rugby, and Fergus, a national age-grade prop.
The former multi-eventer represented Scotland and Great Britain in athletics and played representative netball, before taking up rugby while president of Oban Lorne RFC and secretary of Argyll and Bute RFC. She also represents Scottish rugby on Rugby Europe, the sport’s European governing body, and the Women’s Rugby Forum on the Scottish Rugby Council.