104 ,000 saw Scots beat Welsh
Biggar remembers a roaring triumph against megastars
The fans swarmed onto the pitch. I wanted to shake hands with every single one
WHEN the Scotland players run out at an almost silent Murrayfield to take on Wales in today’s Six Nations showdown, the contrast to the electric atmosphere which greeted Mike Biggar and his team-mates against the same opposition at the same venue will be stark.
The year was 1975. The crowd, astonishingly, was a then-world record 104,000, all of whom had paid at the gate. Many actually think that was a conservative estimate, with tens of thousands more packed inside. There were certainly thousands more locked out.
In fact, it remains the biggest ever crowd in northern hemisphere rugby, only being overtaken as a world record when 109,874 supporters watched New Zealand beat Australia 39-35 in Sydney in 2000.
So it’s wonderful, for so many reasons, to hear a hero like Biggar recount his thoughts and memories from that March day when the Scots defeated their Welsh counterparts 12-10 to a backdrop of deafening roars.
After all, this is a man who probably shouldn’t be here, having nearly lost his life in a car crash 29 years ago which left him with permanent brain damage and confined to a wheelchair.
And now, at 71, he has just been awarded the MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List after raising nearly £89,000 for NHS charities by taking steps out of his wheelchair — 39 on the day we spoke, taking his total to 6,956 — outside his home.
But the former back-row forward still finds time to chat with
Sportsmail and recall the day that fans from both sides crammed into Murrayfield in incredible numbers to cheer on their heroes.
‘You could tell that it was going to be a special occasion by the time it took us to get to Murrayfield on the bus as there were so many fans in the streets on their way to the game,’ said Biggar (right).
‘I was told later there were tens of thousands inside the stadium hours before kick-off — that certainly was the case when we finally arrived. It was incredible. It was so exhilarating.’ The numbers were so massive because a reputed 50,000 Welshmen and women had made the journey north knowing they didn’t have to buy tickets in advance. Thousands of them had been in Edinburgh since the Friday, and were first in line to get into Murrayfield when the turnstiles opened. Once the Scots fans turned up, it was chaos.
You could understand the excitement. Wales were going for the Grand Slam in the old Five Nations after wins over France and England. Not to be outdone, the Scottish fans had their eyes on the Triple Crown because, although their team had lost to France in Paris, they had beaten Ireland at Murrayfield.
Welsh players knew they would be well supported, as they lay in their bedrooms in the North British Hotel waiting to go to the game.
‘I turned on Grandstand, presented by Frank Bough live from Murrayfield, and there was nobody behind him,’ said Sir Gareth Edwards. ‘They went back to him 20 minutes later after racing from Wolverhampton and there were tens of thousands of Welshman on the terraces. I had never seen so many fans in the ground so early and we hadn’t even left our hotel.’
Biggar knew the Welsh would be well represented but had no problems with that. ‘The Scottish fans were incredible that day and we were fired up ourselves,’ he said.
‘I was in a back row with David Leslie, who was an incredibly brave and talented player, and Nairn MacEwan, who was a passionate Scottish Nat, and I was a proud Scottish exile. You could sense the passion inside us every time we pulled on a Scotland jersey. We were ready for the challenge and when we ran out the tunnel? I had never heard roars like it. Amazing.’
Biggar played his part in a famous Scotland win despite the home side lacking the star names.
‘The Welsh did have megastars with the likes of Gareth Edwards, JPR Williams, JJ Williams, the list was endless,’ he recalled. ‘Gareth Edwards was a world-class player but our Dougie Morgan played better than him that day and put over three penalties. Ian McGeechan also put over a drop goal and we won 12-10. We had top players like Lewis Dick, David Bell. Everybody stood up to be counted that day.
‘When the final whistle went, it was pandemonium. The crowd swarmed onto the pitch. I was so
excited that if I‘d had my way I would have stayed on and shook hands with every single one of them. It was a moment none of us will ever forget.’
Not all Scottish fans were totally happy. After the game the SRU offices were besieged by angry supporters demanding refunds because they had been charged to get into the ground but never even made it up one of the banks on three sides of Murrayfield — there was just one stand back then — to watch the game. They could only ask fans further up on the terraces what the score was and why everybody was cheering.
To add to the fans’ anger, the SRU refused to give refunds and only worked out around 104,000 had been inside when they counted the turnstile takings on the Monday morning.
Thankfully, there had been no major incidents or injuries despite the fans being cheek by jowl inside the stadium but enough was enough for the Edinburgh police. That was the last pay-at-thegate international match at Murrayfield.
‘It will be very different for the Scotland team today with no fans inside Murrayfield as they really gave us a big lift that day and every time I played there,’ added Biggar. ‘Having no fans will be strange but our boys coped with it well against England at Twickenham.
‘I am going for a Scottish victory, which will give us all something to celebrate in these tough times for everybody.’
Mike Biggar, who was inspired by the amazing efforts of Captain Sir Tom Moore, has a Just Giving page where he is fundraising for supporting NHS staff and volunteers caring for Covid-19 patients run by NHS Charities Together.