Bill's Big Sheets
On the run up to every game Bill would start with a large blank piece of paper to which he added every detail to the match. In his office at home Bill created a database of players, officials, grounds etc and added this detail to create the work of art that his family call ‘Bill’s Big Sheets’. If Bill had no or little information he would often phone a player at home asking for height, weight, names of brothers and sisters, nicknames, and even what your favourite food was. Even if a phone call was not possible Bill would attend training sessions putting faces to names and also provide the player data with a impromptu interview with the famous Hawick Balls used as a bribe.
A limited number of Big Sheets are currently available for auction at selected events.
Should you or your organisation be interested in a specific big sheet please contact us giving as much detail as possible, we will check its existence and we will seek permission from the trustees to see if there is an opportunity to release it.
A special limited edition print produced exclusively for the Bill McLaren Foundation is now available for sale, but be quick because there are only a few available! Of the 50 prints produced, ten will be auctioned off at large corporate dinners, leaving 40 for sale to the public. Already half have been pre-sold.
The prints feature an image from the 1988 game between South of Scotland and Australia, with legends Michael Lynagh and David Campese prominent surrounded by ten South players at a packed Mansfield Park. The piece of artwork itself is wonderful but the value has been added by getting 75 of the legends of the South of Scotland to sign it - legends from the early 1950s right through to 1995 when the South played their final game of the amateur era. The print therefore has become a fantastic historical document.
See the print and get your copy here!