It was a thrill and an honour to be selected to play for Scotland at Eurobowl XI in Athens this autumn. Having only started a few short years ago it feels like a meteoric journey from picking up Blood Bowl 2 on Playstation to rolling dice in your country’s jersey at the biggest Blood Bowl tournament outside the World Cup.
I’m delighted to have been given the privilege by my fellow coaches, teammates and the wider Scottish Blood Bowl community of being the next Scotland Captain to lead the team out in Hungary at Eurobowl XVI. I hope to repay the faith the team and the wider community has shown in me. Likewise, I’m keen to encourage more Scottish coaches to undertake a similar journey within the game if they so desire. I stand ready to serve as well as to lead.
Team Scotland with Team France, eventual winners in Round 1 of Eurobowl XV in Athens
Thank you Purdindas
However, before I get into my vision for my captaincy let me start by thanking Ant Purdie (Purdindas) as the outgoing Scotland Captain on behalf of the team and the community as a whole for his hard work over the last year. Indeed for many years of service to our community. He’s captained Scotland at Eurobowl on four occasions, is our most capped player and has agreed to support me as Vice Captain in Hungary next year. Without his dedication over the years I’m sure I’d be building from a lower platform, and I know I’ll be relying on the wisdom he’s gained, so thank you Ant.
A bright future for Shyrike
Any election that is competed for in a volunteer setting is a healthy sign of growth. By extension thanks go to Callum Morrison (Shyrike) for taking the time and effort to put himself forward as a worthy candidate for the captaincy as well.
It’s no understatement to say that a contested election with a vibrant question and answer session from Scottish coaches sharpened and clarified my thinking in a way that it wouldn’t have been possible. It’s clear Shyrike put in a lot of hard yards and thinking too and I’m sure he will have a lot to add to the Squad both on the board and as we think together about the changes to the Charter to continually evolve and advance our approach. A well-earned Happy Christmas break, after that marathon election.
L:R - Mournival, Shryike, BB_Jock, Purdindas, MarkyMarc, LordGarlack
Thank you to our unsung hero of the community - Chris Rafferty
I’d like to take this moment to shine a light, my personal thanks and also extend on behalf of the Scottish Community all our thanks to Chris Rafferty, Scottish Blood Bowl Chairman. I can say without doubt one of the most hard-working volunteers our community has.
Having managed to stumble into a tied vote Chris stepped up to run the community wide election and all the responsibility and extra work that comes with being responsible as the Returning Officer. Thank you for everything you do - all your hard work in this election and for the community is appreciated, and doesn’t go unnoticed.
My Priorities for Team Scotland
For those who’re interested I laid out my manifesto to the Scottish electorate of active Alumni coaches and this year’s automatic qualifying coaches. In short my priorities fall into two categories;
Here and now with a focus on what the Squad can achieve in Hungary at Eurobowl XVI next October.
Secondly, how do we set about building the team and the community’s skill base in the long-term for future success.
For a number of years the core priority has been for Team Scotland to win hosting rights at a Eurobowl and the mission for Budapest remains the same - bring back Eurobowl XVII to Scotland in 2028.
The key metric that the team and I will be focussing on is a minimum of three wins and no more than one loss as we go up against the best coaches in Europe - no easy task.
Looking Beyond Eurobowl XVI
Scotland is a relatively small community with 134 coaches in total. Although we are the eleventh largest nation in terms of the number of NAF coaches. At the moment we have a decent number of strong coaches, but unfortunately a lot of them are not available for selection due to understandable family commitments and life in general.
However, on the positive side within the wider community we have a strong desire from many coaches to advance their game whilst seeing the sights further afield across European Blood Bowl. Whether that’s playing at the Europen or eventually being capped for Scotland in a Eurobowl.
It’s important we support their ambitions. To that end, as well as managing and leading the squad this year I will be forming a Task and Finish group to review the current Scotland Charter.
The group will be formed from experienced, long-standing coaches who’ve been involved in the Team Scotland set-up over the years and importantly representation from the Scottish Blood Bowl Committee too. This will ensure that views up and down the spectrum of coaches within the Scottish community are taken account of.
The aim is to build a framework for growth of talent in the long-term. It won’t be rushed, and will probably get started in February next year once we’ve got the squad for Hungary selected.
Selection for the Scotland Squad for Hungary - Opens Soon!
With the captain in place, it’s now time to turn our attention to selecting the Team Scotland Squad who will lead the charge on Budapest. There are a few final pieces of jigsaw to be assembled; the Scotland Selection Committee, finalising the application form and setting out the timetable.In the next day or two I will set out the timetable, process and selection criteria that we will be using as our guide to assemble the best squad we can. The application deadline will conclude shortly into the new year to give us time to analyse applications and make the key decisions.
For now, thanks once again to those who’ve put their faith in me as their captain. I hope to repay them when the Scotland Squad delivers a top performance in Budapest next year.
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