Walter Sutherland (rugby union)

Walter Riddell Sutherland (19 October 1890 – 4 October 1918), also known as Wattie Suddie,[1] was a Scotland international rugby union player.[2]

Walter Sutherland
Birth nameWalter Riddell Sutherland
Date of birth(1890-11-19)19 November 1890
Place of birthHawick, Scotland
Date of death4 October 1918(1918-10-04) (aged 27)
Place of deathHulluch, France
Rugby union career
Position(s) Wing
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
Hawick ()
Provincial / State sides
Years Team Apps (Points)
1910 South of Scotland ()
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1910-14 Scotland 13 (12)

Early life

Sutherland was the son of Alexander and Isabella Sutherland of the Imperial Hotel in Hawick, Roxburghshire. He was educated at Teviot Grove Academy before training to be a sanitary inspector in Hawick. He also played cricket and football and was a champion runner, winning the Scottish Borders title at multiple distances.[3]

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He played for Hawick RFC.[3][4]

Provincial career

Sutherland played for the South of Scotland in 1910.[5]

International career

He gained 13 caps playing for the Scotland national rugby union team between 1910 and 1914 and was regarded as the best Scottish wing threequarter of his day.[6]

Military career

The outbreak of the First World War put end to his rugby career, and he served with the Lothians and Border Horse, later the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and finally the Seaforth Highlanders. Second Lieutenant Sutherland was killed in France on 4 October 1918, aged 27, just five weeks before the armistice.[3] He is buried at the Houchin British Cemetery in Pas-de-Calais.[7]

References
  1. McLaren, Bill Talking of Rugby (1991, Stanley Paul, London ISBN 0-09-173875-X), p19
  2. "Walter Riddell Sutherland". ESPN scrum. 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  3. McCrery, Nigel (2014). Into Touch: Rugby Internationals Killed in the Great War. Pen and Sword. pp. 202–203. ISBN 9781781590874. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  4. Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ISBN 1-905326-24-6)
  5. "Register" – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. Bogle, Kenneth, Walter Sutherland Scotland's Rugby Legend 1890–1918 (ISBN 0-7524-3613-9)
  7. "Casualty Details: Sutherland, Walter Riddell". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 24 June 2018.


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