We learned this week that a Teri exile now residing in Haydon Bridge, near Hexham, had received a British Empire Medal in the New Year Honours List.
Peter Robertson, a former Greens player of the 1960s and well-respected referee once he retired from the game, received his award for services to rugby in Scotland and the north-east of England.
Peter played tight-head in the 15-a-sides and hooker in the sevens. In the latter he was a member of the all-conquering Greens that won ten sevens on the trot in the 1966-67 season, alongside the likes of Rob Welsh, Colin Telfer, Rob Brydon and Norman Robertson.
Rob, best man at Peter’s wedding, told us: “Peter worked hard at his rugby. Along with Harry Whitaker, they practiced scrumaging long after everyone else had finished on training nights.”
As well as his 1961-69 spell with the Greens, Peter played for the Combined Scottish Districts against South Africa whom they beat, as well as New Zealand and Australia.
The 76-year-old told us: “I played for the high school, had one game for the PSA, then moved to the Trades [where he showed his playing skills], prior to turning out in a green jersey.”
Forced to retire due to injury in 1970, he took up refereeing in the Borders.
Refereeing is now very much part of his life with Tynedale RFC, prior to which he was the club coach.
Apart from this, Peter has always been involved in the administrative, refereeing and disciplinary aspects of club life at Tynedale.
This led to him taking up the post of president in 1990 and, following his two years in the role, he served on the management committee until 2015.
In 1989 the widely-respected referee became an elite refereeing assessor for the Scottish Rugby Union, and is currently a performance reviewer for the national body.
When his BEM became public, people in his area said it was “very well deserved” for their “local hero”, a “true unsung servant of Scottish rugby, Tynedale RFC and throughout the general rugby community”.
His father, John, was Hawick RFC president in 1969-70 and 1970-71, and, being a policeman and moving around the Borders, Peter attended primary schools at Jedburgh and Duns, Berwickshire High School in Duns, Jedburgh Grammar and Hawick High.
In 1966 he gained a degree in pharmacy at Heriot-Watt University, and for a spell worked at McWilliams’ chemist shop on the High Street.
He was brought up in Fisher Avenue and also lived in Raeson Park and Mansfield Road during his time in Hawick.
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