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George 'Doddie' Weir was one of rugby’s most recognisable personalities. He earned 61 caps for Scotland during a successful playing career, represented the British and Irish Lions on their successful tour to South Africa in 1997, and won championships with his two club sides, Melrose and Newcastle Falcons.
Doddie was born on 4 July 1970 into a farming family in the Scottish borders. He was educated at Stewarts Melville College, Edinburgh – where he started his rugby career – and then went on to gain an HND in Agriculture at what was then the Scottish Agricultural College in Edinburgh. His professional club career began in 1989 when he joined Melrose RFC, and in 1990 won his first cap for Scotland against Argentina at Murrayfield. In 1995 he moved to Newcastle Falcons where he stayed until 2002, for the love of the club and a good woman – his wife to be, Kathy! They were married in 1997.
Doddie was the first child of Jock and Nanny Weir and was followed by a sister and two brothers, all of whom still live in the borders area and all of whom have their own families, meaning there were many (often raucous!) family gatherings and never a shortage of cousins available to cause chaos with Doddie and Kathy’s three sons Hamish, Angus and Ben.
Not long after the birth of their first son, Hamish, Doddie and Kathy moved back to the Scottish Borders and then moved to a 300 acre stock farm. On retiring from professional rugby, Doddie took something of a sideways move to become Commercial Director of Hutchinson Environmental Solutions, a waste management company whose marketing slogan at the time 'Your number twos are our number one!' epitomised Doddie's humour and outlook on life, which also served him well as a successful and well-loved after-dinner speaker.
In June 2017 he revealed he was suffering from Motor Neuron Disease. From the outset, Doddie had been driven to help fellow sufferers and seek ways to further research into this as yet incurable disease. In November 2017, Doddie and his trustees launched the registered charity, My Name’s Doddie Foundation, whose vision is simple: A World Free of MND.
He passed away in November 2022.
