Obituary: Graham Dall

Pictured: Graham (left) in action for Edinburgh against Newport, February 2002.

Dall was an immensely gifted flanker and a proven and charismatic leader.

He was part of a great Heriot’s and Edinburgh rugby family.  His dad, Fraser, was the stand-off in Heriot’s championship winning team in 1978-79, having won a Scotland B cap against France in 1973, while his younger brother Andrew was capped against Wales in Cardiff in 2003 and was also a Scotland age-grade cap and mainstay of the Edinburgh professional team.

In a different era, Graham Dall would surely have won a multitude of Scotland caps, but such was the back-row talent at Scotland’s disposal in the late 1990s/early 2000s, and Dall’s decision to concentrate on his medical studies, that that ultimate rugby honour bewilderingly eluded him.

Pictured: Graham in a club headshot session for Edinburgh Rugby, season 2001/02

Yet what a stellar contribution he made to the game in Scotland. He captained the Scottish Schools on their 1993 tour of Australia, which saw them win seven of their games in the space of some 28 days, during which they visited Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, ACT, Queensland and New South Wales. They defeated Australia 17-8 in the sole Test match on the tour.

The friendships cultivated on that tour were so evident some 30 years on when Scottish Rugby marked the anniversary of that triumphant tour by inviting squad and management as guests to the Scotland v France 2023 Rugby World Cup warm-up test at Scottish Gas Murrayfield stadium. And Dall had been the man who had pulled it all together.

Dall led the Scotland under-19 team in season1993-94 and captained the national under-21 side in all ten matches in seasons 1994-95 and 1995-96.

In 1995, while the Scotland team were on Rugby World Cup duty in South Africa, Dall was part of the unbeaten Scotland XV development tour in Zimbabwe, the highlights of which were victories over Zimbabwe in Bulawayo and Harare.

Dall helped Heriot’s to back-to-back club championship successes from 1998 and at the end of that ‘98/99 season he turned full-time to the professional ranks with Edinburgh Reivers, where his rugby nous saw him represent Scotland A on nine occasions, including a memorable 40-25 win against Argentina at Philiphaugh, during the Pumas 2001 tour of Scotland.

The following year, he was part of the A team who achieved a courageous draw with England in filthy weather conditions at Bridgehaugh and pipped Italy by one point in a last-gasp away success.

One of his team-mates throughout his rugby career, former Scotland stand-off Duncan Hodge, paid this tribute: “Graham Dall was like a modern-day open side.  He was 6ft 1ins and 102 kg and he could do the defensive chores and the jackling, but it was his attacking game  – he played like a back! – that marked him as a class operator.

“He was one of those guys that you just wanted on your team.  He was a tough, tough competitor with a skill level that not a lot of people could match.

“Most of us who played in that crossover period between the amateur and professional game, spent a lot of time with him and forged friendships forever.  Graham was such a great man, great captain and great bloke.  It’s a very sad day.”

Scottish Rugby’s Head of Performance Programmes, Grant McKelvey, the former Scotland and Edinburgh hooker, said: “Dallsy was always considered as one of the good guys.

“I bumped into him sporadically through work, mostly by accompanying injured pathway & regional players to A&E to meet their parents. He was a class act and showed the same leadership in that role that he did on the field.”

In his life beyond rugby, Dall went on to become an orthopaedic surgeon, working in the NHS at the Borders General Hospital in Melrose, specialising in ankle and foot surgery.

Rob Moffat, the former Scottish Schools head coach, who went on to coach professionally with Border Reivers, Glasgow Caledonians and Edinburgh, and  is now Director of Rugby at Melrose, said: “In his medical role at the BGH, Graham has been a fantastic support to rugby clubs, players and their families in the Borders.

“Whether looking after players, giving advice or acting as team doctor at games, such as in the Super 6, his service to the game that he graced as a player has been brilliant.”

Scottish Rugby extends its sincere condolences to Graham Dall’s family and many friends.

Graham Dall’s memorial service will take place at Melrose Parish Church on Friday 30 May at 2.30pm. All friends are respectfully invited. Thereafter to Melrose Rugby Club. Family flowers only. Private cremation.