The Way We Were….1993

August 26th, 2020

Scott Webster carrying the ball in the crucial win at Edinburgh

A short step forward since our last look back, but 1993 saw a big improvement in the team and the Club’s first winning regular season, and as a result, its first involvement in play-off football.

A narrow 0-7 loss at Granite City Oilers kicked off the campaign, followed by successive home wins against the short-lived Falkirk Cougars, Strathclyde Sheriffs and Edinburgh Eagles.

The return game with Falkirk brought a fourth win before back to back narrow defeats against Granite City (0-8) and Strathclyde (22-23) pulled the Pirates back into the pack. An Independence Day win over Tyneside Tigers set up a winner takes all game at Edinburgh Eagles. A bad tempered encounter saw EK leave Saughton Enclosure with a 12-6 victory, and barring defeat away to Tyneside, a place in the play-offs.

The play off loss at Lancashire

Despite the encouragement of a large number of Edinburgh-based fans, the Tigers couldn’t prevent the Pirates winning 28-14. The reward was a trip to Horwich to take on the Lancashire Wolverines, a strong team lead by Canadian Dan Brooks. The game proved a step too far for the Pirates, going down 0-44 to a well-drilled team.

On the awards front, Gavin Reid took MVP honours with QB Alastair Ross taking the Offense award and LB David Shaw (his son Andy would appear in a Pirates’ jersey some 25 years later) the Defense title. Other award winners were David Graham (Rookie), Ian McCulloch (Lineman) and Robin Gracie (Most Improved).

By Bill Campbell

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