Tom Aitchison

Tom Aitchison

Birth name	Thomas Graham Aitchison
Date of birth	(1907-01-08)8 January 1907
Place of birth	Galashiels, Scotland
Date of death	25 December 1977(1977-12-25) (aged 70)
Place of death	Clovenfords, Scotland
Rugby union career
Position(s) Full Back / Centre Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) - 1932 Gala () 1932 - West of Scotland () Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) - South of Scotland District () 1928 Provinces () 1929 Scotland Probables () International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1929 Scotland 3 (0)

Tom Aitchison (8 January 1907 – 25 December 1977) was a Scotland international rugby union player.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Aitchison played for Gala. He was captain in the 1929–30 season. He was in the Gala side that won the Scottish Unofficial Championship in the 1931–32 season.

On moving to Glasgow he then played for West of Scotland.

Provincial career

He played for the South of Scotland District. He was in the side that drew with the South Africa international side on 31 October 1931.

Aitchison played for the Provinces District side (also known as the north–south side) on 22 December 1928.

He played for the Scotland Possibles side against the Scotland Probables side in the final trial match of the 1928-29 season to determine international selection.

International career

He played for Scotland 3 times, in the year 1929.

His first match was against Wales. The Dundee Courier reported his selection for the Scotland-Wales match:

The Scottish party arrived at Swansea yesterday afternoon, and later was announced that the full-back position vacated by Drysdale would be filled T. G. Aitchison, of Gala. This will be Aitchison's first international, and, while it would be ridiculous to suggest that he is in the same class as either Drysdale or Warren, I believe he will be quite a good selection. On his showing for the North and South against the Anglo-Scots on his own ground he was rather disappointing, but it is always an ordeal for a man to make his debut in really big football before his own people. In the final trial at Murrayfield he was a different man altogether, and on foreign soil where has nothing worry about except the job in hand he is quite likely to do well. He is not such long kick as either Drysdale or Warren, but he is a good field, and his tackling lacks nothing in courage.

He also played for the combined Scotland-Ireland side against the combined England-Wales side in October 1929.