Bill McLaren’s Big Sheet

Known as "the voice of rugby", Bill McLaren retired from commentating in 2002. Renowned throughout the sport, his enthusiasm and memorable turn of phrase endeared him to many! 

This is one of the late Bill McLaren’s ‘Big Sheets’, for the Wales vs Scotland match at Cardiff Arms Park in 2002, the last commentary in his career. The sheet, which is signed by Bill McLaren himself, was used as a crib sheet for each match, and contained up to 1,000 facts and figures for each game. These crib sheets involved many hours of work ahead of a match and contained information about players, their club history, replacements, family histories, match and club officials, the teams, ground and history of particular contests. The big sheets became more detailed over time. The earliest examples are written in pencil and list players surnames along with some information about the match and teams. Later examples, such as this one, are larger, written in a number of different colours, and record an enormous amount of information. For instance, for each player there is information about their age, height, weight, rugby record and number of caps awarded, as well as further details such as notes concerning their school or family background.

Bill McLaren (1923 - 2010) was the BBC’s rugby commentator between 1953 and 2002. He was a PE teacher and fine rugby player in Hawick before illness terminated his rugby career. His broadcasting career started in radio but he moved to television in 1959. He was honoured with an MBE, OBE and CBE. He became the first non-international to be inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2001. 

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