At the start of the 85/86 season, Peter Johnstone decided from the basis of his coaching experience in Ireland that future success for the Club would best be achieved by the development of a full blooded youth section covering all ages down to mini level. Having just moved from London and with a son keen to play, I agreed to help him out.

Looking for players who would provide a "feeder" source for the Colts, our early recruitment effort seemed to be unsuccessful as most of those who turned up were not yet 15 and it included some, such as Nick Rennie, Colin Morgan, Steve Nickerson, and Steve Ross who actually qualified under SRU rules as Under 12's. We had, however, only one club side in Aberdeen who were competing for the same players and as Grammar FP's were mainly sourced from the school, playing strength increased enormously as the word got round. By the end of that season we were running two full sides; one at Under 15 the other at Under 13. A Welsh exile, John Clement, was recruited to run the Under 13's and provide them with that special touch (for those who remember the heyday of Wales!).

In 1986, we decided to run teams at Under 16 and Under 14, as well as the Colts side. The Youth Section was on its way! Paul Thomas (another exile and ENGLISH!) joined us to assist John with coaching the Under 14's. The section continued to develop over the following years but, in the early days it was often difficult to arrange sufficient fixtures and a lot of long distance travelling was required. However, interest in rugby was reawakening in the North East and 88/89 saw the inaugration of the North District Under 16 League which we lost to Ellon in a play-off. The side was however predominantly Under 15's and, at the end of that season, a squad including Nick Rennie, Colin Morgan, Steve Nickerson, Steve Ross, Graeme Smith and an extremely young Robert Anderson went on to win the Highland Under 15's Sevens tournament.

In 1986, we decided to run teams at Under 16 and Under 14, as well as the Colts side. The Youth Section was on its way! Paul Thomas (another exile and ENGLISH!) joined us to assist John with coaching the Under 14's. The section continued to develop over the following years but, in the early days it was often difficult to arrange sufficient fixtures and a lot of long distance travelling was required. However, interest in rugby was reawakening in the North East and 88/89 saw the inaugration of the North District Under 16 League which we lost to Ellon in a play-off. The side was however predominantly Under 15's and, at the end of that season, a squad including Nick Rennie, Colin Morgan, Steve Nickerson, Steve Ross, Graeme Smith and an extremely young Robert Anderson went on to win the Highland Under 15's Sevens tournament.

In 89/90, Peter Johnstone's effort and dedication paid off with the Under 16's winning the District League by a handsome margin. Peter, sadly, was not around to see it happen as redundancy had forced him to leave Aberdeen earlier in the year. A quiet man, he was not too well known in the Club other than to the players who passed through his hands, so few were aware of his achievement. A sign of his remarkable ability in youth coaching was however, that from the earliest days of the section, at the presentation of the players annual awards, Peter invariably always also received an award - from the players. He will be remembered by theYouth Trophy he presented to the Club - the only trophy open to any young player, irrespective of age.

1989 also saw the first stages of the development of mini rugby in the Club. Initially, this started out as an SRU initiative involving all the Clubs in Aberdeen. Ed Rennie, supported by Graham Campbell and Nick Rennie took on the role of Shire's representative in the intiative.

At Under 14, playing strength had grown enormously and with the continuing problem of getting sufficient fixtures, John and Paul found it tough going to make team selections with often as many players left off the park as were actually playing.

In 1990, we decided to go it alone and develop our own Club mini section. Ron Liddle, David Kidd, Bill McCulloch and Gary McLennan were drafted in to provide coaching support. It is a measurement of the hard work of the coaches that, today, some fifty three youngers play mini rugby in 'Shire's colours.

1990/91 was not, howver, a good season for the older youth sides, particularly the Colts. The bulk of our 89/90 Under 16 squad ought to have been moving up to Colts level so we felt pretty positive about the season ahead. Unfortunately, it was not to be. A number of our players at the younger age groups were no longer available, and for various reasons, few players from the 89/90 Colts remained with the side. This situation was made even worse by our failure to provide the necessary level of coaching support and the fact that modern pressures of living at this age level often necessitate that earning money has to take precedence over sport. This is not a criticism, for many players this is a very difficult decision. We therefore faced a major rebuilding problem and were lucky that Hugh Coleman, the Colts administrator, agreed to keep things moving along and did a first class job in holding the side together. The loss of the majority of the previous year's Under 16's also created problems, but the new Under 16's coach, Andy Geddes, did a good job in sharpening up the team's performance before the end of the season. Usually there were sufficient players though few had much experience of playing rugby at this level. The Under 14's, however, continued to flourish and we had high hopes that they would provide a strong platform for future development.

91/92 proved to be another difficult year for the Colts side. We had still been unable to attract a permanent coach and were fortunate that John Clement was willing to fill the gap. Things were, hoever, loking a bit brighter for the Under 16'd. Although league performances could have been better, three players, Dave Nickerson, David Bain and Chris Atkinson, were selected for the North District Under 16 squad with two of these players actually representing the District at this level. We had expected our Under 14 team, who had gone through three-quarters of the season without a single game lost, to be the first side at this age group to represent the North at the first ever Digital Under 14 finals at Murrayfield. The eliminators, however, took place over a school holiday and too many of the regular players were unavailable: nevertheless, we only just failed to make it and that with a side which included three Under 12's. Our place was taken by a side we had already defeated twice with ease during that season. By one of those quirks of fate, our first ever Under 12 side also just missed qualifying for their age group at the same finals. Had the three additional, more experienced Under 12 players played for this side, it just might have made all the difference. 1991/92 was not the best of years, but life is like that in youth rugby. One bright note however, was the continued improvement at mini level where our sides had started to become a force to be reckoned with.

The 92/93 season still sees some difficulty in getting a full Colts XV on to the park, but we are now really starting to see the benefit of developments made in previous years. Ten of this year's Colts squad first played rugby as a 'Shire Under 14 as did thirteen of this year's Under 16's. Four of this year's Under 16's (Jamie Gordon, Eric Campbell, Callum Lawson and Stephen Pirie) have been selected for the North District Under 16 squad. All of them may not make the tem, but it is a credit to the players and another good positive sign for youth rugby at 'Shire. During 92/93, we have also made another positive step forward in our development with the establishment of an under Sl side under the guidance of Graham Campbell and David Kidd. Like all such developments, it takes time to mature and we are still short of strength in this age group. We are, nevertheless, still doing better than many other clubs who are unable to fulfil fixtures because of player shortages.

In 92/93 youth rugby at 'Shire is starting to show the future success it can generate. The highlight to date is that two nineteen year olds who first played for the club at the age of twelve (Nick Rennie and Stephen Ross) have been selected for First XV honours. There will undoubtedly be other young players coming up behind who could surpass that youth "playing record". Competition for players has got much tougher as the smaller clubs in the area have learned the advantages of youth development, but, with the right attitude, the Club that first took the initiative in this area should always be able to keep it's nose in front. We have good reason to feel positive with a number of strong players coming forward. Names to look out for in addition to those already named above are Gordon Alien, Craig Campbell and Philip Wilson, currently playing for the minis, Chris Dawson, Innes Shepherd, Stewart Black and Stephen Kinneburgh from the Under 14's and Cameron Punton, Justin Lyons and Andrew Frost from the Under 16's. There will be more.

Although a tremendous loss to the First XV, we have undoubtedly gained from the arrival of Neil Bain as principal coach and, with his experience and drive providing a strong positive addition at Under 16 and Under 18 level, we should now have the organisation in place to consolidate and improve on the progress to date. Next season will, hopefully, see yet a further development with the formation of an S3 side.

In 1985, 'Shire had a Colts side: if this next development takes place, in 1993 the youth section will be running 9 sides - P4, P5, P6, P7, Sl, S2, S3, Under 16 and Colts. We have come a long way!

Colts "Player of the Year" List