Supporter Memories | Volume One

From the
early days of professionalism to the heady heights of the 2015 Guinness PRO12
title in Belfast, one constant has remained throughout – the Warrior Nation.
Renowned across Europe for their passionate backing of their team, here are
just a few of our favourite Supporter Memories…

Alexandra
Albertini-Bouscatier

I first
discovered Glasgow Warriors in 2009 thanks to a friend of mine, who met them
when they played the Challenge Vaquerin.

We came to
Glasgow together in December 2010 for a European game against Toulouse. We’ve
never missed a game in France since that day.

We hope to
come back together really soon!

To my French
Warrior Nation Mathilde and Paul, I love you guys!

To the team and
the fans, thank you for welcoming a French girl with open arms!

Alex (from
Marseille, France)

Edmund
Murray

I wasn’t
able to get to the 2014 PRO12 Final as I was recovering from major abdominal
surgery and was under instructions from the surgeon not to travel. Ultimately I
missed the game completely as I had complications post-surgery and while the
final was being played I was in A&E getting pumped full of morphine to help
with the intense pain. I was so out of it I didn’t find out the disappointing
result until several days later.

Fast forward
to January 2015 and a serendipitous moment. Two emails popped into my inbox at
the same time: one from the PRO12 saying that the Final was going to be played
at the Kingspan and the other from an airline saying that they had a sale on
flights between Glasgow and Belfast. Within seconds I had my ticket and flights
booked!

The couple
that sit next to me at Scotstoun had also booked final tickets and flights in
the hope that the Warriors got to the final, so come the big day we met up at
the Kingspan pre-match to enjoy the festivities and watched the match together.
Post-match we stopped off in a couple of pubs on the way back to Belfast city
centre to dry off from the heavy rain that was falling. We eventually got to
their hotel and had one final celebratory drink at its bar before I headed off
towards where I was staying.

I have no
recollection of what happened next but according to the very friendly Custody
Sergeant the next morning I apparently had some good celebrations. No harm had
been done so he pointed me in the direction of a local cafe to get a good
fry-up breakfast and I managed to pick up some Irn Bru at a supermarket to help
with my stinking hangover before pottering around the Titanic Quarter to finish
off a great weekend.

Elizabeth Stewart

Our visit to
South Africa for the double header was an amazing experience. We were only a handful of fans out there, but
we made our mark on the home fans at both Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth.

The
wonderful management at Cheetahs invited us into the hospitality suite and then
got us into the Cheetahs Den after the game. Best of all was being invited in
to join Dave Rennie and the team at their after-match wind-down that night. Truly
memorable.

We were also
astounded to find ourselves sitting next to Torquil Mathewsen at the game at
Port Elizabeth. We used to watch him play at Hawks and Glasgow Rugby before he
emigrated to South Africa. Great to have him and his kids join the support for
Warriors.

Martin Baxter

We went to a
Warriors open day many years ago. The girl beside me asked if I could take a
photo of her and big Al on her phone. I was about to take the photo when the
phone rang and MUM came up on the screen. I was about to hand it back but Al
grabbed it and asked who it was. He said the girls were at Scotstoun meeting
the players. Mum asked who was speaking and when he said who it was she screamed.
He was her hero and I’m sure it made her day. My son was more impressed by Niko,
though!