Oil Blacks
Sullom Voe Wanderers RFC, aka the Oil Blacks is one of the oldest rugby club in Shetland (Lerwick FC was older). Based around the oil terminal at Sullom Voe, their name refers to the black kit that they wear, and is an ironic reference to the "All Blacks" (as the New Zealand rugby team is commonly known).
Geoff Savage<ref name=Hopkins2>Hopkins, p42</ref>, Dave McDonald<ref>Never too Old to Scrum Down, in The Scotsman, Wednesday 13 September 2006 12:05; retrieved 31st October, 2011.</ref> and several others founded Sullom Voe Wanderers circa 1975, which is sometimes claimed as the first rugby club in the islands.<ref name=Hopkins2>Hopkins, p42</ref>
The Seventies game in Shetland certainly evoked the true amateur spirit of pre-1990s rugby union:
- "An impression of fearsome austerity, of complete amateurism is correct. There simply is no money to spare. Goal posts are often football posts with plastic drain pipes, borrowed from a nearby building site, tied on to the side to act as uprights. When plastic pipes aren't available, then both sides have to agree on whether a kick was successful or not. The Wanderers bought one brand-new ball some time ago and recently acquired another through a sponsorship scheme run by the SRU in conjunction with Schweppes."<ref name=Hopkins2/>
References
- Sullom Voe in Rugby Clubs Big and Small in Hopkins, John (ed) Rugby (1979 ISBN 0 304 30299 6)
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