Larger than life characters always feature strongly in sport and they are often the ones we remember most fondly. Doddie Weir had effortless, natural charisma in spades. All he had to do was be himself and people warmed to him immediately.

And when you warm to people you want to know more about them, you follow them more closely, you look out for them in matches. This is the same in all sports: in Formula 1 you have guys like Daniel Ricciardo, instantly likeable and like Doddie he smiles all the time! In athletics just look at the charisma and huge following of Usain Bolt, another perpetual grinner with a mile-wide smile.

When it comes to golf, Ernie Els, the gentle giant, is another one you warmed to thanks to his relaxed demeanour and easy smile. In snooker Dennis Taylor was a crowd favourite, his endless grinning set off nicely in his latter playing years by his oversize glasses. And another world class sportsman, brought up in the Borders like Doddie, was Jim Clark “The Gentleman Racer” who was known for his easy manner and charm. Come to think of it, another of Scotland’s great motorsport legends, Louise Aitken-Walker, who hailed from Duns like Jim Clark, was another effortlessly smiling and charismatic Borders sports star – is it something in the water down there?!

But what does it all mean? What difference does it make when we engage with our sporting heroes this way? I believe when people are open about themselves, when they wear their heart on their sleeve and their struggles as well as their triumphs are written plain on their faces for all to see, we get much more invested in their struggles and their success. Whether it is a Doddie Weir or an Andy Murray, we support them through their ups and down because when someone is open and transparent we get invested in them in a way we never will with cooler characters or “closed book” types.

And when we all heard of Doddie’s MND diagnosis we were already invested in him, having followed his ups and down through the years and having heard his frank expressions of what it felt like. We followed him in his biggest struggle, one of the most positive and dignified struggles you will ever see. Many years ago I watched a dear friend dismantled in front of me by MND, losing him a piece at a time as we all lost Doddie. But you could see from that twinkle in Doddie’s eye when he was at Murrayfield for the All Blacks game that his core, the essence that made Doddie Doddie, was still there - MND couldn't take that from him.

Everyone I've mentioned above was, or is, a great sports person; they were able to succeed at the highest level while being true to who they were and never losing their love of their sport. Today we all salute Doddie Weir, a great sportsman and a great human.

The Pitchside Ponderer

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(Image - Craig Watson - https://craigwatson.co.uk/)