A FORMER football writer with the Scottish Daily Express has died, following a long illness.
Bobby Maitland’s funeral is on Thursday. He was aged 77.
Says sports writer, Jim Black: “Bobby was a highly-respected and very popular member of the SFWA and a good colleague to many, myself included.
“He began his career with the now defunct Evening Citizen in Glasgow, as a junior reporter, before moving onto sport where he reported primarily on golf in the early years of his career.
“He later joined the Scottish Daily Express where he spent many years covering a variety of sports, in the main football.”
Added colleague and friend, Jock MacVicar, the Scottish Daily Express golf correspondent: “I first came into contact with Bobby when he was buzzing around the sports desk at the old Citizen evening newspaper in Glasgow. Soon afterwards he joined The Express and he quickly became a most valued colleague and friend.
“He was a first-class and well-liked journalist, whether he was covering a football match or dealing with the news side of the game.
“He and I covered many an Open Championship together, and he was great to work with. No laptops in those days. Hundreds of words were relayed via a copytaker, and with so many foreign players, spelling out names to the man or woman on a typewriter at the other end of a phone line occupied countless exasperating hours. But Bobby kept smiling.
“During qualifying for the 1967 Open at Hoylake, Bobby suffered a burst ulcer and an ambulance had to drive straight onto the course to rush him to a Wirral hospital. Advised afterwards by the medics to eat little and often, he always carried a packet of biscuits in his pocket, which led, inevitably, to his nickname, Bobby Biscuit.
“Bobby was greatly missed by everyone when he retired, but continued to keep in touch with former colleagues and was often seen at Firhill matches. He was a keen golfer at his home club in Bishopbriggs.”
The funeral service will be on Thursday at 10am, at Springfield Cambridge Church, Bishopbriggs and thereafter at Glasgow Crematorium, Maryhill.
