Bouncing East Kilbride crowd convinced me I joined the right club, says rugby boss

Craig Brown says seeing a bouncing crowd convinced him he made the right move to East Kilbride as he led them to the National Shield final.

A 23-13 win over North Berwick at Torrance House on Saturday set up a final clash against West League 1 rivals Stewartry at BT Murrayfield on Saturday, May 6, and Brown says the impact of that has been felt throughout the club. Now he insists it’s great for the entire town to have something to look forward to next month.

Brown said: “The best bit was when we scored a try that put us into the lead.

“I turned to look at the crowd and they were all bouncing. They were all jumping up and down, and it was a really big crowd as well, who were quite noisy.

“That was awesome and it was brilliant seeing some of the young kids there as well. It’s one of those things that made me think ‘this is why I came to EK’ because it’s a proper family club. I’m really excited about being in a final.

“I never got the chance to play at Murrayfield and when I was a coach at GHA I got the guys through to the final just as Covid hit, so we didn’t get to play and I thought that was my chance gone.

“The guys at East Kilbride had something to say about that, and it’s going to be absolutely amazing – I can’t wait.”

Brown added: “I’m so chuffed for the players. People go through their entire careers without getting the chance to play at Murrayfield and they get to do it.

“These are young guys who are going to hold that memory forever, and hopefully it will inspire them. It has been felt across the entire club.

“The kids on the sidelines were engaged. They wanted to see and they’re loving their rugby again.

“It’s great for the town, it is

great for East Kilbride to have something to cheer about and get along to and