Craig Chalmers has 'learned lesson' from arrest

CRAIG Chalmers has admitted that his arrest after a drinking session at the Melrose Sevens last year has held back his coaching career, but has vowed it will never happen again and believes he is back on track.

The Melrose coach, who was then also in charge of the Scotland under-20 side, spent a night in a police cell and was fined 60. Despite huge success at club level, his coaching skills have not been in great demand at the SRU.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Stuff of Legends, to be broadcast tomorrow, he says: "It's a situation I should never have put myself in. We'd had a disappointing afternoon on the field and we went in afterwards and had a couple of beers. I'd basically had too much to drink and went across to the marquee and started arguing with somebody to get in. It was a bouncer, and I put myself in to a position I shouldn't be in as a coach and someone hopefully the players look up to and respect.

"I should not be getting taken off to the nick at Hawick and getting locked up for the night.

"I think it's something I've learned an awful lot from. I think it has, in many respects, held me back a little bit with certain people but this year I've knuckled down.

"I'm not one to hide away. When you made a mistake on the pitch you put your hand up and acknowledged it. I made a mistake off the field that I will not make again and I've learnt my lesson." He added: "It was a hard learning experience. I think it has affected me as far as my coaching with the union is concerned, but at the time it was hard for my family - my mum and my wife and three kids.

"But we're looking forward rather than back and hopefully some good things can happen over the next wee while."

Also on the programme, Chalmers says he had "a bad feeling" the day his father Brian died while watching him play for Melrose at Borders rivals Hawick in 1997.

He said: "I looked round and there was an ambulance there, and I couldn't see him.

"I just had a bad feeling. It wasn't until the game finished and a member of the Melrose committee came over and put a hand on my shoulder. I knew then but I'd had a bad feeling before the end of the game that there was something wrong.

"He died there and then at the ground. To lose a father so young was pretty tough."

Stuff of Legends is on BBC Radio Scotland tomorrow at 2pm.