Hunter Mabon: The Scottish rugby evangelist who took the game to Sweden

Former Heriot’s FP player, ex-international athlete, academic and entrepreneur has carved a path of success in his adopted homeland

Hunter Mabon was a noted three-quarter and No 8 during his playing days in Scotland. He later became the coach of the Swedish rugby team and chairman of their national rugby union.

Back in the day, with the onset of summer, a number of top rugby players would switch from their rugby kit into athletics gear. Celebrated names included Scottish caps such as Arthur Smith and David Whyte, who were both Scottish long jump champions. Another accomplished rugby-
playing athlete was Hunter Mabon of Heriot’s FPs.

It’s a distinctive name and he is a very distinctive individual. Blessed with both brawn and brain, Mabon ticks many boxes – international athlete, noted rugby player, renowned academic and successful entrepreneur. What is particularly noteworthy about him is that much of his CV has been put together while living in Sweden, where he settled over 50 years ago. It is home for him and his family now, so much so that when asked if Scotland played Sweden at rugby who would he support, the now 80-year-old answers, albeit with a little hesitation. ”Probably Sweden – our lives have been made here and our three sons, all of whom have played rugby for Sweden, were born here,” he says.

Little did he envisage that when he and his wife Sylvia set off on a summer trip to Stockholm in 1962, he initially working as a dishwasher and she in a laundry, that 58 years later he would reflect on virtually a lifetime spent there littered with achievement – becoming a professor of psychology, coach of the Swedish rugby team and chairman of the national rugby union and proprietor of a successful international company.

Such success seemed unlikely when he “scraped” a degree in science from Edinburgh University although a first prize in psychology out of a class of 300 hinted at what was to come. His sporting life, however, was rooted in Edinburgh as he recalled.

“My studies at Edinburgh suffered because of the amount of sport I was doing. At George Heriot’s School I had done well at athletics and rugby. Donald Hastie was our games master and he was a very inspiring figure for me. Thanks to him our school athletics team went unbeaten for about eight years and we won lots of Scottish Schools titles.

“After school, at Edinburgh University, I concentrated on athletics, winning the Scottish shot put title at 19 and another four national titles by the time I was 21, including the first decathlon championship ever held and the discus. I represented Scotland at shot and discus several times in teams including the late great Crawford Fairbrother and ‘Ming’ Campbell.

“But I began to find athletics a bit solitary and started rugby again, playing for Heriot’s FPs as well as representing Edinburgh and the Co-Optimists, now as a No 8. I played in a Melrose Sevens final which was a great occasion, even though we were pipped by an excellent Royal High team. But all this sport took a toll on my studies, apart from my psychology result. When Professor Drever presented me with the prize, he said it was a ‘triumph over mind as well as matter’,” laughs Mabon.

Once in Sweden he dabbled in athletics but became involved with other expats in forming the Stockholm Exiles rugby club, first as player, then coach, then chairman. He was something of a rugby evangelist in Sweden and is pleased with the progress the club and country have since made.

The Exiles are very much a touring club and, when apartheid was dismantled in South Africa, they were one of the first white teams to play there.

“I was very proud that we were one of the first white teams to play a black team in South Africa,” he recalls. “I went in 1986 to the International Rugby Board centenary conference in England representing the Swedish Union when apartheid was still in place.

“When the subject of South Africa’s role in international rugby came up, I was the only delegate who spoke out in favour of excluding them from the IRB. For a rugby ‘minnow’ like Sweden to say so was a bit like swearing in church but I felt an obligation to express my adopted country’s view. I met Dr Danie Craven there, then Mr South African rugby who, although a very engaging gentleman was equivocal about the issue. Another thing that stuck in my mind in this context was that none of the South African rugby fraternity and others since then whom I met would ever specifically refer to ‘apartheid’ by name but would use other euphemisms.”

From humble beginnings, the Exiles have flourished to become Sweden’s top club and, according to reliable observers, the Exiles 1st XV would just about hold their own in the Scottish top amateur division. Not surprisingly, considering that ten of the team played for Sweden who are just below the Russia, Romania, Georgia 
level in Europe.

After a long and distinguished playing career lasting 17 seasons, Hunter was happy to pass on the baton to his sons, all three of whom have played for the Exiles as well as for Sweden. Allan, the oldest boy has more or less been in command of the club for the last 30 years.

In the 1960s the Exiles were ex-pats from Britain, but now they have a squad of South Africans, Georgians, considerable numbers from the Antipodes and still of course plenty players from the Home Countries and Sweden.

Mabon’s links with Scottish rugby have not been broken. He tries to fit in a reunion once a year with some of his old Heriot’s team-mates.

“Guys I played with included Scottish international David Edwards, Bob Tollervey so many times a reserve for Scotland and really unlucky not to be capped, occasionally the great Ken Scotland, Eddie McKeating, another cap and a winger Jim Weir whom the crowds loved to watch. Bob and Jim are 90 this year and still going strong. Another lifelong friend is Hamish More, who played rugby for Heriot’s and Edinburgh and was a multiple capped cricketer.

“There were whispers I might be in line for a cap if I maintained my progress, but who knows? I tore my hamstring badly before going to Sweden and that put paid to my rugby for a while,” mused Mabon.

Once in Sweden he followed up that early promise shown in psychology by studying at Stockholm University. Applying himself exclusively to study, with no sporting distractions, he gained his degree within 13 months. Previously the fastest recorded degree obtained in Sweden was 14 months by Dag Hammarskjold, the late secretary-general of the United Nations.

Adding Swedish to his linguistic repertoire was essential, meaning he now speaks five languages. Within a few years of graduating he was lecturing, then completed a doctorate before authoring text books and becoming a professor – a far cry from ‘scraping’ a degree at Edinburgh.

Then in 1991 he purchased the Swedish Test Publishing Company specialising in psychological testing. Mabon built it up and diversified into the business sector, particularly in relation to employment recruitment and selection. The company, now known as Assessio, employs 70 people, has a multi-million pound turnover and offices in a number of countries.

In recent years Mabon has cut back on his activities, spending much time writing a blog on Swedish rugby. He has also completed a 500-page history of the Stockholm Exiles.

His 80th birthday was celebrated last December stretching over three days at Prestonfield House and the Canny Man’s in Edinburgh with all 16 of the Stockholm Mabons putting in an appearance.

The saga of Assessio was not over, however. Extensive investment in the digitalisation of selection methods meant that the company was testing around 70,000 primarily selection candidates each month via the internet and profits began to surge.

As Mabon approached his 80th birthday he decided to sell and this resulted in a bidding war where a Dutch investment company bought Assessio for tens of millions of pounds.

“I could have done with that money 20, 40, 60 years ago” jokes Mabon, “but we are now a fair number of Stockholm Mabons and this should keep them going for some time after my wife Sylvia and I are gone.”

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