Ellen Dickson is a name that some Scottish women’s rugby supporters may not know, but she is someone who the players have on speed dial and who plays a massive role within the national team set up.
Captain Rachel Malcolm and a number of other squad members have talked in the past about the importance of team manager Dickson, the skipper saying she is “the glue that holds everything together”.
And just as the players have a big 2025 coming up, so does she in her post with the Guinness Women’s Six Nations and the Rugby World Cup – and all the logistics that entails – to be played.
“When I first joined Scottish Rugby I came on board as what they call a teams coordinator,” she explained.
“I covered the women’s pathway, the women’s national team and age-grade teams at first – it was about nine teams in total – and I would work closely with the team managers to make sure all the logistics were in place and I’d book buses and training facilities and things like that.
“There was a lot to learn quickly, but that role definitely helped me take on board a lot of things and ways of doing jobs that I still use to this day in my current role.
“I had volunteered in off the pitch roles at my club Murrayfield Wanderers before that and had been on the committee there. That had also stood me in good stead too.
“In my first couple of years with Scottish Rugby I just volunteered to do absolutely everything and when the Scotland Sevens women’s squad was getting going in 2013 I became the team manager.
“It was myself and head coach Scott Forrest heading to lots of new places with lots of new players and we very much learnt on the job. When you are abroad lots of different things can come up for example that have to be dealt with and again I just kept learning as I went along.
“Sometimes you can’t plan for scenarios and the best way is just to learn when they come along.”
A couple of years later Dickson then had her daughter Skye and was on maternity leave for a spell before returning to work under the then head of women and girls rugby Sheila Begbie.
“Sheila was very keen to professionalise the women’s side of things and the role of full-time Scotland women’s team manager came up,” Dickson said.
“In the autumn of 2017 I took on that role when Shade Munro was head coach and I have been involved ever since.
“The role is really varied and as the players have become more professional things have changed too, but really I am there to support the coaches, support the players and support the medics and the S & C staff to make sure that everything is in place for a given training session or a given matchday.
“I get a unique insight into all those different aspects of the Scotland squad and if I can make all of their lives as easy as possible so that they can focus on their own job then I am happy.
“No two days are ever the same really and there have been some interesting times such as the pandemic, but I love my job and I love making connections with the players and the staff.
“Around the time I was involved with Scotland Sevens I was also involved with the under-18 programme and players like Rhona Lloyd were in it then so I have seen a lot of the current squad grow up as people and as players over recent years and they have also become great friends of mine too.
“The core of Scotland women has never changed – hard working women have always been at the forefront of this programme in the amateur and the professional eras and that is something special.
“That goes all the way back to 1993 when the first ever international was played through the era of hosting the 1994 Rugby World Cup and onwards to now and the players today really respect and understand what has gone before them.
“They know that they are part of a special club and they take that responsibility very seriously and are honoured to represent Scotland just as all of the players who have gone before them were.”
So, how did Beattie’s rugby journey begin?
“I had a PE teacher at Firrhill High School in Edinburgh who was into rugby and a group of us started doing some training at school,” she recounted.
“We didn’t play any games, but it had given me the bug for rugby so when I left school I joined Murrayfield Wanderers and I loved it there.
“The game itself grabbed my attention and there is a position for everybody and what I really loved was the team aspect of it all and working together out on the pitch with people who became your friends.
“Wandies were one of the leading clubs at the time and they had players there like Beth Macleod, Paula Chalmers and Rhona Shepherd so there were so many people to learn from as a young player just starting out.
“I played second-row for a wee while before moving to loosehead and that is where I stayed for the rest of my career.”
After playing age-grade rugby for Scotland, Dickson was called up to the full squad and went on to make her debut against Canada in 2007.
“A number of players had retired after the 2006 Rugby World Cup so there were opportunities for newer faces at that time and I was delighted to get a call up and then go on to play over the next few years,” Dickson, who played under her maiden name Beattie and is Scotland cap 125, explained.
“I earned 25 caps and although it was a lot different to now in terms of the provisions we had we had great fun and worked really hard as a squad.
“Everyone was juggling work and uni and other things, but come matchday everyone was ready to give it everything and I have great memories and great friends from that time.”
Dickson played for Scotland for around three years and played for Wandies until she was 30, but her involvement in the game was far from over at that point as we have already heard.
The Guinness Women’s Six Nations runs from March 22 to April 26 and Scotland start versus Wales at Hive Stadium in round one – get tickets for all three Scotland home games here.
Scotland squad to play Wales: Chloe Rollie; Rhona Lloyd, Emma Orr, Lisa Thomson, Francesca McGhie; Helen Nelson, Leia Brebner-Holden; Anne Young, Lana Skeldon, Elliann Clarke, Hollie Cunningham, Sarah Bonar, Rachel Malcolm (C), Rachel McLachlan, Evie Gallagher. Subs: Elis Martin, Leah Bartlett, Christine Belisle, Adelle Ferrie, Alex Stewart, Jade Konkel, Caity Mattinson, Evie Wills.
Ellen Dickson is pictured with Rachel Malcolm
GH Media will be covering Scotland women’s journey right through to Rugby World Cup 2025, bringing insight from within the camp throughout and featuring other parts of the game in this country too – thanks to those already supporting the content, if you or your company would like to get involved please email gary@gh-media.co.uk