Around the Touchline Feature:

 
Richard McIntyre is 48 years of age and is full of fun as he is currently in an amazing 43rd season with Pembroke Dock Harlequins after he first arrived at Bierspool with his uncles Roy and Lenny Scourfield to run around and get rid of some of the excess energy the five year old had at home.
 
And their ploy clearly worked because after many years of junior, youth and senior rugby in the Quins’ front row he still runs out for action on the pitch but now as their first team touch judge and unofficial advice giver; he says whether the current crop of young players today like it or not!
 

A No 10 in a tight-head prop’s jersey

 
His enjoyment in being involved is evident and right at the start of our conversation I had to remind him that when I watched him play I always felt that deep inside his burly frame was a prop who in his heart felt he should have been a play-maker in the No 10 black and white jersey!
 
It’s been a running joke between us and he had a bit of an answer for me because he started out as a full back in the juniors and in the youth, when he had switched to hooker, but he used to take all the place kicks and one season was the team’s top points scorer, despite scoring only one try - and shaded out outstanding centre Darren Gibby, who had scored 15 tries!
 

A very early start at Bierspool

 
Back in those junior days, Richard, who is known to all ‘Mackie’ recalls how the large number of participants under the watchful eye of the late Stuart Lewis, John Griffiths and Brian ‘Butty’ Powell used to run about like headless chickens but produced talented players like Jason Griffiths, Lee Rogers, Gareth Lewis and Mark Bradney, who all went on to become regular first teamers.
 
At youth level, The Quins had a useful squad in which Gibby, Mark ‘Chick’ Lay, Colin Burton, Neil Harries, and current coach Ian Osbourne, were all involved under the late, great Mr Dennis Lloyd, who was his hero, as he was to many Pembroke Grammar School pupils, including this writer.
 
‘Sir’ as he was known to us all who came under his care,  gently reminded Mackie in one match that he didn’t mind him putting in the odd exaggerated side step or dummy from his front row berth but he had to stop the little grabber kicks that were becoming more and more prevalent!
 

A good seconds’ apprenticeship and 15 years in the first XV

 
Mackie moved into senior rugby with a few years’ apprenticeship in the seconds, where he switched to tight head prop, and played with Haydn Williams as captain and other former first teamers like Peter ‘Dinky’ Davies - and others who really looked after him like Roland ‘Putney’ Boyett and especially Keith Harries, who Mackie says was ‘immense’.
 
When Lenny Scourfield took over as first-team coach, Marcus ‘Bear’ Ball was in the process of retiring and Mackie set out on a career that saw him play almost 15 years in the senior side and enjoyed every one of them.
 

Undoubted highlight? Winning the KO Cup

 
Ask Mackie about highlights and he would be quick to nominate the two occasions where The Quins played in the KO Cup Final, the first in the early 2000s at Heywood Lane, Tenby, where they lost to Narberth, and the second a memorable victory over Crymych at Whitland.
 
“Before that first final we beat a Whitland side in the semi-final that had Mike Phillips at scrum half and they kicked a last-gasp penalty to make it 6-6 at full time - but Gareth Lewis did the same for us in the last moments of extra time and we were in the final!
 
“But then we played a very good Narberth team at Haywood Lane and it was very disappointing to lose, but we could have few complaints.
 
“We were back in the final in 2003/4 for our match against an emerging Crymych team and it was a real battle but with players of the calibre of Mike and Gareth Scourfield, Kevin Bratcher, Clark James, Ian Osbourne, Gavin Nicholas and Lance Tallett alongside me we shaded the forward battle and behind us there were Ollie Brace, Tom ‘Turbo’ Lewis, Lee Scourfield, Darren Gibby, Simon Coleman and Mark Bradney as we celebrated The Quins raising the cup and having a great night together.”
 
What made it even more memorable was the fact that he played with a niggly injury and daughter Erin had been born the week before.
 

Family matters . . .

 
Talk of family to Mackie and it is evident how proud he is of the way they have been involved for so long at Bierspool, because as well as uncles Lenny and the late Roy, who was like him a prop and answered to the name of ‘Skinny’, there have been many more, including a number of the ladies.
 
Not least of these is his long-suffering wife Wendy, who has done her share of cooking for players after games in her time, alongside washing the kit; and the other important females in his household are daughters Erin (18) and Kara (14), for whom he is a very proud dad!
 

Not allowed to retire for another 12 months!

 
When aching limbs told Mackie that he was too old to carry on playing he said he was about to step down but was persuaded by then-coach Mike Scourfield and team manager Mark ‘Chick’ Lay to just have one last season sitting on the  touchline and coming on late as a replacement, but only if it was necessary.
 
Mackie thought carefully about it for a while and eventually agreed - and played 21 out of 22 matches, starting most of them once the season was in full swing – and then he definitely stepped down!
 

Coaching proved a new avenue

 
When he finally retired he kept well away from the first team and for two seasons he spent Saturdays watching the youth team  but then started helping Mark Bradney look after the under 13s team after taking the basic coaching course in 2004, so that he was busy on Sunday mornings instead of Saturdays.
 
Work commitments kept him out for 18 months before he returned to coach another under 13 team with Liam Smith and stayed with them until they moved into youth rugby.
 

From Carnival co-organiser to first team touch judge

 
He was also heavily involved when he was roped onto the sub-committee with Helen and Phil Lynch, Gary Burns, Mike Scourfield and Mark Lay that made The Quins’ Carnival such a huge success for more than five years.
 
“I had first helped out when I was in junior school and on Carnival Day I used to walk alongside the many floats with a bucket, collecting donations to help swell the funds.”
 
But when a vacancy arose Mackie willingly took over as The Quins’ touch judge and still enjoys working closely with current coaches Ian Osbourne, Rob Hearn, Carl Scott and Sam Irwin - and enjoys helping out in any way he can on training evenings.
 
“It’s something I really enjoy being part of, as I do running up and down the touchline on Saturdays and sometimes taking plenty of stick from opposing supporters - to which I always respond with a smile and a friendly word or two!”
 

And finally . . .

 
So match days are still his favourite and he looks forward to being involved in the games, especially at Bierspool, and if they are local derbies so much the better because then he can meet up with old rivals of yesteryear, share a pint or two and relive old memories.
 
He can also find time for a chat with old fogeys like this writer, who still teases him about being an outside half in a tight-head prop’s body and enjoying some light moments with someone in Richard McIntyre for whom we have huge respect and someone who represents all that is good in Pembroke Dock Harlequins and Pembrokeshire Rugby!