MEET EDWARD MCCANN – ALUM, FORMER LECTURER AND LAWYER, AND ENDURING RUGBY FAN 
02 March 2021
From his early days as a History Teacher in Rainey Endowed School in Magherafelt, to years coaching women’s rugby at Western Canada High in Calgary, Alberta, Ed McCann – Queen’s Rugby Blue 1962 and 1963 – has remained a lifelong rugby fan.
“I was fortunate to play for Queen’s at a time when the standard was very high. Six or seven of my teammates were, or went on, to become internationals - some became British Lions. I got to play with David Hewitt for part of the 1961 season. I still think he was one of the greatest players ever,” Ed told his alma mater.
In November 2019, David Hewitt, who earned 18 caps for Ireland and six for the Lions, was recognised as an all-time great and named at Centre on the Queen’s Greatest Ever XV.
Born and raised in Portadown in County Armagh, Ed passed the 11+ and went to Portadown College in 1952. Being bigger than most for his age, and being interested in rugby, he started to play for the junior teams, eventually becoming Captain in 1957/58.
“As I progressed, I was invited to play in numerous school trials – that is when I first met Willie John McBride – though I was never selected for Ulster Schools. Along the way, thanks to an exceptional teacher at Portadown College, I developed a serious interest in modern history and by the time I was 16, I had determined to go to Queen’s to do a degree in history – and to play on the Queen’s First Team – and this never wavered.”
Time at Queen's
Initially invited to join Portadown Rugby Club, he tried out for Queen’s in August 1959 and made the Freshers ‘A’ team. At that time the University fielded seven or eight teams each weekend.
“I held my place and by the 1961 season, I was selected to play, on occasion, for Queen’s First Team, as open head prop. David Hewitt was the captain. By 1962, Hewitt had left and Basil McNamee took over as captain. I became a regular on the First Team for the next two seasons, touring in England and Scotland, and playing in Colours games against Trinity, UCD, and UCC.”
Ed recalls the strict training regime at Queen’s, something he no doubt drew upon in his later coaching days.
“Most of our off-field training was circuit based, fast and highly anaerobic. If the team was not performing as the coaches wanted, we would be called into special team meetings and threatened with being dropped. They were so annoyed that one day, at practice, they set up the First Team to play all of the other players from the seconds and Freshers’ teams. We managed to beat the opposition, and survived!”
Also among his fondest memories of his time at Queen’s were the Colours games – the crème de la crème intervarsity fixture which were always against UCD (University College Dublin), Trinity and UCC (University College Cork).
“We were playing UCD in a Colours game in 1962 and I met the great Ray McLoughlin for the first time. He was by this time on the Irish team – later the British Lions – and is now in the Hall of Fame. He was massive and was one of the first players to seriously include weight training into his rugby fitness.
“As a tight-head prop, he reached across and grabbed me behind my left armpit- and squeezed and pushed. I have never played against such a strong man; there were lots of collapsed scrums that day.”
The rules were you would not get a Blue unless you played all three Colours games in the same season. There were players who missed out because of this rule.
Ed earned his BA in 1962 from Queen's and a Diploma in Education from the University the following year.
Early career
After graduation, his first teaching post was at Rainey Endowed School in Magherafelt, County Derry/Londonderry. They were keen to win the Schools’ Cup and he was warmly welcomed there by fellow Senior League players Dawson McConkey (Collegians) and Wes McKee (Dungannon). He was invited to join Ballymena RFC as Open Head Prop and played with a host of talented players including Irish Internationals, Barton McCallan, Syd Millar, Robin Gregg and Willie John McBride as well as several New Zealanders. Ed was there for five seasons.
Ed took the school to the final of the 1966 Medallion Shield where they were beaten by a fine Bangor side led by Dick Milliken, who would go on to play for Ireland and the Lions and gain recognition as another of Queen’s Greatest Ever XV. Before leaving the Rainey he helped Dawson and Wes win the 1967 Schools’ Cup in their 9-6 victory over Methodist College Belfast. The school remained a force in the topflight for many years.
At the end of that season, he decided to go to Bangor University in Wales.
“Study was the new mantra to earn my Master’s in Education. I decided I was done with rugby.”
His reputation, however, preceded him and he was approached several times by the team coach Llew Rees, to join the club, he eventually relented. His success at Bangor was rewarded with a spot on the Welsh Universities side which beat both Scotland and England and with selection for the British Universities side that would lose narrowly to France in Clermont-Ferrand in 1969 in dreadfully wet conditions.
Returning to Belfast, from 1969 to 1984, Ed was a Senior Lecturer in Educational Psychology at Stranmillis College in Belfast, and an accredited Lecturer of Educational Psychology at Queen's. He earned his MEd from the University of Wales (1970) and an MSc from the University of Bradford in England (1977). Ed provided in-service courses for serving teachers, was an initiator of courses on classroom management, and published on corporal punishment in schools.
On joining Stranmillis College he became involved with the rugby club, King’s Scholars, who had just completed a successful tour of British Columbia in Canada and had Stewart McKinney (Dungannon, Ireland and Lions) and Ronnie Hagen (Bath and Ireland) in their squad. In 1975 the team set out for Canada again when they were hosted by James Bay of Victoria, one of the oldest rugby clubs in the world. The team won four of their five games.
Canada calling
Ed then changed both his career and his location, perhaps not unsurprisingly moving to Canada, this time to earn an LLB from the University of Calgary in 1986. He first worked with the firm of McConnan, Bion O'Connor and Peterson in Victoria before joining Soby Boyden Lenz in 1989, where he became partner in 1991.
He litigated in all levels of Court in Alberta, working on issues involving spousal and child support, custody and access, matrimonial and common law property division, international child abduction and same-sex relationships.
Ed became an Instructor in Family Law for the Bar Admission courses, served as President, and Family Law Subsection of the South Alberta Canadian Bar Association.
Now retired, he is a former member of the British Psychological Society, of the Law Society of British Columbia, the Law Society of Alberta, the Canadian Bar Association and the Calgary Law Day Committee.
At one point a member of the Advisory Panel, Sports in Schools in Northern Ireland, Ed served on the Board of Directors of Parents Anonymous/Children's Cottage, and he was on the Board of Directors of the Calgary French and International School.
His lifelong interest in sport included coaching forwards at James Bay Rugby Football Club of Victoria, and Calgary Irish RFC and he also coached forwards for the Canadian National Rugby Team before the first Rugby World Cup in 1987, as well as at Western Canada High School, Calgary.
For some, rugby may be just a game. For others, like Queensman Ed McCann who has spent his entire life steeped in the sport, it’s more about passion, teamwork and commitment, all qualities that have stood him in good stead off the pitch as well.
If you would like to support the next generation of sport at Queen’s through one of our five Sporting Academies – including rugby – visit the Queen’s Foundation website or contact Paddy Gilmore, Queen’s Development and Engagement Manager, Queen’s Sport.
For enquiries about this story, or to submit graduate news items, please contact Gerry Power, Communications Officer, Development and Alumni Relations Office, Queen's University Belfast.
Caption: Colours game (v Cork) squad announcement as posted on the notice board in the old Student’s Union now the School of Music (left); Queen’s playing Dartmouth college USA (top left); pre-match photo (date/match unknown) featuring Irish internationals Ken Houston, Jimmy Dick and Gerry Gilpin (top right); game against Collegians showing Ed McCann ‘having a go’ at Dougie Irwin (bottom left); Scottish tour game against Hawick and more recently, Edward McCann (right, framed in blue). (Photo credits – Ed McCann)
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