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 Sport Operations
Management and
Development
This essential textbook introduces the work of sport management and sport
development from the perspective of the day-to-day operational challenges
faced by managers and sport development officers. It addresses the practicalities
of designing and delivering sport services safely, efficiently and effectively, for
profit or in non-profit contexts.

The book covers core topics such as time management, project management,
customer care, developing partnerships, fundraising, crisis management and
research. It adopts a problem-based learning approach, with a strong, practi-
cal focus on putting theory into practice, to illustrate good practice and to help
the reader develop sound operational skills, knowledge and decision-making,
underpinned by the principles of safety, effectiveness and efficiency. It features
a range of diverse international case studies, covering different sports and oper-
ational management challenges, including global pandemics and terrorism.
Connecting theories, ideas and scientific disciplines, the book helps managers
approach operations management more creatively, combining both manage-
ment and development work to show areas of difference and overlap. It also
introduces systems theory and the principles of marginal gains or small wins,
to help managers develop working cultures which can be utilised in all areas
of management, encouraging a culture of learning, reflection and ethical action.

Sport Operations Management and Development is designed for both practitioners

and students working in sport management, development, coaching or aspects
of sport science.

Mark Piekarz is Associate Head of School at Coventry University, UK. He has

taught and developed courses in sport management and development. Before
beginning teaching, he worked as a sport facility manager and community sport
development officer.
Sport Operations
Management and
Development
AN APPLIED APPROACH

Mark Piekarz
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Mark Piekarz
The right of Mark Piekarz to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Piekarz, Mark, author.
Title: Sport operations management and development:
an applied approach / Mark Piekarz.
Description: First Edition. | New York: Routledge, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020036056 | ISBN 9780367333485 (Hardback) |
ISBN 9780367333492 (Paperback) | ISBN 9780429319327 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Sports administration—Study and teaching. |
Special events—Management—Study and teaching. |
Operations research.
Classification: LCC GV713 .P55 2021 | DDC 796.06/9—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020036056
ISBN: 978-0-367-33348-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-33349-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-31932-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Palatino LT Std
by codeMantra
 CONTENTS

List of figures viii

List of tables x
List of case studies xi
List of contributors xiii
Preface xiv

Chapter 1 
What is sport service operations management and
development? 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 What is sport management and development? 2
1.3 What is sport operations management? 10
1.4 The importance of systems theory and the sport
operation system 11
1.5 Understanding the impact of the external business
environment on sport operations 21
1.6 What makes sport services different from other
services? 23
1.7 Conclusion 28

Chapter 2 
Organisational purpose and evaluating service operations 31
2.1 Introduction 31
2.2 The importance of performance evaluation 32
2.3 Overview of the performance evaluation process 32
2.4 Sector rationales and purpose 34
2.5 Writing aims and smart objectives 41
2.6 Targets and PIs 45
2.7 Action plans, implementation and monitoring 52
2.8 Conclusion 52

Chapter 3 
Job tasks, scheduling and time management 55
3.1 Introduction 55
3.2 Too many jobs, too little time to do them? 55
3.3 Identifying job tasks 59
3.4 Analysing and prioritising work tasks and jobs 63
3.5 Monitoring, reviewing and adjustment 74
3.6 Conclusion 75

v
vi Contents

Chapter 4 
Creating sport programmes to meet needs and wants 77
4.1 Introduction 77
4.2 The importance of marketing theory to service
design 77
4.3 How to create a new sport programme 81
4.4 Conclusion 96

Chapter 5 
Customer care, quality systems and regulatory
compliance 98
5.1 Introduction 98
5.2 The importance of customer care 98
5.3 Is the customer always right? 102
5.4 Quality systems and customer care 104
5.4 The customer service encounter and journey 106
5.5 Conclusion 119

Chapter 6 
Project sport and event management 121
6.1 Introduction 121
6.2 The similarities and differences between
operations, project and event management 121
6.3 The project operations process 126
6.4 Conclusion 141

Chapter 7 
Stakeholders, partnerships and volunteers 143
7.1 Introduction 143
7.2 Stakeholder theory 143
7.3 Networking theories 148
7.4 Partnerships 152
7.5 The third sector and volunteers 156
7.6 Operations management skills and knowledge
needed for networking, partnerships and managing
volunteers 160
7.7 Conclusion 162

Chapter 8 
Fundraising, sponsorship and digital target marketing 164
8.1 Introduction 164
8.2 The funding gap 164
8.3 Overview of funding techniques and the art of
persuasion 167
8.4 Conclusion 187
 Contents   vii

Chapter 9 Crisis management, risk and dynamic risk assessments 189

9.1 Introduction 189
9.2 Defining risk, crisis and dynamic risk
assessments 189
9.3 Overview of the risk and crisis management
process 195
9.4 Developing crisis management plans 197
9.5 Developing a crisis manual or business continuity
plan 204
9.6 Dealing with the media and the need for
integrity 207
9.7 Dynamic risk management, assessments and crisis
management 209
9.8 Conclusions 209

Chapter 10 Researching and consulting communities 212

10.1 Introduction 212
10.2 Researching communities and outcomes 212
10.3 Overview of data collection methods 214
10.4 Conclusion 230

Index 233
 FIGURES

1.1 Sport Services Composition 2

1.2 The Sport Service Operations System 16
1.3 System Causation Factors for the Bradford Fire 18
1.4 Operations System and Coaching Abuse 20
1.5 Examples of Theoretical Sport Positive Outcomes 24
2.1 The Areas of the Sport Management System
Which Can Be Evaluated 33
2.2 Key Attributes of Performance Evaluation Process 33
2.3 Three Critical Areas for Clarifying Organisational Purpose 36
3.1 Sources of Job Tasks 56
3.2 The Classic Four-Point Priority Grid 64
3.3 Example of an Overall To-Do lists 69
3.4 Example of a Daily Plan and To-Do List 71
4.1 Programming Checklist Flow Chart 81
4.2 System Showing the Barriers to Participation
for People with Disability 85
4.3 Pricing Calculation Form 89
4.4 Application of the Pricing Calculation Form 91
4.5 Service Market Position Map of Competing Facilities 94
5.1 The Virtuous Customer Care Cycle 99
5.2 Overview of the Service Encounter 107
5.3 Sample Barriers to Women’s Participation in Sport 109
6.1 The Operational Project Management System 123
6.2 An Overview of the Key Project and Event Planning
Process Phases 127
6.3 Post-it Tab Exercise: Identifying Key Tasks, Resources and
Stakeholders 130
6.4 Simplified Gantt Chart and Schedule Using a Sport
Building Analogy 134
6.5 Sample Gantt Chart for Homeless Rugby Event (Simplified) 136
7.1 Generic Representation of Different Stakeholders 145
7.2 Three Simple Steps in Stakeholder Analysis 146
7.3 Example of a Stakeholder Paradox for a Fun Run Event 147
7.4 Example of Communication Network 149
8.1 The Foundations of Persuasion 168

viii
 Figures   ix

8.2 Overview of Funding Sources 170

8.3 Overview of the Types of Sponsorship Relationships and
Benefits 178
9.1 Synthesised Risk and Crisis Management Process 196
9.2 Examples of Fault and Event Tree Analysis for Sudden
Death of Sport Participants 198
9.3 Sources of Crisis Events and Key Consequences 201
10.1 Overview of Research Process 215
10.2 Why Research and Consult Communities 218
10.3 What Data is Collected? 219
10.4 When Do You Collect Data 222
10.5 Data Collection Techniques Overview 225
 TABLES

1.1 The Key Functions of Management and Business 8

1.2 Examples of Operations Management Definitions 11
1.3 Examples of Sport Positive Outcomes, Leverage
Mechanisms and Nudges 26
2.1 Examples of Classic PIs Based around the Key Areas
of Performance 46
2.2 Facility and Service Annual Comparative Data 48
2.3 Comparative Efficiency Ratios 49
2.4 Annual Expenditure (Input data) 50
2.5 Annual Revenue (Output data) 50
2.6 Annual Usage (Output Data) 51
3.1 Examples of Prioritisation Questions and Categories 64
5.1 Servicescape Dimensions 114
5.2 Example of Maintenance Schedule 116
5.3 Customer Care Tips 118
6.1 Similarities and Differences between Operations and Project
Management 122
8.1 Sample Factors Which Can Be Leveraged for Persuasion 169
8.2 Examples of Different Countries Grants Available for Sport 172
8.3 Examples of Different Countries Grants Available for Sport 176
8.4 Key Tasks for Seeking and Winning Potential Sponsors 180
8.5 Key Features of a Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns 183
8.6 Overview of Fundraising Techniques 186
9.1 Comparing Definitions of Risk, Crisis and DRA 190
9.2 Description and Examples of Key Sources of Crisis Events 202

x
 CASE STUDIES

1.1 
Changing government policies: ‘sport for sport’s sake’
or ‘sport for good’ 5
1.2 The global nature of sport development work 6
1.3 Examples of overlapping management and business functions in
sport management and development work 8
1.4 Black box thinking and marginal gains (British and
Canadian cycling) 13
1.5 Examples of complexity and operational failures 17
1.6 The challenges of the external business environment
impacting on sport operations 22
2.1 Examples of clarifying purpose with vision and mission
statements 37
2.2 Examples of organisational values which shape
working practices and can enhance brand appeal 40
2.3 Identifying the principles of SMART objectives even when
they are not always explicitly stated 43
2.4 Illustrative examples of analysing data to evaluate
performance 48
3.1 A day in the life of a sport agent 57
3.2 Operationalising a basketball strategic plan in China 61
3.3 How would you prioritise these typical job tasks
generated in a day? 65
3.4 How the mind works (Levitin, 2014) 72
4.1 The product lifecycle (PLC) of keep fit services 79
4.2 The rise of social sport enterprise programming 82
4.3 Exploring group needs and barriers for swimming 84
4.4 Pricing strategies 90
4.5 Comparing health and fitness services and market placement 93
5.1 Examples of online customer complaints when reviewing sport
services 100
5.2 Testing the loyalty of sport fans and the future of the stadium
experience 102
5.3 The service encounter, women and removing barriers 108
5.4 Carrying capacity, queue management and the impact of social
distance measures 110
6.1 Applying the project system concepts to a fun run event 124

xi
xii Case studies

6.2 The triple constraints of event projects and the risks

generated 126
6.3 From boiling an egg to organising the Olympics: starting
an event project 128
6.4 Example of the preliminary job task identification
and scheduling of job tasks: homeless rugby project 135
6.5 Micro-leveraging the impacts from events – an
observational study of the 2019 Rugby World Cup 138
7.1 The importance of stakeholder theory and CSR 146
7.2 Example of a communications network 149
7.3 The growing importance of partnership work as
discrete areas of operations management 154
7.4 Doha world athletics championship and the night of
10,000 metres personal bests (PBs) 156
7.5 Volunteers and the Japan Rugby World Cup 158
8.1 Completing a grant application: small grant
application, Sport England 173
8.2 Examples of sponsorship 181
8.3 Examples of sport crowdfunding campaigns 184
9.1 Applying risk and crisis management concepts
to swimming pools and swimming 192
9.2 Contextual variations in risk management 194
9.3 When a bat flaps its wings: crisis management, chaos theory
and global pandemics 199
9.4 The operational challenges of managing the risk of
concussion in sport 206
10.1 Performance evaluation and data collection for a sport for
development: slam dunking aids out 215
10.2 Using secondary databases to assess demand 220
10.3 Theoretical modelling 223
10.4 An applied example for researching third age users
and their active recreation needs and wants 226
 CONTRIBUTORS

Paul Blakey is Senior Lecturer in Sport Business Management at the University

of Worcester, UK.
Mandy Newbold is Lecturer in Sport Development and Management at the Uni-
versity of Worcester, UK. She is also Tutor and National Faculty Trainer for
the Youth Sport Trust and Sport England.
Gillian Renfree is Senior Lecturer and Course Director in Sport Management at
the University of Worcester, UK.

xiii
 PREFACE

The aim of this book is to explain and illustrate how good quality sport services
can be researched, designed and delivered safely, efficiently and effectively. It
does this by applying some of the key operation management theories and con-
cepts to relevant sport service operations, using a range of local, national and
international case studies, to help illustrate best management practice and the
universal challenges faced in sport management and development work. Where
this book differs from other books on sport management and operations is its
more detailed, applied focus of turning theoretical management concepts, into
tangible services.
For those who are familiar with sport development work, this book could
initially appear more ‘management’ orientated than ‘development’ focused.
This is because the ‘coaching’ elements – which can be a strong feature of sport
development work – is not discussed in any detail in this book (this subject is
better served by more specialist texts). Our argument for combining ‘manage-
ment’ and ‘development’ in a book on sport operations is that the word ‘man-
agement’ should not simply refer to a type of job; management also describes
and encapsulates the process of coordinating resources, such as organising the
money, staffing and equipment to deliver sport services. In this sense, all coaches
and development offices are sport managers, hence the combination.
Whilst the sport industry includes both the delivery of services (e.g. sport
events, coaching programmes, etc.) and the manufacturing of sport goods (e.g.
sport equipment, clothing, etc.), this book only focuses on the delivery of sport
services and the many operational challenges this generates. These sport ser-
vices can be designed for numerous purposes, occur in a variety of locations or
require different types of participant involvement. There is, to say the least, a
huge variety in the sport services which managers and sport development offi-
cers (SDOs) can design and offer to people, to achieve a variety of purposes.
Whatever the purpose, location or type of involvement in the sport service,
a crucial underpinning goal for the organisation designing and delivering the
service is that they meet people’s needs and wants, safely, effectively and effi-
ciently. Those who are familiar with the business function of marketing will rec-
ognise this broad principal as being ‘market orientated’; this places the customer
and client as the central focus of business activity, in terms of understanding
what they need, want and expect from a service, in order to gain satisfaction.
An important theme throughout this book is to challenge many simplistic
assumptions about the virtues and benefits of sport. The playing and watching
of sport does not, we argue, automatically mean positive benefits to individ-
uals, communities and countries occur. What needs to be understood are the
additional intervening mechanisms and actions which managers and develop-
ment workers need to implement, in order to leverage sport participation into
larger, transformational positive changes. Without this understanding, many of
the positive benefits may not accrue, which in worse case scenarios, can mean
negative impacts occur instead.

xiv
 Preface   xv

A key challenge when writing a book on operations sport management

and development is that there is a danger that because a service sector has the
word ‘sport’ in it, that this somehow makes them the same or similar. In fact, the
sport industry is far more diverse than many would expect. For example, one
could compare a small, local amateur football club, with clubs such as Manches-
ter United or Real Madrid. They may share an involvement with the competitive
physical activity of the game of football, which needs management and plan-
ning, but the scale of resources and the breadth of issues they face will be very
different.
So just how can a book be written which is meaningful for sport managers
and SDOs who can work in so many different sports, levels of management,
supply sectors and countries? The answer is that whilst some of the technical
expertise will vary in different roles or sports, it is still possible to identify some
of the universal challenges and areas of best practice, which have relevancy in
different countries around the world.
This book has the following structure:
• Chapter 1 defines operational management and looks at the similarities
and differences between sport management and development. As part of
the introduction, it shows how operations management needs to utilise
systems and complexity theory to help ensure sport services are operation-
alised and delivered safetly.
• Chapter 2 examines how sport organisations define their purpose and
evaluate their performance, based on the levels of performance. Particular
attention is given to how outputs (e.g. sport participation) can be leveraged
to achieve outcomes (e.g. health benefits).
• Chapter 3 looks at the practicalities of getting jobs done, on time, to the
expected level of quality.
• Chapter 4 gets at the heart of designing a sport service, in terms of gen-
erating ideas, costing, pricing and delivering the service. This chapter is
intimately related to the business function of marketing.
• Chapter 5 looks at the importance of customer care and how using quality
systems can enhance the visitor experience, where a critical underpinning
is using systems and complexity theory, discussed in Chapter 1.
• Chapter 6 considers the practicalities of project management and the prin-
cipals and concepts which overlap with operations management, with a
particular focus given to sport event projects.
• Chapter 7 explains the importance of using stakeholder theory, when
developing networks and partnerships in the effective and efficient design
and delivery of services.
• Chapter 8 looks at the importance of fundraising and sponsorship in the
contemporary sport service sector around the world, paying particular
attention to new fundraising techniques, such as using social media for
crowdfunding campaigns.
• Chapter 9 explores risk and crisis management. It explains how risk and
crisis management are linked and some of the practical skills which can be
developed to help with effective decision-making.
xvi Preface

• Chapter 10 examines the importance of research and some of the practical

techniques for collecting data and information, particularly on local com-
munities, in order to make the best management decisions.
 1 WHAT IS SPORT
SERVICE OPERATIONS
MANAGEMENT AND
DEVELOPMENT?

Challenges for managers

• What is involved in working at an operations level in sport?

• How does operation service delivery differ from manufacturing operations?
• What are the similarities and differences between sport management and sport
development?
• What theoretical concepts can help analyse operations to create, maintain and improve
services?

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Just what does a sport manager or a sport development officer (SDO) do in
their working day, week or month? For someone unfamiliar with the day-to-
day workings of a sport manager or SDO, it can be difficult to envision the
sheer variety of job tasks which have to be coordinated and completed: Some
can be planned for; some will be a reaction to events and incidents on a day;
some may be exciting and be the reason why the person entered into the pro-
fession; some may be mundane, dull even, yet still vital to ensure the efficient
and safe delivery of services. In this chapter, we introduce the variety of job
tasks that a manager or SDO will engage with and how they can be repre-
sented and categorised.
This chapter begins by defining what is meant by operations manage-
ment. It explains the difference between simple sport administration, sport
management and sport development. It then moves onto exploring operations
management as it relates to sport management and development work. A key
part of this discussion will be the representation of an over-arching theoretical
operations system model. This model gives the key concepts used in opera-
tions management, in any working sector, together with giving the foundation
concepts for later chapters.

1
2 Chapter 1

1.2 WHAT IS SPORT MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT?

It is important to gain an insight into the similarities and differences between
sport administration, management and sport development. To begin with, this
book is not about sport administration. Although it is a term commonly referred
to around the world, it is conservative and dated one. In the past, managers of lei-
sure venues would primarily focus on facility maintenance and administration,
which was often reflected in the types of qualifications required, such as having pool
maintenance certificate. The idea of a manager having a degree in sport manage-
ment would have been a highly unusual occurrence. Torkildsen was always critical
of this unimaginative approach to management, arguing that it could be wasteful, if
not negligent (Torkildsen, 2005, p. 553. Today, although this type of sport adminis-
trator can still be found, it is an outdated concept, difficult to sustain in the modern,
global sport business world. In this book, our preference therefore is to adopt Watt’s
(1998) view of the modern sport manager and SDO, who needs to be dynamic and
outward looking, with skills and knowledge of the key management and business
functional areas, who takes the initiative in sport service operations.
It is also important to recognise the full diversity of sport, whereby because
a service sector has the word ‘sport’ in it, then this somehow makes a single
homogenous area of management. It does not. Whilst there can be linking
strands, the work and challenges between various sports or sport sectors can be
very different. To help explain why this is the case, we therefore adapt Wilson
and Piekarz (2015, p. 9) sector model and Torkildsen’s (2005, p. 451) programme
classification which identify the many different elements which can shape sport
services, presented in Figure 1.1.

Profit or non-profit

Outcomes Target group

Indoor or outdoor Active participation

spaces or passive watching

Continuum level (e.g.

Pay-as-you go or club foundation,
membership performance,
participation or elite)

Figure 1.1 Sport Services Composition.

Source: Adapting Wilson and Piekarz (2015) and Torkildsen (2005).
 What is sport service operations management 3

The different elements identified in Figure 1.1 help illustrate variations in

service delivery, each presenting their own operational challenges, as the follow-
ing examples illustrate:

• Example 1 – Fitness class: This could take place in an indoor gym; runs for
profit (private sector); can be done as pay-as-you go (i.e. you just turn up and
pay for the service when you want it); is non-competitive and involves active
participation; and designed to achieve health outcomes.
• Example 2 – A children’s community football programme: This can take
place outdoors; can be run by a commercial football club, but is run on a
non-profit basis, as children pay a minimal fee to cover just operating costs
(called a ‘loss-leader’ service); it has a small club subscriptions for a set
number of weeks for the coaching sessions; it is primarily focused on ama-
teur, foundation level of active participation, but the club wants to identify
future elite talent and even encourage the children and their families to
attend football games and develop fandom attachment outcomes.
• Example 3 – A sport event in an arena: This can be done for commercial,
profit reasons; it can be indoors; it could also be an example of a more com-
plex, large-scale operation, where hundreds of staff may need to be coor-
dinated and thousands of spectators managed; and it involves the passive
watching of professional athletes, to help achieve inspiration outcomes.

One important observation to make is that depending on the combination of

elements highlighted in Figure 1.1, this can have profound implications on
operational management processes and the risks which need to be managed
(e.g. large-scale sport events can carry a higher risk of terrorist attack, or outdoor
events can be exposed to weather hazards, which can generate numerous risks,
such as extreme weather forcing event closures). These will be elaborated on
throughout this book.
Further explanation is needed on the similarities and differences between
sport development and sport management jobs. The concept of ‘development’ in
sport can describe a type of job in the sport sector, or be understood as a working
philosophy in sport. This becomes clearer when the definition of sport develop-
ment is explored. Whilst there is no single, agreed definition of sport develop-
ment, Hylton (2013) gives a useful starting point about some of the challenges
and key features of sport development, saying:

The use – and, some would argue misuse – of the term ‘sport(s)
development’ can be appreciated by a closer look at what each word
is describing. Sport has at times been narrowly defined in terms of
competitive, rule governed games, involving some degree of physical
activity and exercise. Development conjures up ideas of maturation,
of education; the gradual consolidation of knowledge; and the teach-
ing of competences and practical skills… Consequently, to develop
someone or something suggests a transition through progressive
4 Chapter 1

stages where new and improved outcomes are both possible and
desirable. But put the two strange words together, each drawing on
different vocabularies, such as sport and development, and what do
you get? A new hierarchy or range of meanings emerges.
Hylton (2013, p. 4)

Houlihan (2011, p. 5) notes that sport development is a contested term, observ-

ing how it ‘starts off apparently simple, but soon becomes mired in ambiguity’.
Coalter (2010) also gives an invaluable, critical discussion of how the concept
of ‘sport development’ can be a politically contested term, arguing that the use
of sport for development has been regularly espoused in public sport policies
within westernised societies over the past 20 years. A further illustrative exam-
ple of this is given in Box 1.1. Exploring these many tensions could be a book in
itself, but for now the following key features of development work are focused
on here:

• Sport development is about engagement: Sport development can

describe work which relates to getting more people active or involved
with sport in some manner, which often targets particular communi-
ties or groups, such as children and the elderly women. At times this
can be criticised, particularly if a ‘missionary’ style of outreach work is
adopted, where the sport is ‘forced’ upon a community whether they
want it or not.
• Sport development is about nurturing: Sport development can describe
the identification and nurturing of sport interest and talent. This is illus-
trated with the use of the Sport Development Continuum model, which
develops the theory that people playing sport go through a pyramid of
progression, starting with the foundation level (e.g. getting children to
play sport), then moving onto participation (e.g. playing on a regular
basis for fun, socialisation or fitness), then performance (e.g. playing on
a regular, semi-professional basis) finishing with elite performers (e.g. the
small number who perform at the highest competitive level). It is simplistic
model, with many limitations, but for now, it offers a basic starting point to
explain how people may progress through sport.
• Sport development is not the same as coaching: Sport development, whilst
often intimately related to sport coaching, should not be used as a synonym
or inter-changeable with the term ‘coaching’. Whilst all coaches will have a
development strand to their role, sport development goes beyond coaching
into the sphere of management, as it requires planning and management of
resources, hence, the reason it is combined with management in this book.
• Sport for development is different from sport development: Coalter (2010)
provides a critical discussion of the differences between sport development
and sport for development. Simply put, sport development may focus on
expanding participation in a sport, whilst the ‘for development’ may focus
on achieving some other, non-sporting goals, such as trying to improve
health or build character traits, such as honesty, teamwork and leadership
 What is sport service operations management 5

(all examples of outputs, explained later). This concept of ‘for develop-

ment’ is similar to ‘sport plus’ arguments, referring to sport being used
to achieve goals, such as the claims that it can assist in achieving the UN
(United Nations) development goals (UN, 2019), or even with peace and
reconciliation projects in war-torn countries.

Box 1.1 Changing government policies: ‘sport for

sport’s sake’ or ‘sport for good’
The funding of sport by governments has varying rationales, which have
reflected the global shifts in political ideologies. For example, in the UK
during the 1960s and 1970s, a key rationale for the public funding of sport
was based on issues of equity and the idea of ‘sport for sport sake’ which
meant that everyone in society should have the opportunity to access sport
and leisure activities, where the intrinsic and personal benefits of sport to the
individual were justification enough for the funding.
During the 1980s, there was a global shift in economic and political
thinking, where many governments around the world focused on monetarist
economic policies, which focused on reducing government expenditure, as
this was viewed as a key driver of inflation and poor economic performance.
The argument of ‘sport for sport sake’ as a justification held little sway to the
politicians who adopted these neo-liberalist economic policies, so the empha-
sis by many non-profit sport organisations, who depended on government
money to operate, had to change. Steadily, their arguments shifted, focusing
on leveraging the externalities of sport (a term from economics, which refers to
the potential positive spin-off affects, such as people playing sport becoming
healthier, or the claims that it can potentially reduce crime), so sport moved
from ‘sport for sport sake’ to ‘sport for good’ arguments, which meant that in
order to justify public money, sport had to show how it could solve problems
or bring benefits. For example, Coalter (1990, p. 16) observed how UK sport
funding moved away from general welfare structures (i.e. part of the services
that governments support, such as health and education services), to being
used as welfare, whereby it was seen as a tool to deal with wider social and
economic problems.
Around the world, sport policy and funding has continued to move
between these philosophies of sport for sport sake and sport for good, reflect-
ing the economic, social and political conditions of the time, as illustrated by
Collins (2010) or Green et al. (2018) discussion of sport policy in Scandinavian
countries.

Discussion
For a country of your choice, identify the government’s current policies
towards the funding and support of sport. Is the policy focused more on sport
for sport sake or sport for good philosophies?
6 Chapter 1

These key features of sport development highlight two key linking strands
between sport development and management, which are:

• SDOs need to manage resources: When management is understood in

relation to its classic management and business functions, it is clear that
SDOs will need to apply the management functions of planning, organ-
ising, leading, controlling and communicating in relation to the three key
business functional areas of managing staff and volunteers (the HR func-
tion), managing money (the finance function) and what services are needed
for customers (the marketing function). This is explored in more depth in
the next section.
• Sport managers need to develop sport engagement and participation:
When looking at the key characteristics of sport development, it is clear
that most managers of sport services will engage with development-type
work, such as how they can get more people involved and engaged with
their sport services, whether this is playing, supporting or even to help
deliver sport services as volunteers.

Referring back to Figure 1.1 and the different elements of sport services, SDOs
can have a preponderance towards the non-profit sector and the active partic-
ipation of sport. It should, however, be appreciated that there is a continued
blurring of the boundaries between the sectors, where development work has
increasingly been used on a global scale by both commercial and non-commercial
purposes, as illustrated in Box 1.2.

Box 1.2 The global nature of sport development work

Here are three examples to illustrate how the boundaries between the profit/
non-profit sectors and management/development have become more blurred:

• 
Case Study 1 – NFL (National Football League): The NFL is the profes-
sional American Football League, consisting of 32 teams. It is a league
which is constantly seeking to grow its market appeal around the
world. In relation to Europe, as part of this strategy, it has developed
a variety of activities and events to grow and develop the interest of
both playing and watching the sport of American football. As part of
this strategy, there has been a growing number of NFL games played
in Europe, particularly the UK. There are also strategies for the devel-
opment of the sport and the leagues to appeal for the lucrative Chi-
nese market. Whilst some of the activities, in the short term, may not
generate much profit, the aim is to grow the market interest, which
can increase the commercial opportunities for advertising and spon-
sorship, or selling merchandise.
 What is sport service operations management 7

• 
Case Study 2 – World Rugby: This governing body has developed some
particularly ambitious plans for growing women’s participation and
interest in rugby around the world. As Part of the attempts to opera-
tionalise this growth strategy, it appointed ten global leadership schol-
arships and has held a variety of global forums in Botswana, Madrid
and Bangkok. This growth strategy has attempted to strengthen and
professionalise the key women’s rugby events, such as women’s world
cup (World Rugby, 2019). Many of the development projects set up to
support women’s rugby are targeted at the grass roots, foundation level,
which are not necessarily designed to generate short-term revenues and
profits. The real gains are to be had from growing the popularity of the
game, which helps enhance its future commercial appeal and so, it is
hoped, helps ensure the sport remains viable in the future.
• 
Case Study 3 – UNICEF: Over the years UNICEF has developed a range of
non-profit outreach sport programmes, of the ‘Sport for Development’ type
work, where the potential positive outcomes of sport are leveraged to try
and deal with a variety of individual and broader political, social and eco-
nomic problems. For example, there have been initiatives of: ­encouraging
girls to play football, in order to overcome social barriers in education pro-
gression; using sport programmes to try and deal with the rehabilitation of
child soldiers in Burundi; and using of sport to help educate people about
the disease of Aids in African and the Caribbean (UNICEF, 2019).

Discussion
How important is development-type work for the manager who is working
in the commercial sector?
How much should SDOs working in the non-profit public or voluntary
sectors be concerned with financial management and marketing?

Management has various definitions, where it can be considered in terms

of management functions, roles and skills (Wilson & Piekarz, 2015), summarised
in Table 1.1. Crucially, all managers in all sectors will need to apply these func-
tions, roles and skills to the three key business functional areas of financial man-
agement, human resource management (HRM) and marketing management.
Both the management and business functions can also be applied to all the levels
of management, which in this work are presented as the strategic, project and
operational levels.
In larger organisations, managers and SDOs have the potential to spe-
cialise in certain areas, such as working in a HR, marketing or finance depart-
ment. It is however vital that both managers and SDOs have an insight and
­understanding of how all these areas overlap and interact with each other, if
they are to deliver sport services which meet both customers’ expectations and
the organisations goals, efficiently and safely. Examples of this are given in
Box 1.3.
8 Chapter 1

Table 1.1 The Key Functions of Management and Business

Management Functions, Business Functions Levels of Management

Roles and Skills

All managers and SDOs need All managers and SDOs Both the management and
to apply the management will need to have some business functions need
functions of: understanding and to be applied to all levels
capability to utilise the of management of:
- Planning (this can relate business functions of:
to goal setting and time Strategic (this gives the
management) Human resource over-arching context
- Organising (who does the management (HRM) of operational plans
what, when, where and how) (the capacity to and involves planning
- Leading (giving direction, manage staff and over longer time scales,
confidence and energy volunteers) which can be counted in
to drive policies and Finance (the capacity to years, needs to manage
management initiatives) cost out programmes, a broader range of
- Controlling (ensuring jobs evaluate performance resources and involves
are kept on track, delegating and control costs) analysing the external
work and making changes) Marketing (understand business environment)
- Communicating (adapts customers’ needs and Project (this overlaps with
the old command function, wants and how to both the strategic and
but focused on how people communicate your operational levels, with
are informed and updated services to target one of its key defining
on what needs to be done, groups) features of it having a
so there is clarity in their Risk (the need to risk clear end point)
thinking and actions) assess activities to Operational (involves
comply with safety more limited time
Roles of management relate regulations and scales of hours, days,
to interpersonal roles, protect brands) weeks and months,
informational roles and and focuses on the
decisional roles actually small details of
Skills of management relate to delivering services to
technical skills, human skills customers)
and conceptual skills
Source: Adapting Wilson and Piekarz (2015).

Box 1.3 Examples of overlapping management and

business functions in sport management
and development work
The following examples are based on the job specifications given for three
different jobs advertised in the sport of cricket. They help to illustrate how all
managers and SDOs will need to utilise the different management functions
and skills, summarised in Table 1.1, with the areas between management,
development and coaching type work, often blurred.
 What is sport service operations management 9

Case Study 1 – Indoor cricket centre manager for professional cricket

club: A top, professional English cricket club in the North of England, built
a new indoor cricket facility, to complement its mainstream services of stag-
ing cricket matches for people to pay and watch. The new indoor facility has
a mixed set of objectives, ranging from traditional facility management and
SDO type work, such as:
- Run operations for profit, but with some programmes run as loss-­
leaders, in order to help achieve other objectives, such as those relating
to strengthening community club connections.
- Have active participation programmes for amateurs, foundation level
target groups, such as having both boys’ and girls’ cricket, disability
cricket and coaching programmes for talent identification and finally
growing interest in the game and affiliation to the club.
- Offer time slots on a pay-as-you go basis for community groups who
can hire parts of the facility at their convenience.
- Have time slots for professional players, who would utilise it as a train-
ing facility for competitive match games.
- develop partnerships with local amateur clubs, schools, colleges and
universities

The role had a requirement of subject expertise to the playing and coach-
ing of cricket, together with a need for experience in the management and
business function, such as a capability to manage finances and control costs
(the finance function); manage permanent and casual staff (the HR function);
develop and promote a range of cricket services or courses, for all abilities,
age groups and disabilities (the marketing function); doing risk assessments
and ensuring all legal regulations were complied with, ranging from Health
and Safety regulations, to child safeguarding (the risk management function).
Case Study 2 – Cricket development officer: A cricket development offi-
cer was created by joint funding between Worcestershire Cricket Board and
Warwickshire Cricket Board (a professional, commercial club), in partnership
with the Lord’s Taverners (a charitable organisation). A key part of the job
remit was to use the ‘power of cricket as a tool for change, social cohesion
and make a difference to the lives of people in deprived areas of Birmingham,
Dudley & Redditch’. It is an example of cricket being used to generate posi-
tive externalities or sport for development. In terms of the elements of the ser-
vice, it was characterised by having non-profit social objectives, focusing on
how cricket can be used to tackle social problems, promoting healthy lifestyle
choices and developing community inclusivity. It would be a peripatetic role
(i.e. they are more mobile, whose remit is to go out into the community, help-
ing to establish various service programmes, in different types of venues),
based on setting up programmes in a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces,
over a large geographic area. The role also needed to develop partnerships

(continued)
10 Chapter 1

Box 1.3 (continued)

with many key stakeholders, ranging from local cricket clubs, charities and
schools (see also Chapter 7).
Whilst this job has many classic sport development-type features and
experience needed, it should again be noted that it also required experi-
ence of the management and business functions, because the work involved
designing new services within specified budgets and compliance with legal
regulations.
Case Study 3 – Kooh Sports in India: Kooh Sports describes itself as a
sport education and training company primarily based in India and the UAE. It
is backed by Gaja Capital, a large domestic private equity fund in India. What is
of interest about Kooh is its focus on sport development-type work in a variety
of sports, developing partnerships with different sport clubs and educational
institutions. The work they do has a strong orientation towards social objectives
and trying to achieve positive social outcomes. It is the sort of work which in
many countries would be delivered more by the public and voluntary sectors,
but in India it is being delivered by a commercial organisation.

Discussion
For a sport you are interested, identify the different types of management and
development jobs available, then what are the key management functions,
roles and skills needed to perform the job.

1.3 WHAT IS SPORT OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT?

In essence, sport operations is about getting jobs done on time, to the expected
level of quality. At an intuitive level, we know the sort of things it should
involve, such as opening sport facility doors on time; having qualified/trained
staff, coaches and volunteers turn up with the relevant equipment; having
facilities which are clean and safe; recruiting and training staff and volunteers;
and communicating to staff and customers the what, when and where of sport
services.
In Table 1.2, three sample definitions are given in relation to operations
management, which can be used to develop a more formal definition of sport
operations management. Far more definitions could be used, but these are suf-
ficient to help draw out some of the key features of sport service operations.
The first point to focus on is that operations management is about creating and
designing services. The second relates to how some of the definitions require
the utilisation of the classic management functions, noted earlier. The third
point is the suggestion that operations management can be viewed as part of a
system, which transforms input resources into actual tangible services (the pro-
cess or throughput part), which when consumed generate outputs and poten-
tial outcomes.
 What is sport service operations management 11

Table 1.2 Examples of Operations Management Definitions

Example 1 Generic Operations Example 2 Sport Example 3 Generic

Definition Operations Definition Operations Definition

Operations …is ‘the part of the ‘Operations ‘It is the design

organisation where the requirements management for and delivery of
of the market and the capabilities a sport facility services. It is
of organisation’s resources have to is defined as the about organising
be reconciled… the reconciliation maintenance, resources to
of market requirements with control, and produce goods
operations resources is the activity improvement of or services, or
of managing the resources that organisational turning inputs into
create and deliver services and activities that outputs’ (Heizer &
products. The operations function are required to Render, 2004)
is the part of the organisation that is produce products
responsible for this activity. Every and services for
organisation has an operations consumers of
function because every organisation the sport facility’
creates some type of service and/or (Schwarz et al., 2010,
products’ (Slack p. 123)
et al., 2016, p. 6)

Our Synthesised Definition

Sport operations management and development is a transformational process which
creates, maintains and improves the delivery of safe sport services of a consistently
high quality
Source: Author.

The synthesising definition of sport operations management presented at

the table has three critical features, used throughout this book, relevant for both
sport managers and SDOs, which are:
• Create: Operations management will often have a focus on designing and
creating new services which meet the needs, wants and expectations of cli-
ents, customers or stakeholders (see Chapters 4, 6 and 10 for more practical
insights).
• Maintain: Operations management must always focus on maintaining the
efficient and safe delivery of services (see Chapters 2 and 5).
• Improve: Operational management must always look to improve the qual-
ity, service experience and safety of services (see Chapters 2, 5 and 7).

1.4 THE IMPORTANCE OF SYSTEMS THEORY

AND THE SPORT OPERATION SYSTEM
In this book, systems and complexity theory is a key underpinning for how
operations management is approached and used. Systems theory has its roots
in understanding how living organisms work, and to do this properly, it is nec-
essary to understand the complex interaction of a living organisms’ many parts,
12 Chapter 1

whereby if one part was to fail, it can lead to the system impairment or failing
(i.e. death of the organism). To use the analogy of the human body, it is about
understanding how all the different elements of the body, ranging from the heart,
stomach, liver, blood, etc., combine to allow life, whereby if a part is damaged,
then it can impair either the quality of life or even lead to death. This provides a
useful analogy, which can be adapted not just for sport operations management,
but all management, as it reminds the manager and SDO that they need to take
care of all the different parts of the service to ensure the safe, efficient delivery of
services which combine to give customer satisfaction.
What adds to the importance of using systems theory is that the work-
ing environment of contemporary sport managers and SDOs is one increasingly
characterised by constant change and dynamism. Not only do managers need
to consider the complex interaction of all the different business functional areas
in order to transform the mix of input resources (e.g. staffing, money, equip-
ment, facilities, etc.) into outputs (e.g. the people coming to watch or partici-
pate in the sport service), they also need to consider how external forces, beyond
their control, can impact on their operations, such as political events, economic
changes and technological developments (i.e. the classic PESTLE factors analysis
explained later). Box 1.4 further elaborates on how the theory has been used in
practice.
The sheer variety of connecting factors that constantly interact, gener-
ating changes or creating crisis events means that the system that the sport
manager or SDO operates in is also characterised as being complex, sometimes
chaotic. These two concepts have their own theories which are also useful to
understand:

• Complexity theory: This is rooted in systems theory, which continues with

the idea of viewing the organisation and world as operating as part of an
interactive, adaptive system. Operations management should try to under-
stand the complex operations systems as best they can. An analogy some-
times used is of a doctor or surgeon who operates on a human body which
is considered as a complex system, not (usually) a chaotic one. As part of
this surgical operation, the doctor must monitor numerous aspects of the
surgical complex, interactive process, such as coordinating team members,
monitoring the patients vital signs using a range of technology and oper-
ating on the correct part of the body, where even small failures in any of
these areas can imperil the patients’ health. In business, this theory of com-
plexity can be given further refinement by using the acronym of working
in a VUCA world (Gerras, 2004, p. 11), which stands for a business environ-
ment which is more:
• Volatile (the speed of unexpected events are generated)
• Uncertain (it is harder to know what will happen in the future, or the
repercussions of actions)
• Complex (managers operate in a complex interactive system)
• Ambiguous (there can be a lack of precedents to know just what issues
will be generated in the future and the potential to misread events)
Another random document with
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 “This unintelligible jargon is out of place here, Mr Dominie; and if
you can show no better reasons for raising such an abominable
falsehood, in representing me as an incendiary and murderer, I shall
procure you a lodging in the house of correction.”
“Why, sir, the long and the short of the matter is this:—I only
asked at that fellow there—that logarithm of stupidity—if he had
heard aught of a ghost having been seen about Wineholm Place. I
added nothing farther, either positive or negative. Now, do you insist
on my reasons for asking such a question?”
“I insist on having them.”
“Then what will you say, sir, when I inform you, and declare my
readiness to depone to the truth of it, that I saw the ghost myself?
Yes, sir, that I saw the ghost of your late worthy father-in-law myself,
sir; and though I said no such thing to that decimal fraction, yet it
told me, sir,—yes, the spirit of your father-in-law told me, sir, that
you are a murderer.”
“Lord, now, what think ye o’ that?” quoth the smith. “Ye had better
hae letten him alane; for, ’od, ye ken, he’s the deevil of a body as ever
was made. He just beats the world!”
The doctor grew as pale as death, but whether from fear or rage, it
was hard to say.
“Why, sir,” said he, “you are mad! stark, raving mad; therefore, for
your own credit, and for the peace and comfort of my wife and
myself, and our credit among our retainers, you must unsay every
word that you have now said.”
“I’ll just as soon say that the parabola and the ellipsis are the
same,” said the dominie; “or that the diameter is not the longest line
that can be drawn in the circle. And now, sir, since you have forced
me to divulge what I was much in doubt about, I have a great mind to
have the old laird’s grave opened to-night, and have the body
inspected before witnesses.”
“If you dare disturb the sanctuary of the grave,” said the doctor
vehemently, “or with your unhallowed hands touch the remains of
my venerable and revered predecessor, it had been better for you,
and all who make the attempt, that you never had been born. If not
then for my sake, for the sake of my wife, the sole daughter of the
man to whom you have all been obliged, let this abominable and
malicious calumny go no farther, but put it down; I pray of you to put
it down, as you would value your own advantage.”
“I have seen him, and spoke with him—that I aver,” said the
dominie. “And shall I tell you what he said to me?”
“No, no! I’ll hear no more of such absolute and disgusting
nonsense,” said the doctor.
“Then, since it hath come to this, I will declare it in the face of the
whole world, and pursue it to the last,” said the dominie, “ridiculous
as it is, and I confess that it is even so. I have seen your father-in-law
within the last twenty-four hours; at least a being in his form and
habiliments, and having his aspect and voice. And he told me that he
believed you were a very great scoundrel, and that you had helped
him off the stage of time in a great haste, for fear of the operation of a
will, which he had just executed, very much to your prejudice. I was
somewhat aghast, but ventured to remark, that he must surely have
been sensible whether you murdered him or not, and in what way.
He replied that he was not very certain, for at the time you put him
down, he was much in his customary way of nights—very drunk; but
that he greatly suspected you had hanged him, for ever since he had
died, he had been troubled with a severe crick in his neck. Having
seen my late worthy patron’s body deposited in the coffin, and
afterwards consigned to the grave, these things overcame me, and a
kind of mist came over my senses; but I heard him saying as he
withdrew, what a pity it was that my nerves could not stand this
disclosure! Now, for my own satisfaction, I am resolved that, to-
morrow, I shall raise the village, with the two ministers at the head of
the multitude, and have the body, and particularly the neck of the
deceased, minutely inspected.”
“If you do so, I shall make one of the number,” said the doctor.
“But I am resolved that, in the first place, every means shall be tried
to prevent a scene of madness and absurdity so disgraceful to a well-
regulated village and a sober community.”
“There is but one direct line that can be followed, and any other
would either form an acute or obtuse angle,” said the dominie;
“therefore I am resolved to proceed right forward, on mathematical
principles;” and away he went, skipping on his crutch, to arouse the
villagers to the scrutiny.
 The smith remained behind, concerting with the doctor how to
controvert the dominie’s profound scheme of unshrouding the dead;
and certainly the smith’s plan, viewed professionally, was not amiss
—
“O, ye ken, sir, we maun just gie him another heat, and try to
saften him to reason, for he’s just as stubborn as Muirkirk airn. He
beats the world for that.”
While the two were in confabulation, Johnston, the old house
servant, came in, and said to the doctor—
“Sir, your servants are going to leave the house, every one, this
night, if you cannot fall on some means to divert them from it. The
old laird is, it seems, risen again, and come back among them, and
they are all in the utmost consternation. Indeed, they are quite out of
their reason. He appeared in the stable to Broadcast, who has been
these two hours dead with terror, but is now recovered, and telling
such a tale downstairs as never was heard from the mouth of man.”
“Send him up here,” said the doctor. “I will silence him. What does
the ignorant clown mean by joining in this unnatural clamour?”
John came up, with his broad bonnet in his hand, shut the door
with hesitation, and then felt thrice with his hand if it was really
shut.
“Well, John,” said the doctor, “what absurd lie is this that you are
vending among your fellow-servants, of having seen a ghost?”
John picked some odds and ends of threads out of his bonnet, and
said nothing.
“You are an old superstitious dreaming dotard,” continued the
doctor; “but if you propose in future to manufacture such stories, you
must, from this instant, do it somewhere else than in my service, and
among my domestics. What have you to say for yourself?”
“Indeed, sir, I hae naething to say but this, that we hae a’ muckle
reason to be thankfu’ that we are as we are.”
“And whereon does that wise saw bear? What relation has that to
the seeing of a ghost? Confess then, this instant, that you have forged
and vended a deliberate lie.”
“Indeed, sir, I hae muckle reason to be thankfu’—”
“For what?”
 “That I never tauld a deliberate lie in my life. My late master came
and spoke to me in the stable; but whether it was his ghaist or
himself—a good angel or a bad ane—I hae reason to be thankfu’ I
never said; for I do—not—ken.”
“Now, pray let us hear from that sage tongue of yours, so full of
sublime adages, what this doubtful being said to you?”
“I wad rather be excused, an’ it were your honour’s will, and wad
hae reason to be thankfu’.”
“And why should you decline telling this?”
“Because I ken ye wadna believe a word o’t, it is siccan a strange
story. O, sirs, but folks hae muckle reason to be thankful that they
are as they are!”
“Well, out with this strange story of yours. I do not promise to
credit it, but shall give it a patient hearing, providing you swear that
there is no forgery in it.”
“Weel, as I was suppering the horses the night, I was dressing my
late kind master’s favourite mare, and I was just thinking to mysel,
an’ he had been leeving, I wadna hae been my lane the night, for he
wad hae been standing ower me, cracking his jokes, and swearing at
me in his good-natured hamely way. Ay, but he’s gane to his lang
account, thinks I, and we puir frail dying creatures that are left ahint,
hae muckle reason to be thankfu’ that we are as we are; when I looks
up, and behold there’s my auld master standing leaning against the
trivage as he used to do, and looking at me. I canna but say my heart
was a little astoundit, and maybe lap up through my midriff into my
breath-bellows—I couldna say; but in the strength o’ the Lord I was
enabled to retain my senses for a good while. ‘John Broadcast,’ said
he, with a deep angry tone,—‘John Broadcast, what the d—l are you
thinking about? You are not currying that mare half. What lubberly
way of dressing a horse is that?’
“‘Lord make us thankfu’, master,’ says I; ‘are you there?’
“‘Where else would you have me be at this hour of the night, old
blockhead?’ says he.
“‘In another hame than this, master,’ says I; ‘but I fear it is nae
good ane, that ye are sae soon tired o’t.’
“‘A d—d bad one, I assure you,’ says he.
 “‘Ay, but master,’ says I, ‘ye hae muckle reason to be thankfu’ that
ye are as ye are.’
“‘In what respect, dotard?’ says he.
“‘That ye hae liberty to come out o’t a start now and then to get the
air,’ says I; and oh, my heart was sair for him when I thought o’ his
state! And though I was thankfu’ that I was as I was, my heart and
flesh began to fail me, at thinking of my speaking face to face wi’ a
being frae the unhappy place. But out he breaks again wi’ a great
round o’ swearing, about the mare being ill-keepit; and he ordered
me to cast my coat and curry her weel, for he had a lang journey to
take on her the morn.
“‘You take a journey on her!’ says I; ‘I doubt my new master will
dispute that privilege wi’ you, for he rides her himsel the morn.’
“‘He ride her!’ cried the angry spirit; and then he burst out into a
lang string of imprecations, fearsome to hear, against you, sir; and
then added, ‘Soon, soon, shall he be levelled with the dust!—the dog!
the parricide! First to betray my child, and then to put down myself!
But he shall not escape—he shall not escape!’ he cried with such a
hellish growl that I fainted, and heard no more.”
“Weel, that beats the world,” exclaimed the smith. “I wad hae
thought the mare wad hae luppen ower yird and stane, or fa’en down
dead wi’ fright.”
“Na, na,” said John, “in place o’ that, whenever she heard him fa’ a
swearing, she was sae glad that she fell a nichering.”
“Na, but that beats the hale world a’ thegither!” quoth the smith.
“Then it has been nae ghaist ava, ye may depend on that.”
“I little wat what it was,” replied John, “but it was a being in nae
gude or happy state o’ mind, and is a warning to us how muckle
reason we hae to be thankfu’ that we are as we are.”
The doctor pretended to laugh at the absurdity of John’s narration,
but it was with a ghastly and doubtful expression of countenance, as
though he thought the story far too ridiculous for any clodpoll to
have contrived out of his own head; and forthwith he dismissed the
two dealers in the marvellous, with very little ceremony, the one
protesting that the thing beat the world, and the other that they had
both reason to be thankful that they were as they were.
 Next morning the villagers, small and great, were assembled at an
early hour to witness the lifting of the body of the late laird, and,
headed by the established and dissenting clergymen, and two
surgeons, they proceeded to the tomb, and soon extracted the
splendid coffin, which they opened with all due caution and
ceremony. But instead of the murdered body of their late benefactor,
which they expected in good earnest to find, there was nothing in the
coffin but a layer of gravel, of about the weight of a corpulent man.
The clamour against the new laird then rose all at once into a
tumult that it was impossible to check, every one declaring that he
had not only murdered their benefactor, but, for fear of discovery,
had raised the body, and given, or rather sold it, for dissection. The
thing was not to be tolerated; so the mob proceeded in a body to
Wineholm Place, to take out their poor deluded lady, and burn the
doctor and his basely acquired habitation to ashes. It was not till the
multitude had surrounded the house that the ministers and two or
three other gentlemen could stay them, which they only did by
assuring the mob that they would bring out the doctor before their
eyes, and deliver him up to justice. This pacified the throng; but on
inquiry at the hall, it was found that the doctor had gone off early
that morning, so that nothing further could be done for the present.
But the coffin, filled with gravel, was laid up in the aisle, and kept
open for inspection.
Nothing could now exceed the consternation of the simple villagers
of Wineholm at these dark and mysterious events. Business, labour,
and employment of every sort, were at a stand, and the people
hurried about to one another’s houses, and mingled their conjectures
together in one heterogeneous mass. The smith put his hand to his
bellows, but forgot to blow till the fire went out; the weaver leaned on
his loom, and listened to the legend of the ghastly tailor. The team
stood in mid-furrow, and the thrasher agape over his flail; and even
the dominie was heard to declare that the geometrical series of
events was increasing by no common ratio, and therefore ought to be
calculated rather arithmetically than by logarithms; and John
Broadcast saw more and more reason for being thankfu’ that he was
as he was, and neither a stock, nor a stone, nor a brute beast.
Every new thing that happened was more extraordinary than the
last; and the most puzzling of all was the circumstance of the late
laird’s mare, saddle, bridle, and all, being off before daylight next
morning; so that Dr Davington was obliged to have recourse to his
own, on which he was seen posting away on the road towards
Edinburgh. It was thus but too obvious that the late laird had ridden
off on his favourite mare,—but whither, none of the sages of
Wineholm could divine. But their souls grew chill as an iceberg, and
their very frames rigid, at the thought of a spirit riding away on a
brute beast to the place appointed for wicked men. And had not John
Broadcast reason to be thankfu’ that he was as he was?
However, the outcry of the community became so outrageous of
murder and foul play, in so many ways, that the officers of justice
were compelled to take note of it; and accordingly the sheriff-
substitute, the sheriff-clerk, the fiscal, and two assistants, came in
two chaises to Wineholm to take a precognition; and there a court
was held which lasted the whole day, at which Mrs Davington, the
late laird’s only daughter, all the servants, and a great number of the
villagers, were examined on oath. It appeared from the evidence that
Dr Davington had come to the village and set up as a surgeon; that he
had used every endeavour to be employed in the laird’s family in
vain, as the latter detested him; that he, however, found means of
inducing his only daughter to elope with him, which put the laird
quite beside himself, and from thenceforward he became drowned in
dissipation; that such, however, was his affection for his daughter,
that he caused her to live with him, but would never suffer the doctor
to enter his door; that it was, nevertheless, quite customary for the
doctor to be sent for to his lady’s chamber, particularly when her
father was in his cups; and that on a certain night, when the laird had
had company, and was so overcome that he could not rise from his
chair, he had died suddenly of apoplexy; and that no other skill was
sent for, or near him, but this his detested son-in-law, whom he had
by will disinherited, though the legal term for rendering that will
competent had not expired. The body was coffined the second day
after death, and locked up in a low room in one of the wings of the
building; and nothing farther could be elicited. The doctor was
missing, and it was whispered that he had absconded; indeed it was
evident, and the sheriff acknowledged that, according to the evidence
taken, the matter had a very suspicious aspect, although there was no
direct proof against the doctor. It was proved that he had attempted
to bleed the patient, but had not succeeded, and that at that time the
old laird was black in the face.
When it began to wear nigh night, and nothing further could be
learned, the sheriff-clerk, a quiet considerate gentleman, asked why
they had not examined the wright who had made the coffin, and also
placed the body in it. The thing had not been thought of; but he was
found in court, and instantly put into the witness-box, and examined
on oath. His name was James Sanderson, a little, stout-made,
shrewd-looking man, with a very peculiar squint. He was examined
thus by the procurator-fiscal:—
“Were you long acquainted with the late Laird of Wineholm,
James?”
“Yes, ever since I left my apprenticeship; for, I suppose, about
nineteen years.”
“Was he very much given to drinking of late?”
“I could not say; he took his glass geyan heartily.”
“Did you ever drink with him.”
“O yes, mony a time.”
“You must have seen him very drunk, then? Did you ever see him
so drunk, for instance, that he could not rise?”
“Never; for long afore that, I could not have kenned whether he
was sitting or standing.”
“Were you present at the corpse-chesting?”
“Yes, I was.”
“And were you certain the body was then deposited in the coffin?”
“Yes; quite certain.”
“Did you screw down the coffin lid firmly then, as you do others of
the same make?”
“No, I did not.”
“What were your reasons for that?”
“They were no reasons of mine; I did what I was ordered. There
were private reasons, which I then wist not of. But, gentlemen, there
are some things connected with this affair, which I am bound in
honour not to reveal. I hope you will not compel me to divulge them
at present.”
 “You are bound by a solemn oath, James, the highest of all
obligations; and, for the sake of justice, you must tell everything you
know; and it would be better if you would just tell your tale
straightforward, without the interruption of question and answer.”
“Well, then, since it must be so:—That day, at the chesting, the
doctor took me aside and said to me, ‘James Sanderson, it will be
necessary that something be put into the coffin to prevent any
unpleasant odour before the funeral; for owing to the corpulence,
and the inflamed state of the body by apoplexy, there will be great
danger of this.’
“‘Very well, sir,’ says I; ‘what shall I bring?’
“‘You had better only screw down the lid lightly at present, then,’
said he; ‘and if you could bring a bucketful of quicklime a little while
hence, and pour it over the body, especially over the face, it is a very
good thing, an excellent thing, for preventing any deleterious effluvia
from escaping.’
“‘Very well, sir,’ said I; and so I followed his directions. I procured
the lime; and as I was to come privately in the evening to deposit it in
the coffin, in company with the doctor alone, I was putting off the
time in my workshop, polishing some trifle, and thinking to myself
that I could not find in my heart to choke up my old friend with
quicklime, even after he was dead, when, to my unspeakable horror,
who should enter my workshop but the identical laird himself,
dressed in his dead-clothes in the very same manner in which I had
seen him laid in the coffin, but apparently all streaming in blood to
the feet. I fell back over against a cart-wheel, and was going to call
out, but could not; and as he stood straight in the door, there was no
means of escape. At length the apparition spoke to me in a hoarse
trembling voice, and it said to me, ‘Jamie Sanderson! O, Jamie
Sanderson! I have been forced to appear to you in a d—d frightful
guise!’ These were the very first words it spoke, and they were far
from being a lie; but I halfflins thought to mysel that a being in such
circumstances might have spoken with a little more caution and
decency. I could make no answer, for my tongue refused all attempts
at articulation, and my lips would not come together; and all that I
could do was to lie back against my new cart-wheel, and hold up my
hands as a kind of defence. The ghastly and blood-stained
apparition, advancing a step or two, held up both its hands, flying
with dead ruffles, and cried to me in a still more frightful voice, ‘Oh,
my faithful old friend, I have been murdered! I am a murdered man,
Jamie Sanderson! And if you do not assist me in bringing upon the
wretch due retribution, dire will be your punishment in the other
world.’
“This is sheer raving, James,” said the sheriff, interrupting him.
“These words can be nothing but the ravings of a disturbed and
heated imagination. I entreat you to recollect that you have appealed
to the Great Judge of heaven and earth for the truth of what you
assert here, and to answer accordingly.”
“I know what I am saying, my Lord Sheriff,” said Sanderson; “and
I am telling naething but the plain truth, as nearly as my state of
mind at the time permits me to recollect. The appalling figure
approached still nearer and nearer to me, breathing threatenings if I
would not rise and fly to his assistance, and swearing like a sergeant
of dragoons at both the doctor and myself. At length it came so close
to me that I had no other shift but to hold up both feet and hands to
shield me, as I had seen herons do when knocked down by a
goshawk, and I cried out; but even my voice failed, so that I only
cried like one through his sleep.”
“‘What the d—l are you lying gaping and braying at there?’ said he,
seizing me by the wrist and dragging me after him. ‘Do you not see
the plight I am in, and why won’t you fly to succour me?’
“I now felt, to my great relief, that this terrific apparition was a
being of flesh, blood, and bones like myself;—that, in short, it was
indeed my kind old friend the laird popped out of his open coffin,
and come over to pay me an evening visit, but certainly in such a
guise as earthly visit was never paid. I soon gathered up my scattered
senses, took my old friend into my room, bathed him all over, and
washed him well with lukewarm water; then put him into a warm
bed, gave him a glass or two of hot punch, and he came round
amazingly. He caused me to survey his neck a hundred times, I am
sure; and I had no doubt he had been strangled, for there was a
purple ring round it, which in some places was black, and a little
swollen; his voice creaked like a door-hinge, and his features were
still distorted. He swore terribly at both the doctor and myself; but
nothing put him half so mad as the idea of the quicklime being
poured over him, and particularly over his face. I am mistaken if that
experiment does not serve him for a theme of execration as long as
he lives.”
“So he is alive, then, you say?” asked the fiscal.
“O yes, sir, alive, and tolerably well, considering. We two have had
several bottles together in my quiet room; for I have still kept him
concealed, to see what the doctor would do next. He is in terror for
him, somehow, until sixty days be over from some date that he talks
of, and seems assured that the dog will have his life by hook or crook,
unless he can bring him to the gallows betimes, and he is absent on
that business to-day. One night lately, when fully half seas over, he
set off to the schoolhouse, and frightened the dominie; and last night
he went up to the stable, and gave old Broadcast a hearing for not
keeping his mare well enough.
“It appears that some shaking motion in the coffining of the laird
had brought him back to himself, after bleeding abundantly both at
mouth and nose; that he was on his feet ere he knew how he had
been disposed of, and was quite shocked at seeing the open coffin on
the bed, and himself dressed in his grave-clothes, and all in one bath
of blood. He flew to the door, but it was locked outside; he rapped
furiously for something to drink, but the room was far removed from
any inhabited part of the house, and none regarded; so he had
nothing for it but to open the window, and come through the garden
and the back lane leading to my workshop. And as I had got orders to
bring a bucketful of quicklime, I went over in the forenight with a
bucketful of heavy gravel, as much as I could carry, and a little white
lime sprinkled on the top of it; and being let in by the doctor, I
deposited it in the coffin, screwed down the lid, and left it. The
funeral followed in due course, the whole of which the laird viewed
from my window, and gave the doctor a hearty day’s cursing for
daring to support his head and lay it in the grave. And this,
gentlemen, is the substance of what I know concerning this
enormous deed, which is, I think, quite sufficient. The laird bound
me to secrecy until such time as he could bring matters to a proper
bearing for securing the doctor; but as you have forced it from me,
you must stand my surety, and answer the charges against me.”
The laird arrived that night with proper authority, and a number of
officers, to have the doctor, his son-in-law, taken into custody; but
the bird had flown; and from that day forth he was never seen, so as
to be recognised, in Scotland. The laird lived many years after that;
and though the thoughts of the quicklime made him drink a great
deal, yet from that time he never suffered himself to get quite drunk,
lest some one might take it into his head to hang him, and he not
know anything about it. The dominie acknowledged that it was as
impracticable to calculate what might happen in human affairs as to
square the circle, which could only be effected by knowing the ratio
of the circumference to the radius. For shoeing horses, vending news,
and awarding proper punishments, the smith to this day just beats
the world. And old John Broadcast is as thankfu’ to heaven as ever
that things are as they are.
 AN INCIDENT IN THE GREAT MORAY
FLOODS OF 1829.

By Sir Thomas Dick Lauder.

The flood, both in the Spey and its tributary burn, was terrible at
the village of Charlestown of Aberlour. On the 3d of August, Charles
Cruickshanks, the innkeeper, had a party of friends in his house.
There was no inebriety, but there was a fiddle; and what Scotsman is
he who does not know that the well-jerked strains of a lively
strathspey have a potent spell in them that goes beyond even the
witchery of the bowl? On one who daily inhales the breezes from the
musical stream that gives name to the measure, the influence is
powerful, and it was that day felt by Cruickshanks with a more than
ordinary degree of excitement. He was joyous to a pitch that made
his wife grave. Mrs Cruickshanks was deeply affected by her
husband’s jollity. “Surely my goodman is daft the day,” said she
gravely; “I ne’er saw him dance at sic a rate. Lord grant that he binna
fey!”[12]
12. “‘I think,’ said the old gardener to one of the maids, ‘the gauger’s fie’—by
which word the common people express those violent spirits, which they think a
presage of death.”—Guy Mannering.
When the river began to rise rapidly in the evening, Cruickshanks,
who had a quantity of wood lying near the mouth of the burn, asked
two of his neighbours to go and assist him in dragging it out of the
water. They readily complied, and Cruickshanks getting on the loose
raft of wood, they followed him, and did what they could in pushing
and hauling the pieces of timber ashore, till the stream increased so
much, that, with one voice, they declared they would stay no longer,
and, making a desperate effort, they plunged over-head, and reached
the land with the greatest difficulty. They then tried all their
eloquence to persuade Cruickshanks to come away, but he was a bold
and experienced floater, and laughed at their fears; nay, so utterly
reckless was he, that having now diminished the crazy ill-put-
together raft he stood on, till it consisted of a few spars only, he
employed himself in trying to catch at and save some haycocks
belonging to the clergyman, which were floating past him. But while
his attention was so engaged, the flood was rapidly increasing, till, at
last, even his dauntless heart became appalled at its magnitude and
fury. “A horse! a horse!” he loudly and anxiously exclaimed; “run for
one of the minister’s horses, and ride in with a rope, else I must go
with the stream.” He was quickly obeyed, but ere a horse arrived, the
flood had rendered it impossible to approach him.
Seeing that he must abandon all hope of help in that way,
Cruickshanks was now seen as if summoning up all his resolution
and presence of mind to make the perilous attempt of dashing
through the raging current, with his frail and imperfect raft.
Grasping more firmly the iron-shod pole he held in his hand—called
in floater’s language a sting—he pushed resolutely into it; but he had
hardly done so when the violence of the water wrenched from his
hold that which was all he had to depend on. A shriek burst from his
friends, as they beheld the wretched raft dart off with him down the
stream, like an arrow freed from the bowstring. But the mind of
Cruickshanks was no common one to quail before the first approach
of danger. He poised himself, and stood balanced, with
determination and self-command in his eye, and no sound of fear, or
of complaint, was heard to come from him.
At the point where the burn met the river, in the ordinary state of
both, there grew some trees, now surrounded by deep and strong
currents, and far from the land. The raft took a direction towards one
of these, and seeing the wide and tumultuous waters of the Spey
before him, in which there was no hope that his loosely-connected
logs could stick one moment together, he coolly prepared himself,
and, collecting all his force into one well-timed and well-directed
effort, he sprang, caught a tree, and clung among its boughs, whilst
the frail raft, hurried away from under his foot, was dashed into
fragments, and scattered on the bosom of the waves. A shout of joy
arose from his anxious friends, for they now deemed him safe; but he
uttered no shout in return. Every nerve was strained to procure help.
“A boat!” was the general cry, and some ran this way, and some that,
to endeavour to procure one. It was now between seven and eight
o’clock in the evening. A boat was speedily obtained, and though no
one was very expert in its use, it was quickly manned by people eager
to save Cruickshanks from his perilous situation. The current was too
terrible about the tree to admit of their nearing it, so as to take him
directly into the boat; but their object was to row through the
smoother water, to such a distance as might enable them to throw a
rope to him, by which means they hoped to drag him to the boat.
Frequently did they attempt this, and as frequently were they foiled,
even by that which was considered as the gentler part of the stream,
for it hurried them past the point whence they wished to make the
cast of their rope, and compelled them to row up again by the side, to
start on each fresh adventure.
Often were they carried so much in the direction of the tree as to
be compelled to exert all their strength to pull themselves away from
him they would have saved, that they might avoid the vortex that
would have caught and swept them to destruction. And often was
poor Cruickshanks tantalized with the approach of help, which came
but to add to the other miseries of his situation that of the bitterest
disappointment. Yet he bore all calmly. In the transient glimpses
they had of him, as they were driven past him, they saw no blenching
on his dauntless countenance—they heard no reproach, no
complaint, no sound, but an occasional short exclamation of
encouragement to persevere in their friendly endeavours. But the
evening wore on, and still they were unsuccessful. It seemed to them
that something more than mere natural causes was operating against
them. “His hour is come!” said they, as they regarded one another
with looks of awe; “our struggles are vain.” The courage and the hope
which had hitherto supported them began to fail, and the descending
shades of night extinguished the last feeble sparks of both, and put
an end to their endeavours.
Fancy alone can picture the horrors that must have crept on the
unfortunate man, as, amidst the impenetrable darkness which now
prevailed, he became aware of the continued increase of the flood
that roared around him, by its gradual advance towards his feet,
whilst the rain and the tempest continued to beat more and more
dreadfully upon him. That these were long ineffectual in shaking his
collected mind, we know from the fact, afterwards ascertained, that
he actually wound up his watch while in this dreadful situation. But,
hearing no more the occasional passing exclamations of those who
had been hitherto trying to succour him, he began to shout for help
in a voice that became every moment more long-drawn and piteous,
as, between the gusts of the tempest, and borne over the thunder of
the waters, it fell from time to time on the ears of his clustered
friends, and rent the heart of his distracted wife. Ever and anon it
came, and hoarser than before, and there was an occasional wildness
in its note, and now and then a strange and clamorous repetition for
a time, as if despair had inspired him with an unnatural energy; but
the shouts became gradually shorter,—less audible and less frequent,
—till at last their eagerly listening ears could catch them no longer.
“Is he gone?” was the half-whispered question they put to one
another; and the smothered responses that were muttered around
but too plainly told how much the fears of all were in unison.
“What was that?” cried his wife in a delirious scream; “that was his
whistle I heard!” She said truly. A shrill whistle, such as that which is
given with the fingers in the mouth, rose again over the loud din of
the deluge and the yelling of the storm. He was not yet gone. His
voice was but cracked by his frequent exertions to make it heard, and
he had now resorted to an easier mode of transmitting to his friends
the certainty of his safety. For some time his unhappy wife drew
hope from such considerations, but his whistles, as they came more
loud and prolonged, pierced the ears of his foreboding friends like
the ill-omened cry of some warning spirit; and it may be matter of
question whether all believed that the sounds they heard were really
mortal. Still they came louder and clearer for a brief space; but at last
they were heard no more, save in his frantic wife’s fancy, who
continued to start, as if she still heard them, and to wander about,
and to listen, when all but herself were satisfied that she could never
hear them again.
Wet and weary, and shivering with cold, was this miserable
woman, when the tardy dawn of morning beheld her straining her
eye-balls through the imperfect light, towards the trees where
Cruickshanks had been last seen. There was something there that
looked like the figure of a man, and on that her eyes fixed. But those
around her saw, alas! too well, that what she fondly supposed to be
her husband was but a bunch of wreck gathered by the flood into one
of the trees,—for the one to which he clung had been swept away.
The body of poor Cruickshanks was found in the afternoon of next
day, on the Haugh of Dandaleith, some four or five miles below. As it
had ever been his uniform practice to wind up his watch at night, and
as it was discovered to be nearly full wound when it was taken from
his pocket, the fact of his having had self-possession enough to obey
his usual custom, under circumstances so terrible, is as
unquestionable as it is wonderful. It had stopped at a quarter of an
hour past eleven o’clock, which would seem to fix that as the fatal
moment when the tree was rent away; for when that happened, his
struggles amidst the raging waves of the Spey must have been few
and short.
When the men, who had so unsuccessfully attempted to save him,
were talking over the matter, and arguing that no human help could
have availed him,—
“I’m thinkin’ I could hae ta’en him out,” said a voice in the circle.
All eyes were turned towards the speaker, and a general expression
of contempt followed; for it was a boy of the name of Rainey, a
reputed idiot, from the foot of Benrinnes, who spoke.
“You!” cried a dozen voices at once; “what would you have done,
you wise man?”
“I wud hae tied an empty anker-cask to the end o’ a lang, lang tow,
an’ I wud hae floated it aff frae near aboot whaur the raft was ta’en
first awa; an’ syne, ye see, as the stream teuk the raft till the tree,
maybe she wud hae ta’en the cask there too; an’ if Charlie
Cruickshanks had ance gotten a haud o’ this rope——”
He would have finished, but his auditors were gone: they had
silently slunk away in different directions, one man alone having
muttered, as he went, something about “wisdom coming out of the
mouth of fools.”
 CHARLIE GRAHAM, THE TINKER.

By George Penny.

The notorious Charlie Graham belonged to a gang of tinkers, who

had for a long time travelled through the country, and whose
headquarters were at Lochgelly, in Fife. They were to be found at all
markets, selling their horn spoons, which was their ostensible
occupation. But there was a great deal of business done in the
pickpocket line, and other branches of the thieving art. About Charlie
there were some remarkable traits of generosity. In the midst of all
the crimes he committed, he was never known to hurt a poor man,
but often out of his plunder helped those in a strait. His father was in
the same line, and was long at the head of the gang; but being
afterwards imprisoned for theft, housebreaking, &c., he was
banished the county, banished Scotland, and publicly whipped. On
one occasion he was banished, with certification that if he returned,
he was to be publicly whipped the first market-day, and thereafter to
be banished. Old Charlie was not long away when he returned, and
was apprehended and conveyed to Perth jail. A vacancy having
occurred in the office of executioner, the first market-day was
allowed to pass without inflicting the sentence, upon which Charlie
entered a protest, and was liberated. In various ways he eluded
justice,—sometimes by breaking the prison, and sometimes for want
of evidence. The last time he was brought in, he was met by an old
acquaintance, who asked, “What is the matter now?” to which old
Charlie replied, “Oh, just the auld thing, and nae proof;” which
saying has since become a proverb. But this time they did find proof,
and he was again publicly whipped, and sent out of the country. One
of his daughters, Meg Graham, who had been bred from her infancy
in the same way, was every now and then apprehended for some
petty theft. Indeed, she was so often in jail, that she got twenty-eight
dinners from old John Rutherford, the writer, who gave the
prisoners in the jail a dinner every Christmas. Meg, in her young
days, was reckoned one of the first beauties of the time; but she was a
wild one. She had been whipped and pilloried, but still the root of the
matter remained.
Young Charlie was a man of uncommon strength and size, being
about six feet high, and stout in proportion. His wrist was as thick as
that of two ordinary men; he had long been the terror of the country,
and attended all markets at the head of his gang, where they were
sure to kick up a row among themselves. Two of their women would
commence a battle-royal in the midst of the throng, scratch and tear
one another’s caps, until a mob was assembled, when the rest were
very busy in picking pockets. In this way they were frequently very
successful.
At a market to the west of Crieff a farmer got his pocket-book
taken from him. It being ascertained that Charlie Graham and his
gang were in the market,—who were well known to several of the
respectable farmers, who frequently lodged them on their way to the
country,—it was proposed to get Charlie and give him a glass, and tell
him the story. Charlie accepted the invitation; and during the
circulation of the glass, one of the company introduced the subject,
lamenting the poor man’s loss in such a feeling way, that the right
chord was struck, and Charlie’s generosity roused. An appeal was
made to him to lend the poor man such a sum, as his credit was at
stake. Charlie said they had done nothing that day, but if anything
cast up, he would see what could be done. During this conversation
another company came into the room; amongst whom was a man
with a greatcoat, a Highland bonnet, and a large drover whip. After
being seated, this personage was recognised as belonging to the gang,
and they were invited to drink with them, whilst the story of the
robbery was repeated. On this Charlie asked his friend if he could
lend him forty pounds to give to the poor man, and he would repay
him in a few days. The man replied that he had forty pounds which
he was going to pay away; but if it was to favour a friend, he would
put off his business and help him; when, to their astonishment, the
identical notes which the man had lost were tossed to him; and
Charlie said that that would relieve him in the meantime, and he
could repay him when convenient. It was evident that Charlie smelt a
rat, and took this method to get off honourably. Of course, the forty
pounds were never sought after.
Charlie was one day lodged with a poor widow, who had a few
acres of ground, and kept a public-house. She complained to him
that she was unable to raise her rent, that the factor was coming that
night for payment, and that she was considerably deficient. Charlie
gave her what made it up, and in the evening went out of the way,
after learning at what time the factor would be there. The factor
came, received payment, and returned home; but on the way he was
met by Charlie, who eased him of his cash, and returned the rent to
the poor widow.
The Rev. Mr Graham of Fossoway came one day to Perth to
discount some bills in the Bank of Scotland. Having got his bills
cashed, his spirits rose to blood-heat, and a hearty glass was given to
his friends, until the parson got a little muddy. His friends, loth to
leave him in that state, hired a horse each to convey him home. It
was dark and late when they set out, and by the time they reached
Damhead, where they put up their horses, it was morning. The house
was re-building at the time, and the family living in the barn when
the parson and his friends were introduced. Here they found Charlie
and some of his friends over a bowl, of which the minister was
cordially invited to partake. His companions also joined, and kept it
up with great glee for some time—the minister singing his song, and
Charlie getting very big. One of the friends, knowing how the land
lay, was very anxious to be off, for fear of the minister’s money, and
ordered out the horses; but to this Charlie would by no means
consent. This alarmed the friends still more; as for the minister, he
was now beyond all fear. However, in a short time a number of men
came in and called for drink, and then Charlie, after the glass had
gone round, said he thought it was time for the minister to get home,
and went out to see them on their horses; when he told them he had
detained them till the return of these men, who, if they had met
them, might have proved dangerous neighbours; but now they could
go home in safety.
He was one day on his way to Auchterarder market, when he met a
farmer going from home, in whose barn he had frequently lodged,
when Charlie told him he was to lodge with him that night. The