SCIAF remembers Tommy Burns

SCIAF has greeted the news of the death of Tommy Burns [former Celtic football player, Manager and Coach] with great sadness.

Tommy was the first high-profile person to front SCIAF’s annual 24-Hour Sponsored FAST and was instrumental to the success of this popular fundraising campaign.

Tommy fronted the campaign alone in 2000, then again with Ally McCoist [former player, now Assistant Manager, at Glasgow Rangers Football Club] in 2001. The campaign was a huge success and helped SCIAF win the ICFM Marketing Award in 2001.

Ian Menzies, SCIAF’s Schools Officer, recalls that the campaign did more than raise lots of money for SCIAF’s good causes, “The image of Tommy and Ally has become iconic. It was used in our 24-hour FAST fundraising campaign which was launched nationally shortly after a hard-fought Old Firm football match. The images of Tommy and Ally with their arms round each other’s shoulders seemed to capture the imagination of everyone. It sent out a strong message that football should unite communities rather than divide them.
So, as well as helping SCIAF to tackle the rich-poor divide across the world they also made an impact in tackling the sectarian divide here in Scotland.

“Tommy Burns also collected many donations from schools that had supported SCIAF’s 24-hour FAST. We were really taken aback that he wanted to be so personally involved in our campaign but it was a real measure of the type of genuine person he was. Nothing was too much trouble.”

May he rest in peace.

Photos: SCIAF/Paul McSherry