Former Scottish Claymore Paul McCallum, who has become a star kicker in the Canadian Football League, will make gridiron history tomorrow. He will become the first Scot to kick in World League and Canadian League finals when he takes the field at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium for Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Grey Cup final against Toronto Argonauts.
He kicked alongside Gavin Hastings at Murrayfield in 1996, helping the Claymores lift the World Bowl in their famous 32-27 victory over Frankfurt Galaxy.
The 27-year-old Glaswegian, who holds numerous kicking records with the Claymores (most field goals, 13 and longest field goal, 51-yards) booted Saskatchewan into the final, converting a crucial extra point in a 31-30 semi-final win over Edmonton Oilers last weekend.
Speaking from Edmonton, McCallum, whose cousin is Aberdeen star Brian O'Neil and who once had a trial for St Mirren, said: ''I've been to the big game with the Claymores at the World Bowl in 1996 and I'll never forget that experience or the supporters in Scotland. I just hope I can do as well in the Grey Cup as I did for the Claymores in the World Bowl.''
Meanwhile, with more than two months of the National Football League season still to play, it seems remarkable that San Francisco 49ers can secure a berth in the post-season play-offs tomorrow by clinching the NFC East Division with a victory over the Carolina Panthers. Everyone was expecting the traditionally strong 49ers to struggle this season when, following the departure of head coach George Seifert, owner Eddie DeBartolo appointed the little-known and largely untested, Steve Mariucci as Seifet's replacement to one of the toughest positions in the NFL.
With limited head coaching experience - a 6-5 year as a coach with the local college team, the University of California - Mariucci was expected to struggle in the high-pressure world of the NFL. However, thanks to a previous NFL coaching stint at the Green Bay Packers, where he developed the talents of Brett Favre as the quarterback's coach, and the inheritance of perhaps one of the league's best defences, led by linebacker Ken Norton Jr, Mariucci and the 49ers seem to be flourishing.
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