Strathmore cricket and rugby clubs have led tributes to local sporting figure and photographer David Potter who has died aged 78.
He served Strathmore Cricket Club with distinction for many years and became a familiar face throughout that sport in Scotland via many different roles.
In recent years, he was Strathmore Rugby Club’s official photographer.
He took great pride in documenting the men’s first team winning the Arnold Clark National Four title just a few months ago.
David Potter was a former Forfar bank manager
He was born in Forfar, educated at Forfar Academy and worked at the town’s TSB, later becoming its manager.
The cricket lover occasionally turned out for the Strathie second team and the Trustee Savings Bank side. He then became actively involved with Strathmore Cricket Club.
He became treasurer in 1974.
A club spokesman said: “David was to continue in that post for eight years while, at the same time, taking up the important role of first team umpire.
“He was also a regular on the early Strathmore tours to various parts of Scotland, followed by the never-to-be-forgotten trips to Cheshire where legendary moments unfolded over time.
“Over a 10-year period in the Strathmore Union, David became a highly respected umpire. But with Strathmore’s elevation to county status in 1984 he joined the league’s umpiring panel and his umpiring career moved on at pace.
“He eventually stood as one of the officials in a Scottish Cup final. The pinnacle of his umpiring career came in July 1997 when, along with his colleague Joe Breslin, he was in the ‘middle’ for the visit of the Australian touring side that faced Scotland at the Grange in Edinburgh in front of a sell-out crowd.
“He called time on his umpiring career a year later, but still kept up a very keen interest in Scottish cricket and worked for a period within the Cricket Scotland administrative structure and acted as the first secretary of the National Cricket League.”
David moved to Dunfermline but ‘never forgot his roots’
The TSB promotion saw him leave Forfar in the mid-1980s, first to Elgin, then Aberdeen and finally Dunfermline.
The cricket club spokesman continued: “He never forgot his roots and continued to take a keen interest in Strathmore’s cricketing fortunes as well as the progress of Forfar Football Club with whom he had served as a director and treasurer during a three-year spell in the ’80s.”
“He had a love of all things Forfar just like his namesake and great friend the late David W Potter and he will be sadly missed by many in the cricket and rugby communities throughout Scotland.
“But especially by Margaret his wife of many a year, son Andrew and other close family members to whom the sympathy of all at Lochside Park are extended at this time.”
Strathmore Rugby Club saddened at death of official club photographer
A rugby club spokesman said: “It is with deep sadness that we mark the passing of our club’s official photographer, storyteller and trusted friend David Potter.
“David wasn’t just the man behind the camera, he was the quiet artist who captured the soul of our community.”
He continued: “He served Strathmore Cricket Club with distinction and, later, he brought the same dedication and warmth to Strathmore Rugby Club, documenting our rise, our struggles and our triumphs with a quiet pride and dry wit that made him such a joy to be around.”
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