Education
Baird attended Saint Mary"s School, Melrose and Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh.
Baird attended Saint Mary"s School, Melrose and Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh.
A grain merchant, he is a former team manager of Scotland U21s and is assistant coach to Kelso clubmate Gary Callander at Watsonians. Both schools are noted for producing strong rugby players, and he went on to play scrum-half for the Scottish Schools team Bill McLaren considered him an exceptional sevens player.
A regular fixture on the left wing for Scotland, he went on the 1983 British Lions tour to New Zealand, playing in all four Tests, and scoring six tries in 11 appearances.
In one of these tries in particularly wet weather, he slammed right into the billboards around the pitch. Baird also played for the South of Scotland rugby union team
One odd feature of Baird"s playing career was noted by Allan Massie:
"Extraordinarily he has not scored a try for Scotland, though he already holds the record number of tries for the South."
Baird was very successful at District and Club level, and scored a number of times for the British Lions, but never scored for his own country.