YOU’LL know her as the Glaswegian comedian going up and up in the world, supporting Kevin Bridges night after night at the Hydro, appearing on Have I Got News For You and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order.
There’s no doubt Susie McCabe is living the life she’s always dreamed of doing “the best job in the world”.
And she has revealed a key inspirational moment in her childhood that embedded a belief she could achieve her ambitions – when she was a ball girl at the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 1994.
Before Christmas, The National told how former captain Sandra Colamartino is planning to stage a play about the tournament which was saved by the Scotland team after it was pulled from being staged in the Netherlands at the last minute.
The International Rugby Board refused to officially endorse the competition at the time – though it has rectified that in retrospect – which led to its cancellation, but Scotland players were having none of it and threw their own money into ensuring it went ahead on home soil just a year on from playing their first international match against Ireland.
On the back of that tale, McCabe revealed how she was given the unlikely chance to be a ball girl after getting into rugby while she was a pupil at St Ambrose High School in Coatbridge.
She said: “We wanted a girls’ football team and they were like ‘no’.
“But fortunately there were some teachers who were members of Drumpellier Waysiders [a local rugby club] who went, ‘do you want a rugby club?’
“There was only one other women’s team at the time and that was Biggar. We started to play and the club [Drumpellier Waysiders] were quite supportive and gave us old boots and that.
“Then they got involved with the women’s Scotland team and they sent along Kim Littlejohn who was the Scottish captain at the time [after Colamartino’s brief stint].
"They used to come along on a Saturday morning and coach us, and because we were hooked in via the school and club, we used to get to go to SRU [Scottish Rugby Union] open days.
“From that, we got coached by Gary Armstrong and Scott Hastings, it was totally amazing.
“We got some other girls involved from Clarkston and I eventually got the opportunity to go and play for them. Then the World Cup came along and they [the Scotland team] said ‘do the girls want to be ball girls?’
“So they put us on a rota to be ball girls and we would get taken out of school to go to the Edinburgh Accies ground and be a ball girl for England v Canada or Scotland v Ireland.
“It was a phenomenal experience.”
Despite her love for the sport, McCabe ended up falling out of it after leaving home young as she struggled with her sexuality.
But years on, she remains in no doubt about the inspirational effect it had on her as she saw women playing a sport, not seen as suitable for them by many, fighting for their country’s pride.
She said: “It was inspiring that you can represent your country at international sporting level. It told you that’s achievable for you as a young girl. You can go out and put on a Scotland top and represent your country. I never did, but [it showed me] I could’ve done [it].
“These things open doors. It had that effect on me watching these women put a thistle on their chest and play a sport they loved regardless of how it was recognised.
“It was just an amazing experience.”
Having grown up near Celtic Park surrounded by football, McCabe came to discover how accessible rugby was in comparison and still treasures to this day how much she learnt from key rugby values.
“I played football a lot growing up but rugby brought in this thing that football doesn’t have in discipline,” said McCabe.
“I remember getting sent off for Clarkston for having a go at the referee. They said ‘off!’ and I said ‘whit for?’ and they said ‘for that!’ I was like ‘no way!’
“So that kind of discipline was great and then the camaraderie that goes with playing rugby, the respect that you show the opposition players after the game, when you get that first tackle and people say ‘that was a good tackle, pal’.
“And then when you got to see that up close, sportswomen at international level doing the same thing you were doing, regardless of it being acknowledged or whatever, that really broadened your horizons.”
McCabe is set to embark on a tour around Scotland in March after her most successful year in comedy yet.
Just as the Scotland women’s rugby team inspired her to go after her dreams, stars such as Bridges, Boyle and Jo Brand spurred her on in 2022 and she’s hoping 2023 can be another stellar year.
She said: “[2022] was my best year in comedy so far and I’ve been really fortunate with the exception of the pandemic that each year has got better and better.
“Supporting Kevin [Bridges] at the Hydro for 16 nights was such an incredible experience, when you see the pressure these guys are under when you’re that close to it.
“Working with Frankie [Boyle] has been incredible too on New World Order. I got things like Have I Got News For You too, a show I’ve watched since I was young. Jo Brand was the host, who is just a sweetheart of a woman.
“I’m going back to the King’s Theatre in Glasgow this year and two shows are almost sold out. Then I’m off touring Scotland. It’s the best job in the world.”
