Scottish Rugby has been urged to recognise players as full internationals who represented the national team in non-capped matches.
Jim Carswell is one such example, playing against Japan in 1976 – a match not given Test status.
Scottish Rugby is now examining whether such players should be awarded full caps retrospectively.
“It’s something that we’ve wanted for a long time,” Carswell’s son, Andrew, told the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast.
“One of the things we’ve been dealing with as a family over the past 18 months to two years is dementia diagnosis. For us, it just means there’s a bit more importance in the timing.
“If this moves forward quickly, it will mean more to him personally. It will always mean a lot to us as a family, but the sooner the better in my mind.”
Matches against teams other than rivals from the Five Nations and the traditional southern hemisphere heavyweights were normally not afforded Test status.
This policy continued up until the late 1990s and as many as 28 players are believed to have represented Scotland without ever earning a full Test cap.
“I grew up mainly in Nottingham as the Scottish kid and I was always very proud that my dad played for Scotland,” Carswell said. “The immediate follow-up question is: ‘That’s great, how many caps did he get?’. And there’s a long list of caveats as to why actually the answer is zero.
“He played the one game in 1976 against Japan. That asterisk after his name has always been a bit bittersweet.”
Carswell was called up to play second row for the match at Murrayfield as a late replacement for the great Gordon Brown. Other players in the Scotland team that day included Andy Irvine, Keith Robertson, Ian McGeechan, Alan Lawson, Jim Aitken, Alan Tomes and David Leslie.
Carswell’s son has been encouraged by recent discussions with Scottish Rugby and hopes his father will soon get the recognition for which he and his family has been waiting the longest time.
“Forty-seven years and counting in September,” he says. “Over the years, we’ve been able to piece together some mementos from that day.
“It’s important to remember in 1976, when my dad played the game, it may have been broadcast live, but there was no option to watch the game back as you would do now.
“My sister Jenny was able to find some BBC archive footage, a 30-minute highlight reel, which was a 60th birthday present from my sister. Bill McLaren commentated on the game and it was fantastic. The cap would really seal the memory.
“It’s very positive that there’s potentially some movement with the SRU looking into it as well. It’s a topic that comes up every few years.”
