London: Forty-three years after a rugby accident left Gordon Brown blind in one eye, the identity of the man whose stray boot may have injured him has finally emerged.
David Sellar, a former pupil at Brown's school, Kirkcaldy High School in Scotland, spoke Sunday for the first time about the violent match that left the Prime Minister scarred for life — but set him on the road to No 10.
The retired PE teacher said: "Rumour has it that it was me who gave him the injury. As a forward in the game, if he was kicked in the head accidentally there is a small chance it might have been me."
Sellar spoke to The Mail on Sunday's Live magazine after Brown described the accident in detail for the first time during an interview with broadcaster and adventurer Ben Fogle.
Brown, who came close to being completely blind as a result of the injury in 1967, said: "It was the first two minutes of the game and I was caught in a loose scrum when someone kicked me in the head.
"We were a school team playing former pupils, and everyone was trying to assert how strong and powerful they were. "They probably decided to go for it in the first few minutes and give these young guys a shock.
"I got kicked unconscious, came around and just kept playing, because I didn't know anything was wrong at the time."
It was only later that Brown's sight went in his left eye — and by then it was too late. "I was very frightened," Brown said. "I had to lie flat, without any pillows, blindfolded for days. Even after the operation, I had to be blinded for a few days in the hope that the retina would settle in the right place."
