THE world of competitive sheep shearing has been rocked by the achievement of a Scot who has become the first non-New Zealander to win the event known as the Wimbledon of wool removal.

With many of his proud family watching live via the internet some 12,000 miles away on their Aberdeenshire farm, Gavin Mutch clipped his way to the Golden Shears title at Masterton, near Wellington, on the North Island of New Zealand.

It was the first time since it began in 1961 that the world’s most prestigious sheep shearing event – the competition is credited with founding the sport – has been won by someone born outside New Zealand, and Mutch’s victory has been greeted with near-incredulity and, it must be said, great sportsmanship in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

His win has already been described as the sheep shearing equivalent of Andy Murray winning the Olympic Gold Medal and Wimbledon. And in another shock in a sport dominated by New Zealand and Australia, Mutch’s fellow Scot Claire Wilson, 21, of Biggar in South Lanarkshire, won the novice woolhandling event at the Golden Shears after only a year in the job.

After winning Scotland’s first Golden Shears title for 25 years, Wilson said: “I didn’t think I would even reach the semi-final. I can’t believe it. This is such a dream.”

Mutch’s win was not entirely unexpected as he won the World Shearing Championship at the same venue three years ago, and has also won the world team event with Hamish Mitchell. Now 35, he moved to New Zealand 15 years ago and has a farm at Whangamomona in Taranaki, where he lives with his wife Pip and their children.

Pip and their two boys and two girls watched live streaming of the event on the internet as Mutch made his way through the rounds and semi-finals into the final.

The favourite for the event, 16 times champion David Fagan, the Tony McCoy of sheep shearing, was eliminated in the semi-finals of his last-ever Golden Shears, leaving the way open for Mutch to contest the final with five other shearers.

Shearers have to clip 20 sheep in the final, and though Mutch was not the fastest, he was marked highly for the quality of his work by the judges and pipped New Zealand’s Aaron Haynes to win by just 0.596 points. A kilted Mutch stepped forward to receive the handsome trophy which he immediately shared with shearing legend Fagan, and then choked back tears as a rousing rendition of Flower of Scotland – Murrayfield and Hampden please copy – was played.

The home crowd stood and cheered the popular Mutch as if he was one of their own.

Mutch said: “I am just speechless. This is the one that everyone dreams about and David has stopped a lot of people winning it so I am just glad I managed to win it before he retired.

“I want to thank my wife and four kids sitting at home and watching. We have put a lot of effort into this.

“To all the family in Scotland, this is one for all of you.”

Despite winning, Mutch was critical of himself, suggesting there is more to come: “It didn’t quite go as I was planning to – it wasn’t a perfect shear by any means, but it was just enough.”

One of the elite international corps of sheep shearers, Mutch spends his time between New Zealand, Scotland and other sheep-rearing countries. He was last in Scotland during the summer when he took part in the world championships in Ireland, but his family had no premonition that he would win the biggest title of them all, even during the final.

Speaking from the family farm at Mosscoral, Forgue, near Huntly, Mutch’s mother Moira told The National: “We were all watching on the internet and it was very close. He came through to win and we were all delighted as we never thought he would win the Golden Shears. It was very emotional when they were playing Flower of Scotland. We are all very proud of Gavin.”