From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rugby union in the Scottish Borders
Rugby union in the Scottish Borders
Rugby union in the Scottish Borders has a long, and sig- the west. The town of Berwick upon Tweed also has a
nificant history. strong association with the region, and its rugby club fre-
The region has been responsible for several major in- quently plays against sides in the area.
novations, and a presence in the national game which is
disproportionately large, due to the fact it is the one part
of Scotland, where rugby is the main sport and played by
Border League
all classes. As well as being geographically and culturally divorced
from their city counterparts, the Borders clubs soon de-
veloped a competition of their own, the Borders League,
History which is still contested, and which remains the oldest or-
For centuries Borderers had been playing various forms ganised league competition in world rugby.
of folk football, that were extremely similar to rugby.
Some of these are still played very occasionally, such
as the game in Jedburgh. Undoubtedly their popularity
Rugby sevens
paved the way for that of rugby. Ned Haig, for example The Borders is also the birthplace of the abbreviated code
played Fastern’s Eve Ba’. of the sevens, which is somewhat ironic since Borders
Throughout the mid to late 1870s, another almost rugby has traditionally been built around forward mus-
parallel world of club rugby grew up in the Scottish cle, rather than fluent back play.
Borders. This brand of rugby, imported from Yorkshire The code was invented in 1883, when Melrose butch-
through the burgeoning woollen industry, was a world er and fly-half Ned Haig suggested a shortened version
away from the refined old boy circuit of Edinburgh and of the game, as a means of raising money at a local fair.
Glasgow. The Borders remains the only part of Scotland The idea was a resounding success, with Melrose beating
- outside the predominantly middle class atmosphere of Gala in extra time to win the competition, and soon most
the Edinburgh elite - where rugby really managed to take towns in the Borders staged their own annual sevens
root in Scotland. In small towns where there was little tournaments in April and May.
or no association football, clubs such as Gala, Hawick, So seriously do Borderers take the game, that when in
Selkirk, Jed Forest, and Melrose, soon became the sport- 1983, the victorious French donated their Melrose Sevens
ing focus for the hardy farming communities nearby. winners’ medals to the local lasses as a token of affection,
Although the population of the Borders is only that there was an uproar in the town. Borderers see a
100,000, its unique cauldron of local rivalries has pro- Melrose Sevens winners’ medal as the next best thing to
duced some of the best players to come out of Scottish, a Scottish cap.
or even European rugby. Many of the greatest Scottish The Melrose Cup is the main prize of the Rugby World
sides, including those who won the Grand Slam of 1990, Cup Sevens, and is named after this.
contained a substantial number of Borderers. It says
much for the quality of play in the area that the three
most enduring club sides in Scotland - Hawick,
Border Reivers
Gala(shiels) and Melrose, have populations of 14800, The Border Reivers were one of three professional sides
12300 and 1670 respectively. set up by the SRU in the 1990s. While their appearance
was initially regarded with some suspicion and derision,
they did pick up something of a following and their
Borders rugby demise was a minor scandal. Part of the problem was that
The area of Borders rugby is largely contiguous with while the Borders have produced much of Scotland’s best
Scottish Borders region, but also taking in Langholm and rugby, they did not necessarily have the population to
Biggar. support such a team. The Reivers were initially merged
Although the bulk of Borders rugby can be found in into Edinburgh, and then disappeared.
and around mid and lower Tweedsdale, the Border rugby
region also takes in the likes of Langholm in Dum-
friesshire in the south west, and Peebles, Innerleithen
and Biggar (traditionally part of South Lanarkshire) in
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rugby union in the Scottish Borders
Notable rugby players from the •
•
Charlie Laidlaw
Roy Laidlaw (Jed Forest)
Borders • David Leslie (Gala)
• Bill McLaren (Hawick)
• Hugh McLeod (Hawick)
• Duncan Paterson (Gala)
• Jim Renwick (Hawick)
• Keith Robertson (Melrose)
• Adam Robson (Hawick)
• John Rutherford (Selkirk)
• Tony Stanger (Hawick)
• Douglas Christie (Selkirk)
• Alan Tait (Kelso)
• Jim Telfer (Melrose)
• Alan Tomes (Hawick)
Bill McLaren, one of the best known faces, and voices, of
• Gregor Townsend (Gala)
Borders rugby
• Jock Turner (Gala)
• Doddie Weir (Melrose)
• Jim Aitken (Gala)
• Derek White (Gala)
• Gary Armstrong (Jed Forest)
• Roger Baird (Kelso)
• Jock Beattie (Hawick) References
• Peter Brown (Gala) • Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven
• Colin Deans (Hawick) Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1 86200 013 3)
• Ned Haig (Melrose) • McLaren, Bill Talking of Rugby (1991, Stanley Paul,
• John Jeffrey (Kelso) London ISBN 0 09 173875 X)
• Craig Joiner (Melrose)
• Willie Kyle (Hawick)
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Categories:
• Sport in the Scottish Borders
• Rugby union in Scotland
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