The Scottish Inter-District Championship is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

competition between regional sides in Scotland. Established in 1953, the tournament went through several formats. The

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

confirmed in January 2023 that the Scottish Inter-District Championship would return for the 2022-23 season, starting in May 2023. The Inter-District Championship will be an amateur championship with players selected outwith the professional United Rugby Championship and Super 6 leagues. Instead the players will be selected from the amateur leagues of Scotland; the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

and the national leagues below.

History

Scotland had four District Sides – the combined

North and Midlands North and Midlands - and now known as Caledonia - is a select provincial amateur rugby union team that draws its players mainly from north of Scotland, roughly corresponding from around Stirling northwards. Historically the North and Midlands te ...

district side;

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

; Glasgow District and Edinburgh District. Glasgow and Edinburgh were formed in 1872 and played the world's first ever inter-district match in that year. The district sides capped the best amateur players from their area's club sides to play inter-district matches and matches against touring sides.

Formation

The Inter-district championship was established in the 1953–54 season. The first season saw Glasgow, Edinburgh,

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and South challenge for the championship. The North of Scotland District in that first season contained many

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...

players and the Midlands District complained to the Scottish Rugby Union that they should have acknowledgement for their contribution to the North squad. The SRU agreed to this and from 1954 to 1955 season onwards the combined North of Scotland and Midlands side was known as

. The Glasgow, Edinburgh, South and

sides would play-off to see which district was best in Scotland. In later years a Scottish Exiles team was also invited into this championship.

Tournament format

Whether with four or five sides each team would play one another only once; either at home or away. Usually contested with only the four home-based Scottish districts, this meant that each team only played three matches. This created a situation where the tournament winners were often shared with two or three teams. It was thus a difficult tournament to win outright. Occasionally though a deciding system was used. In 1972–73 Glasgow and Edinburgh tied for the Championship and a separate play-off was agreed; which Edinburgh won. A knock-out system was used in 1993–94. In 1997–98, the last year before the four professional sides merged into two sides, it was agreed beforehand that – should the league places be tied – the number of tries would decide the winner. The season ended with a three-way tie between

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh p ...

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became ...

and

Caledonia Reds Caledonia Reds were a Scottish rugby union professional district team who participated in the Scottish Inter-District Championship and in two seasons of the Heineken Cup. They evolved from one of the traditional four amateur districts of Scotlan ...

with Edinburgh coming out on top with tries scored. In the last Professional Inter-District Championship, the Bank of Scotland Pro Cup between

Border Reivers Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their v ...

and

in 2002–03, the format was extended. Each team played their opponents twice at home and twice away. In addition, the bonus point system was used for tries and loses. The top two teams qualified for the next season's Heineken Cup and the other team was entered into the Challenge Cup.

Professionalism

The four District Sides:

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

and Edinburgh were to become

and

with professionalism. With the advent of the professional game in Scotland, the Scottish Inter-District Championship became a European Qualifying Tournament for the professional Scottish districts to determine if they qualified for the European Champions Cup (then the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

) or the European Challenge Cup (then the European Conference or Amlin Cup). This meant that the Scottish Exiles no longer competed in the tournament.

Merger of professional teams

In 1998, on the merger of Glasgow Rugby and Caledonia Reds to form Glasgow Caledonians – and the merger of Edinburgh Rugby with the Border Reivers to form the Edinburgh Reivers; the death knell was sounded for the Championship. After the Tennents Tri-Series between Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1998–99, the Tri-Series survived into 1999–2000 without a sponsor. The Inter-District Championship then lingered on at amateur level once more till 2002 with the best players at amateur level once again playing for Glasgow District, Caledonia, Edinburgh District and Borders. The professional Inter-District Championship was briefly resurrected in a new form in the 2002–03 season – with the re-establishment of the Border Reivers side – as the Bank of Scotland Pro Cup. However the Championship's return at professional level only lasted a single season as the expansion of the Celtic League the following season meant that the SRU scrapped the tournament to avoid fixture congestion with the Celtic League and European tournaments. The Border Reivers subsequent demise in 2007 saw once again Glasgow and Edinburgh as the only remaining Scottish professional sides making any prospect of a return of the Championship – as a Tri-Series again – remote, particularly in the light of fixture congestion. Instead the two remaining sides

and

use their Pro14 league matches to determine the winner of the

1872 Cup The 1872 Cup – also known as the 1872 Challenge Cup – is a men's rugby union tournament contested every year between the two Scottish professional clubs, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby. Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby use selected ...

, a memorial of the world's first inter-district match.

Amateur championship return

The amateur championship has returned twice in the professional era. It first returned from 1999 to 2002. The SRU announced it would return again for the season 2022-23; with the selection of amateur players to help guide selection for the

Scotland Club XV The Scotland national Club XV rugby union team is one of several national rugby union teams behind the Scottish national side. The national Club XV takes the best players from club rugby in Scotland to form a side that regularly competes with a ...

international team.

Age Grades

The Inter-District Championship is still contested at age grades.

Inter-District Championship Winners

Amateur Era

The 1953–54 season's competition saw the sides Glasgow District, Edinburgh District, South of Scotland and North of Scotland play-off. Despite its name the North of Scotland district played many players from the Midlands district in its side. The combined team formally competed as

from season 1954–55. The Scottish Exiles, then as the Anglo-Scots, joined the Inter-District Championship from 1981 onwards.

Professional Era

In its professional guise, the Scottish Exiles were omitted from the Championship.

Amateur Championship restarted

The Amateur Inter-District has been restarted twice in the professional era. The first restart was from 1999 to 2002; the second restart from the 2022-23 season. The amateur Inter-District Championship was briefly played again between 1999 and 2002. The North and Midlands were renamed as Caledonia; the South were renamed Scottish Borders. The Scottish Exiles did not enter in the first 1999–2000 season but entered as an amateur district in the two subsequent seasons. The

announced in January 2023, that the Scottish Inter-District Championship for season 2022-23 would take place in May 2023. The teams would be the traditional districts Glasgow District including the West of Scotland; Edinburgh District encompassing the Lothians; the

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain () that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland. Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all ...

region encompassing the old

North of Scotland The Highlands and Islands is an area of Scotland broadly covering the Scottish Highlands, plus Orkney, Shetland and Outer Hebrides (Western Isles). The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 188 ...

and

districts; and the South of Scotland district.https://scottishrugby.org/the-scottish-inter-district-championship-is-set-to-return-in-may-2023/

References

{{Reflist, 2 Rugby union competitions in Scotland 1953 establishments in Scotland