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 ...
within
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
remains a predominantly amateur sport; however, semi-professional and professional outfits have been created in recent decades to participate in cross-border competitions.
Professional Outfits
With the advent of professionalism in 1995 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 ...
, just like the Irish Rugby Football Union, decided that existing club sides would be unable to compete with their counterparts in new cross-border tournaments such as the European Cup and
Celtic League
The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...
. It was decided by 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 ...
that new professional teams would be created based on the union's four historic geographical districts and building upon the legacy/vehicle of the
Scottish Inter-District Championship
The Scottish Inter-District Championship is a rugby union competition between regional sides in Scotland. Established in 1953, the tournament went through several formats.
The Scottish Rugby Union confirmed in January 2023 that the Scottish In ...
:
The North and Midlands side was a de facto district based on the combination of The North and Midlands districts.
Domestic Rugby
Scottish League Championship
The Scottish League Championship is the annual domestic league structure competed for by over 150 clubs at both national and regional levels.
Prior to restructuring in 2010, there were six national leagues - three divisions in the Premiership, and three in the National League - above the Regional Leagues. Further restructuring before the 2014-15 season scrapped the regional Championship A & B leagues which sat below the National League for two seasons. The current structure is:
*The Premiership: 10 clubs, top four compete in a knock-out play-off to decide the Premiership champions, bottom team relegated and ninth-placed enter promotion/relegation play-off
*National League: 36 clubs in three divisions:
** Division 1: 12 clubs, winners promoted, runners-up enter promotion/relegation play-off, bottom two teams relegated
** Division 2: 12 clubs, winners and runners-up promoted, bottom two teams relegated
** Division 3: 12 clubs, winners and runners-up promoted, bottom three teams relegated to the appropriate Regional league
*
Regional Leagues
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
: 3 Regions (Caledonia, East and West) who organize their own league structures (though top divisions normally consist of 10 clubs), with the winners of each region promoted
Structure
Scottish Cup
The
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Murrayfield Stadium.
Scottish SuperCup
During the 2006-07 season an extra cup competition (The Scottish SuperCup) was introduced to replace the loss of fixtures in the Premiership due to league restricting. With the reversal of this restriction the following season the cup became redundant and was abandoned after a single season.
British and Irish Cup
For the 2009-10 season a new cross-border tournament was introduced, the British and Irish Cup which would contain semi-professional clubs from the four
home nations
Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...
. Originally Scotland was represented by three sides but with restricting this has increased to four, who are determined by final positions in the League Championship.
Rugby union in Scotland
Rugby union in Scotland is a popular team sport. Scotland's national side today competes in the annual Six Nations Championship and the Rugby World Cup. The first ever international rugby match was played on 27 March 1871, at Raeburn Place in Edi ...
*
League system
A league system is a hierarchy of leagues in a sport. They are often called pyramids, due to their tendency to split into an increasing number of regional divisions further down the system. League systems of some sort are used in many sports in ...