Falkirk Rugby Football Club is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club based in

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. They currently compete in

Scottish National League Division One The Scottish National League Division One (known as Tennent's National League Division 1 for sponsorship reasons) is the second tier of the Scottish League Championship for amateur rugby union clubs in Scotland. The division was established in i ...

, the second tier of Scottish club rugby. The club play their home matches at Horne Park.

History

The club's roots in Falkirk can be traced back through the

Falkirk Herald ''The Falkirk Herald'' is a weekly newspaper and daily news website published by JPIMedia, National World. It provides reportage, opinion and analysis of news, current affairs and sport in the towns of Falkirk, Camelon, Grangemouth, Larbert, Ste ...

Archives to 1906 when Falkirk Rugby Football Club was first formed. The club is recorded as having played at both the Tryst and Windsor Parks before they became a casualty of the First World War; although the game was still played at Falkirk High School, then part of the Midlands Schools Rugby Association. For over half a century Falkirk did not feature on the Scottish rugby map until 1972 when the ICI Grangemouth RFC transferred its assets to Falkirk. ICI Grangemouth RFC had been in existence for over a decade, founded in season 1962–63 by ICI employees Bill McMillan and Lyn Jones. The club growth was restricted, however, by ICI and the decision was made to move to Falkirk and start afresh. Bill McMillan was elected as the first club president in 1972 and the clubhouse was opened by Harry Ewing MP in 1980. For the first 25 years of the new club progress was slow and movement out of the lower league divisions difficult. Three successive relegations had taken the club to a nadir. Club members voiced their concern and a new administration took over in 1997 with Alex McQuade as president elect.

Since 2000

Thereafter the club's first notable appointment was that of former Scotland,

Caledonia Reds Caledonia Reds were a Scottish rugby union team. They participated in two seasons of the Heineken Cup. They evolved from one of the traditional four amateur districts of Scotland, North and Midlands, in 1996. Their home games were shared betwe ...

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and Hillfoots prop

John Manson John Manson (born 22 June 1968) is a retired Scottish international rugby union footballer who played with the Caledonia Reds and Glasgow Warriors, two of Scotland's first professional rugby teams. Rugby Union career Amateur career Manson pla ...

as club coach. Under Manson's leadership the club won the Scottish Shield in 2007 and achieved five consecutive league championship titles between 2003–04 and 2007–08. These achievements were recognised by the SRU and culminated in the club being awarded the "SRU Club of the Year" for the 2007–08 season.

Honours

Scottish National League Division Two The Scottish National League Division Two (known as Tennent's National League Division 2 for sponsorship reasons) is the third tier of the Scottish League Championship for amateur rugby union clubs in Scotland. The division was established in it ...

** Champions: (1) 2007-08 * Scottish Rugby Shield ** Champions: (1) 2006-07 * Rosyth and District Sevens ** Champions: (1) 1990 * McLaren HSFP Sevens ** Champions: (1) 1992 * Waid Academy F.P. Sevens ** Champions: (1) 1983 * Hillfoots Sevens ** Champions: (1) 1981, 1982 * Holy Cross Sevens ** Champions: (1) 1983 * Kirkcaldy Sevens ** Champions: (1) 2015

Notable former players

Glasgow Warriors players

The following former Falkirk players have represented

Glasgow Warriors The 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 beca ...

Scotland

The following former Fakirk players have represented

at full international level.

Notable non-Scottish players

The following is a list of notable non-Scottish international representative former Falkirk players:

References

{{Rugby union in Scotland Sport in Falkirk Rugby union teams in Scotland Rugby union in Falkirk (council area) 1972 establishments in Scotland Rugby clubs established in 1972