Kilmarnock Rugby Football Club is a Scottish

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 which was founded in 1868, and is based in

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

in west central Scotland. They play in . Often simply referred to as "Killie", their ground is at Bellsland in Kilmarnock, and they were formerly based at

Rugby Park Rugby Park, also known as The BBSP Stadium Rugby Park for sponsorship reasons, is a association football, football stadium which is the home of Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock F.C. and is situated in the Scotland, Scottish town of Kilmarnoc ...

(hence its name). One of the oldest rugby clubs in Scotland,

Kilmarnock Football Club Kilmarnock Football Club, commonly known as Killie, is a Scottish professional Association football, football team based in the town of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire that currently plays in the . The club has achieved several honours since its form ...

owes its existence to KRFC as an internal dispute about which football rules to adopt resulted in a breakaway in early 1869 by those who preferred to play

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

History

When the Scottish National Leagues were introduced in 1973, Killie were placed in the 3rd Division by the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; ) is the Sport governing body, governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Now marketed as Scottish Rugby, it is the second-oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league sys ...

. The club won that season without loss. The following season saw Killie being runners up in Division 2, gaining promotion to the top league. They remained there until 1981 after which a period of promotion and relegation between the 1st and 2nd Divisions was the norm. In 1978, Killie achieved their highest league position by finishing 3rd in Division 1. In 1986, Killie were the only team to beat

Hawick Hawick ( ; ; ) is a town in the Scottish Borders council areas of Scotland, council area and counties of Scotland, historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east o ...

as they swept all aside to win the Championship. Since the change in league structure to embrace professionalism, Killie have struggled to hold on to their better players and now languish in Division 1 of the West Regional League. It is also likely that Killie took part in the first floodlit rugby match at

, now the home of Kilmarnock FC. There is also a school of thought that South African team

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

, now the

Golden Lions The Golden Lions (), currently known as the Fidelity ADT Golden Lions for sponsorship reasons, are a South African professional rugby union team based in Johannesburg who compete in the annual Currie Cup. The team is governed by the Golden ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

team, adopted the famous Kilmarnock strip of white top with red hoop as a Kilmarnock member,

Alex Frew Alex Frew (24 October 1877 – 29 April 1947) was an international rugby union forward who played for both Scotland and South Africa. Amateur career He played for Kilmarnock RFC before moving to Edinburgh University. He was capped by Scotlan ...

, captained them when they beat The British Isles touring team in 1903. Frew was also a Scottish Internationalist while attending the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. Kilmarnock had a reputation in the 1960s and 1970s of producing top class seven-a-side teams who won many tournaments in west central Scotland. This form was sadly never taken into the Border's Sevens Circuit in the 1970s and 1980s when Killie were a regular feature in all the most prestigious events. More recent Kilmarnock 1st XV won promotion to RBS NATIONAL 1 for the first time in 20 years after a tough season in 2010–11. Kilmarnock 2nd XV also known as "the Penguins" have not lost a home game at Bellsland in five seasons. They won the league title 2011–12 having only lost one game away from home. This promotes them into National 2, the second highest level available for 2nd XV teams in Scotland. Kilmarnock 3rd XV more commonly known as the Killie Polar Bears have won three consecutive league titles 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2010–11 while being managed by John Cairns and Ivor Frater. They have been promoted to the RBS RESERVE LEAGUE WEST POD B making them the only 3rd XV in the division.

Kilmarnock Sevens

The club run the Kilmarnock Sevens competition. The tournament began in 1933.

Notable players

Kilmarnock players to have been capped for whilst at the club include hooker Andrew Ross and Bill Cuthbertson. Andrew toured with the British Lions in 1924 to South Africa while Bill was part of the 1984 Grand Slam winning team. Bill also played for

Barbarian F.C. The Barbarian Football Club, known as the Barbarians, is a Great Britain, British-based invitational rugby union club. The Barbarians play in black and white hoops, though players wear socks from their own club strip. Membership is by invitatio ...

while at Killie. Other players of note to have played for Killie include; *

John (Can) Cairns John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

* Niven Rose * Hugh McHardy * Ian Blake * Derek Stark * John Robertson *

Derek Martin Derek Martin (born Derek William Rapp; 11 April 1933) is a retired English actor. Beginning his career as a stuntman, he moved into acting and played many roles on UK television. One of his most widely known roles is Charlie Slater on the BBC ...

* Brian Gilbert * Gavin Angus * Hugh Hamilton * Stewart Porter *

Scott Grant Lieutenant General Sir Scott Carnegie Grant, (born 28 September 1944) is a former British Army officer who served as Quartermaster-General to the Forces from 1998 to 2000. Military career Educated at The King's School, Pontefract, the Royal Mil ...

* Hugh Parker * Dougie Smith * David Gray *

Iain Coull Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, which is derived from the Hebrew given name ( Yohanan, ') and corresponds to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. This name is a po ...

* Bill Cuthbertson David Gibson, John Stewart and his brother Andrew Stewart all played for Scottish Colleges and Universities. Andrew Stewart was also captain of the Scottish under 18 Team; Andrew, who is now resident in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and a professor of Sports Science, has also been involved with the fitness regime of the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

Honours

*Kilmarnock Sevens ** Champions: 1938, 1946, 1951, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1996 *Ardrossan Sevens ** Champions: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1971, 1972, 1995, 1997 *Irvine Sevens ** Champions: 1984, 1985 *Arran Sevens ** Champions: 1984, 2022 * Hillhead HSFP Sevens ** Champions: 1974, 1975, 1983 * Glasgow University Sevens ** Champions: 1945, 1975, 1981, 1983, 1990, 1991 * Clarkston Sevens ** Champions: 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1980 * Cumnock Sevens ** Champions: 1972, 1974, 1975 * Hillhead Jordanhill Sevens ** Champions: 1990 * Wigtownshire Sevens ** Champions: 1958, 1965, 1985 * Glasgow Academicals Sevens ** Champions: 1972, 1977 * Allan Glen's Sevens ** Champions: 1980, 1981, 1983 * Ayr Sevens ** Champions: 1939, 1957, 1960, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1989 * Stirling Sevens ** Champions: 1960, 1975 * Greenock Sevens ** Champions: 1958, 1971, 1974, 1975, * Dumfries Sevens ** Champions (1): 2006 * Paisley Sevens ** Champions (1): 2012

Bibliography

* Massie, Allan ''A Portrait of Scottish Rugby'' (Polygon, Edinburgh; )

References

{{SRU West Leagues Rugby union teams in Scotland Sport in Kilmarnock Rugby union in East Ayrshire Rugby clubs established in 1868 1868 establishments in Scotland