London Scottish 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 in England. The club is a member of both the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

and 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 is currently playing in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

and share the Athletic Ground with

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

History

Founding (1878)

In early 1878, three Scottish members of a team called St. Andrew's Rovers FC decided to break away to form their own club for Scots. These men, George Grant, Neil Macglashan and Robert Arnot attracted a number of responses to a circular they sent out. The

London Scottish Regiment The London Scottish was a Army Reserve (United Kingdom), reserve infantry regiment then a Company (military unit), company of the British Army. In its final incarnation it was A (The London Scottish) Company, the London Regiment (1993), Londo ...

in particular were very warm to the idea. Very soon after, on 10 April 1878, London Scottish FC was foundedBath, 1997, pp86,87 in The Queen's Head, in Water Lane, Blackfriars, London (universally known as MacKay's Tavern, frequently mis-recorded, as Ned Mackay the jovial Scottish landlord ran the pub), initially played on Blackheath Common,Dick Tyson, ''London's Oldest Rugby Clubs'', p96 (JJG Publishing), 2008 and later at Richmond Athletic Ground in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

Labeled group photo of London Scottish F

They had a sizable fixture list and played some of the leading clubs of the time immediately, such as

Ravenscourt Park Football Club Ravenscourt Park was a short lived 19th century English rugby union club that was notable for being one of the twenty-one founding members of the Rugby Football Union, as well as supplying a number of international players for the sport's early int ...

and Queen's House Football Club (the latter being the only London team to have never lost to London Scottish). They also played St Andrew's Rovers that season. St Andrew's, who had lost the core of their best players, lost twice to London Scottish and folded at the end of the season. London Scottish had a very successful first season, and having played 15 matches they only lost four (against already well established sides,

Flamingoes Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbe ...

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...

Queen's House Queen's House is a former royal residence in the London borough of Greenwich, which presently serves as a public art gallery. It was built between 1616 and 1635 on the grounds of the now demolished Greenwich Palace, a few miles downriver fro ...

and

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

). In 1914 at the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

all sixty members of the four London Scottish teams who played in their last matches in April enlisted. Fifteen survived. Only one played Rugby again. They are commemorated in

Mick Imlah Michael Ogilvie Imlah (26 September 1956 – 12 January 2009), better known as Mick Imlah, was a Scottish poet and editor. Background Imlah was brought up in Milngavie near Glasgow, before moving to Beckenham, Kent, in 1966. He was educated at ...

's poem "London Scottish".

Early history

London Scottish was the first of the "Exiles" rugby clubs to be founded, and the last of the main three – after

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

and

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club () was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from ...

– to go "open" in 1996. London Scottish made the John Player Cup Final in 1974, where they lost 26–6 against defending champions Coventry. The club regularly featured at the

Middlesex Sevens The Middlesex Sevens was a Rugby Sevens tournament held annually at Twickenham stadium in London, England until 2011. It was first held in 1926, and started by Dr J.A. Russell-Cargill, a London-based Scot.Bath, ''Scotland Rugby Miscellany'', p82 T ...

tournament, winning the trophy in 1937, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965 and 1991. They have won the

Melrose Sevens Melrose Sevens is an annual rugby sevens event held by Melrose Rugby Club, at The Greenyards in Melrose, Scotland. It is the oldest rugby sevens competition in the world, dating back to 1883 when the tournament was suggested by former Melros ...

three times, in 1962, 1965 and 2019.

Professional era (1996–2020)

Scottish turned professional in 1996. Tony Tiarks bought the club for £500,000 in 1996. In the summer of 1998 Scottish, co-tenants of Richmond at the Athletic Ground, were promoted to the top division via a play-off, and Tiarks forced through an ill-fated groundshare with Harlequins and London Broncos at the

Stoop Memorial Ground Twickenham Stoop Stadium (informally referred to as The Stoop) is a stadium located in south-west London, England, situated just across the road from Twickenham Stadium. The stadium is home to the Harlequins in Premiership Rugby and has a ...

. In the 1998–99 season, Scottish made their only appearance in the English Premiership. Under coach John Steele, and despite limited resources, the team finished 12th out of 14 teams, which would have saved them from relegation had they not fallen into administration at the season's end. Notable wins that season included: versus

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

(13–11),

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

(24–7) and

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

(27–17). That season's squad included Scottish international stars Ronnie Eriksson, Simon Holmes and Derrick Lee, Australians Seán Childs, Simon Fenn and Eddie Jones, and the South African

Jannie de Beer Jan Hendrik "Jannie" de Beer (born 22 April 1971) is a South African former rugby union player. He played fly-half for the South African national team, the Springboks. In all he represented the Springboks in 13 tests, scoring 181 points. He w ...

. Midway through the 1998–1999 season, Tiarks became disillusioned and discussed selling Scottish's place in the Premiership to second-division Bristol. He bailed out in the summer of 1999. The professional club London Scottish Rugby was placed into administration in 1999 and nominally merged into

(who moved their games to the Stoop) along with

, who were also placed into administration. The original amateur club rejoined the RFU leagues at the bottom of the pyramid after effectively having been relegated nine divisions by the RFU. The club progressed back up through seven divisions in 10 seasons to

for the 2011–12 season. The club was promoted to the English National leagues (National Division Three South) for the 2007–08 season after an eight-year absence. The club was unbeaten in the 2008–09 season, earning promotion to the revamped RFU National 1 Division for the 2009–10 season. In 2009–10, the club finished second in their first season in RFU National 1 Division. The club secured promotion to the RFU Championship for the 2011–12 season. During the 2012–13 season, the club made the switch to a full-time professional set-up, with many of the club's part-time professional players leaving and new coaches brought on board, this included former

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

hooker James Buckland and France and London Wasps legend Serge Betsen. The fully professional set-up was credited for an impressive performance away to Championship leaders

, where three penalties brought them to the brink of a shock win, but they lost 12–9. There followed significant wins in the second half of the season, including a 26–23 victory over

Bedford Blues Bedford Blues are a semi-professional rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in the RFU Championship. History Foundation and 19th century Bedford RUFC was founded in 1886 after an amalgamation between Bedford Rove ...

, a 25–13 win over

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

and a 20–17 win away at

Cornish Pirates The Cornish Pirates () are a professional rugby union team who play in the RFU Championship, Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. The Cornish Pirates team are the 'First XV' o ...

. Scottish were still challenging for a place in the top four of the Championship until as late as March, when they were beaten by Leeds Carnegie, and they ended the season in mid-table. The Scottish again finished mid-table in the Championship in the 2013–14 season. The team had four players named in the Championship Best XV – American international Eric Fry, Tomas Francis, Mark Bright and Championship top try-scorer Miles Mantella. Following a mediocre 2016–17 campaign, the club appointed Loughborough Students director of rugby Dave Morris as director of rugby and the club saw a change at the top, with Malcom Offord becoming chairman of the club and Carson Russell as CEO.

Semi-professional club (2021–)

Following a reduction in funding from the RFU, Scottish adopted a semi-professional model from the 2020–21 season, with players and coaches being employed part-time. Following this, in February 2021 it was confirmed that due to funding cuts and the costs associated with the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Scottish would not take part in the upcoming season. Scottish were to leave the Athletic Ground after 127 years, with the first team temporarily relocating to Esher's rugby ground in

Hersham Hersham is a suburban village in Surrey, within the M25 and the Greater London Built-up Area. It has a mixture of low and high rise housing and has four technology/trading estates. Hersham is contiguous with Walton-on-Thames, its post town, t ...

and the rest of the club also seeking relocation. However it was later confirmed they would remain at the Athletic Ground for their return to the Championship in the 2021–22 season.

Sevens

London Scottish have been great exponents of

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

, winning the

three times,

seven times and the Rosslyn Park London Floodlit Sevens seven times.

Captains and league position (since 1999–2000)

Head coach and management (since 1999–2000)

Overall league statistics

Honours

London Scottish *

champions: 1962, 1965, 2019 * Hawick Sevens champions: 1965 * Kelso Sevens champions: 1991 * Ross Sutherland Sevens champions: 1990 * Glasgow Academicals Sevens champions: 1979, 1989 * Haig Trophy Sevens champions: 1980 * Stirling Sevens champions: 1988 *

champions: 1937, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1991 * Courage League Division 3 champions: 1989–90 * Courage League National Division 2 champions: 1991–92 * London Division 4 North West champions: 2001–02 * London Division 3 North West champions: 2002–03 * London Division 2 North champions: 2003–04 * London Division 1 champions: 2006–07 * National League 3 South champions: 2008–09 *

National League 1 National One, up until 2023 known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Lea ...

champions: 2010–11 London Scottish Lions (amateur side) * Herts/Middlesex 2 champions: 2018–19

Current standings

Current squad

The London Scottish squad as announced for the 2023–24 season was:

Current staff

First team *Director of Rugby – Bryan Redpath *Head coach – Joe Gray *Backs Coach – *Head of Strength and Conditioning - Boris Pineles Commercial *Chief Operating Officer – Louise Newton

Notable former players

Scotland internationalists

The following former London Scottish players have represented

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 ...

at full international level. London Scottish have produced more than 220 Scottish international players, more than any other club. * John Allan * John Anderson * David Bedell-Sivright * John Bell * William Berkley * Alastair Biggar *

Mike Biggar Mike Biggar (born 20 November 1949) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. Rugby Union career Amateur career Biggar was educated at Sedbergh School in Cumbria, where he was Head of School, then went up to Queens' College, Cam ...

* Norman Bruce * Paul Burnell, their most-capped player, who played 52 matches for Scotland (3 World Cups – 1991, 1995, 1999) * George Campbell *

Mike Campbell-Lamerton Colonel Michael John Campbell-Lamerton (1 August 1933 – 17 March 2005) was a Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland international player. He was also a British Army officer. Military career He was educated at Ottershaw School ne ...

* Damian Cronin (2 World Cups – 1991, 1995) * John Dykes * Ronnie Eriksson * Max Evans (1 World Cup – 2011) * Frank Fasson * Pringle Fisher * Charles Fleming * Iain Fullarton * David Gilbert-Smith * Colin Gilray * Phil Godman * Fraser Gore * James Gowans * Donald Grant * John Hart *

Gavin Hastings Andrew Gavin Hastings, (born 3 January 1962) is a Scottish former rugby union player. A fullback, he is widely regarded to be one of the best ever Scottish rugby players and was one of the outstanding players of his generation, winning 61 c ...

(3 World Cups – 1987, 1991, 1995) * Sandy Hinshelwood * Simon Holmes * William Holms * John Hunter * Doug Keller * Ian Kilgour * Walter Kerr * Iain Laughland * Alan Lawson * Derrick Lee * Kenny Logan (3 World Cups 95, 99, 03) * John MacDonald * Gregor MacGregor * Andrew MacKinnon *

Bill Maclagan William Edward Maclagan (5 April 1858 – 10 October 1926) was a Scotland, Scottish international rugby union forward who played club rugby for London Scottish F.C. Maclagan was one of the longest-serving international rugby players during the ...

1st British Lion Captain 1891 (South Africa) * David MacMyn (captain of British Lions, Argentina 1927) *

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remai ...

Alastair McHarg Alastair McHarg (born 17 June 1944) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He played at Lock for the national side between 1968 and 1979.Bath, p147 Rugby Union career Amateur career Like Ian McLauchlan and Gordon Brown who we ...

– one of the many stalwarts of the club * Ernie Michie * Iain Morrison (1 World Cup – 1995) * Hugh Monteith * Alec Elliot Murray * Hugh Orr * Douglas Schulze * Jim Shackleton *

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 191920 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. He w ...

– joint-record Scotland try scorer with 24 tries * Arthur Smith * Ken Spence *

Ronald Stevenson Ronald James Stevenson (6 March 1928 – 28 March 2015) was a Scottish composer, pianist, and music scholar. Biography The son of a Scottish father and Welsh mother, Stevenson was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, in 1928. He studied at the Roya ...

* Ian Swan * Malcolm Swan * Frans ten Bos * David Thom * Bruce Thomson * Rob Wainwright (1 World Cup – 1995) * Leonard West * Derek White (1 World Cup – 1991) * Robert Whitworth * Kenneth Wilson * Ron Wilson

Wales internationalists

The following former London Scottish players have represented

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

at full international level. * Tomas Francis

England internationalists

The following former London Scottish players have represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at full international level. * Elliot Daly

Ireland internationalists

The following former London Scottish players have represented

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

at full international level. * Kieran Treadwell

Other nationalities

* John Allan * Kyle Baillie * Colin Gilray * David Halaifonua * George Hunter * Paul Lasike * Will Magie * Rusty Page * Dave Sisi * Nodar Tcheishvili *

Mike Te'o Michael Paseka Te'o (born July 23, 1993) is an American professional rugby player who plays for the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby (MLR). He also represents the America as a member of the United States national rugby union team. He previ ...

* Andrew Turner * Tjiuee Uanivi * Dino Waldren

SRU presidents

Former London Scottish players have been President of the SRU: * 1894–96

* 1900–01 Robert MacMillan

Bibliography

* Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) * Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Scotland Rugby Miscellany'' (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ) * Godwin, Terry ''Complete Who's Who of International Rugby'' (Cassell, 1987, ) * Massie, Allan ''A Portrait of Scottish Rugby'' (Polygon, Edinburgh; )

References

External links

*
Exiles earn promotion in England
The Scotsman, 16 April 2007 {{Authority control Premiership Rugby teams Rugby clubs established in 1878 Rugby union teams in England 1878 establishments in England Scottish diaspora in Europe Rugby union clubs in London Sport in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Diaspora sports clubs in the United Kingdom

History

Founding (1878)

Early history

Professional era (1996–2020)

Semi-professional club (2021–)

Sevens

Captains and league position (since 1999–2000)

Head coach and management (since 1999–2000)

Overall league statistics

Honours

Current standings

Current squad

Current staff

Notable former players

Scotland internationalists

Wales internationalists

England internationalists

Ireland internationalists

Other nationalities

SRU presidents

See also

Bibliography

References

External links