Full name George Ritchie Place of death Kelso, Scotland | Place of birth Edinburgh, Scotland Position Forward | |
Date of birth (1848-04-16)16 April 1848 Date of death 31 January 1896(1896-01-31) (aged 47) Died 31 January 1896, Kelso, United Kingdom | ||
George Ritchie (16 April 1848 - 31 January 1896) was a Scottish international rugby union player who played for Merchistons in Edinburgh.
Born in Edinburgh in 1848, Ritchie played as a Forward.
Ritchie played in the first ever rugby union international match for Scotland against England in 27 March 1871 at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh.
In the match, he almost scored the first ever international try. He went over the try-line but a clutch of bodies were on top of him. An Englishman claimed to have control of the ball and the umpire decided it was Scotland's hack off 5 yards from the line. Fortunately for Scotland, they scored a try and goal from the resultant set-piece; the try coming from Angus Buchanan.
It was Ritchie's only international appearance for Scotland and he always maintained that he scored a perfectly good try, throughout the rest of his life. He died in Kelso, Scotland in 1896.