Full name John Shaw Thomson Place of death St Giles, London Education The Glasgow Academy | Place of birth unknown School Glasgow Academy | |
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Date of birth (1845-08-09)9 August 1845 Date of death 22 May 1925(1925-05-22) Died 22 May 1925, St Giles, London | ||
John Shaw Thomson was a rugby union international who represented Scotland in the first international rugby match in 1871.
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Early life
Little is known of J.S. Thomson's early life. He is recorded as having played for Glasgow Academicals in 1871 and 1872. At that time the club did not have open membership and had only been formed three years previous as a club for old pupils of Glasgow Academy. The strong implication is that he therefore attended Glasgow Academy, and given this was not a boarding school, lived in Glasgow. Some records suggest he also played for St Andrews University and therefore may have attended that university also.
Rugby union career
J.S. Thomson was selected to play in the first international rugby match in 1871 between Scotland and England. This was played on 27 March 1871 at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh and won by Scotland. Certain records for the match indicate that he played for Glasgow Academicals at the time, whilst others suggest that he was a University of St Andrews RFC player. It is possible that he was not exclusive to one or the other and therefore may have played for both. In Francis Marshall's 1892 publication, Football; the Rugby union game, he is listed as playing for St Andrews as well, although on one occasion he is referred to as J Thompson in a picture of the 1871 Scotland side and on another occasion he is referred to as W Thomson.
In 1872 J S Thomson was also part of another historic first rugby encounter when he was selected as part of the representative side of Glasgow District, to face a representative side from Edinburgh District. This was the inaugural inter-city match between Glasgow and Edinburgh, that today is known as the 1872 Cup and has the distinction of being the oldest inter-city rugby competition in the world.