Nickname(s) The Exiles, Scottish President Rod Lynch 2015–16 8th Arena/Stadium Athletic Ground, Richmond League RFU Championship | Location Richmond Captain(s) Rory Bartle Founded 1878 Coach Sean Lineen | |
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Full name London Scottish Football Club Profiles | ||
London Scottish Football Club is a rugby union club in England. The club is a member of both the Rugby Football Union and the Scottish Rugby Union. The club shares the Athletic Ground with Richmond.
Contents
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 in particular were very warm to the idea. Very soon after, on 10 April 1878, London Scottish FC was founded in The Queen's Head, in Water Lane Blackfriars London (universally known as MacKay's Tavern, frequently miss-recorded, as Ned Mackay the jovial Scottish landlord ran the pub), initially played on Blackheath Common, and later at Richmond Athletic Ground in Surrey.
They had a sizable fixture list and played some of the leading clubs of the time immediately, such as Ravenscourt Park Football Club 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, Guy's Hospital, Queen's House and Wasps).
Early history
London Scottish was the first of the "Exiles" rugby clubs to be founded, and also the last of the main three to go "open" in 1996.
London Scottish made the John Player Cup Final in 1974, where they lost 26–6 against defending champions Coventry.
Professional era (1996–present)
The club 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.
In the 1998–99 season, Scottish made their one and only appearance in the English Premiership. Under coach John Steele, and despite their limited resource, the team finished in 12th place out of 14 teams, which would have saved them from relegation, had they not fallen into administration at the season's end. Notable games that season included victories over: Bath (13–11), Saracens (24–7), and Newcastle Falcons (27–17). That season included Scottish international stars Ronnie Eriksson, Simon Holmes and Derrick Lee, Australians Simon Fenn and Eddie Jones, and the South African Jannie de Beer.
Midway through the 1999 season, Tiarks was 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 the club was nominally merged into London Irish along with Richmond who were also placed into administration.
The original amateur club rejoined the RFU leagues at the bottom of the pyramid after effectively being relegated nine divisions by the RFU. The club has since progressed back up through seven divisions in 10 seasons to RFU Championship 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 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 Newcastle Falcons, 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, a 25–13 win over Nottingham and a 17–20 win away at Cornish Pirates. Scottish were still mathematically challenging for a place in the top four of the Championship until as late as March, until they were beaten by Leeds Carnegie, and they ended the season with a mid-table finish and safe from relegation.
The Scottish again finished mid-table in the Championship for the 2013–14 season. The team had four players named to the Championship Best XV — American international Eric Fry, Tomas Francis, Mark Bright, and Championship top try-scorer Miles Mantella.
Sevens
London Scottish have been great exponents of rugby sevens winning the Melrose Sevens (twice), Middlesex Sevens (seven times) and the Rosslyn Park London Floodlit Sevens (seven times).
Club honours
Current standings
Current squad
2016-17 Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.
Staff
First team
Commercial
Scotland national team players
The following list of players have represented both London Scottish and the Scotland international team. London Scottish have produced more than 220 Scottish international players, which is more than any other club.