Location St Andrews, Scotland 2011-12 4th League Caledonia Regional League | President Craig Bones Founded 1866 | |
Full name Madras College Formal Pupils Rugby Football Club Ground(s) Station Park, St Andrews | ||
Madras College Former Pupils Rugby Football Club is a rugby union side based in St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. They will play in Caledonia Regional League Division 2 midlands in Season 2012/13. They play at Station Park, St Andrews and field two men's fifteens each weekend, as well as a women's team (AKA The Saints).
The club has close ties with Madras College, a secondary school in St Andrews. Although not all players are former pupils of the school, many are and sixth year pupils often train and play with the club during holidays and weeks in which school rugby is not on.
The good facilities of the rugby club and St Andrews in general attract many bigger teams such as the Scottish national side and Heriot's Rugby Club to train there during pre-season.
History
St Andrews has been instrumental in the development of rugby in Scotland. Rugby was introduced to St Andrews University in 1858 as a means of interesting the Scottish gentry away from the great English universities and to study in Scotland. Scotland's oldest club is Edinburgh Academicals, established in 1857, which shows that rugby in St Andrews was not far behind. In 1871, JH Oatts, from St Andrews, amongst colleagues, issued an invite to the English to come to Edinburgh and play the first international fixture of the 'carrying game' on 27 March . This invite came after a 10-year run of defeats at football at the hands of the English. 2 players from St Andrews featured in this 20-a-side game, which the Scots won.
Representatives from the four great clubs, Glasgow Academicals, Edinburgh Academical Football Club, West of Scotland and University of St Andrews RFC, then formed the Scottish Rugby Union in 1873, and the game was reduced to 15-a-side soon after. St Andrews built up a strong reputation for its backs-play, which was very different from the typical forwards-led style of the day.