London Scottish F.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Full name | London Scottish Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Exiles |
| Founded | 1878 |
| Location | Richmond |
| Ground(s) | Athletic Ground |
| Capacity | 4,500 |
| Chairman | Rod Lynch |
| Coach(es) | Brett Taylor |
| League(s) | National Division One |
| 2008-09 | 1st (National Division Three South) |
| Official website | |
| www.londonscottish.com | |
London Scottish Football Club is a rugby union team in England. It is a member of both the Rugby Football Union and the Scottish Rugby Union.
Contents |
[edit] History
London Scottish was founded in 1878[1] in MacKay's Tavern, London, and used to play at Richmond Athletic Ground in Surrey.[1]
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.[1]
The club turned professional in 1996 and was playing in the top division as recently as 1999. The club was placed into administration in 1999 and a nominal merger with London Irish took place. During this period 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. By the halfway point of the following 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 original amateur club rejoined the RFU leagues at the bottom of the pyramid after effectively being relegated 9 divisions by the RFU. The club has since progressed back up through 6 divisions in 9 seasons to National Division One for the 2009-2010 season. The club shares the Athletic Ground with Richmond.
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).
London Scottish has won no major honours in the fifteens game but they did make the John Player Cup Final in 1974 where they lost 26-6 against defending champions Coventry. In the 1998/1999 season they made their one and only appearance in the Allied Dunbar Premiership. However, under coach John Steele, and with limited resources they managed to finish in a creditable 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 victories that season included:
- London Scottish 13 - 11 Bath
- Saracens 7 - 24 London Scottish
- London Scottish 27 - 17 Newcastle Falcons (against the defending champions)
That season included Scottish international stars, Simon Holmes, Derek Lee, Ronnie Eriksson, Australians Eddie Jones, Simon Fenn and the South African Jannie de Beer.
On April 14th 2007, the club ensured promotion back to the English national leagues (National Division Three South) after a eight year absence. On April 4th 2009, the club secured promotion to the revamped RFU National 1 Division, remaining unbeaten in the 2008/2009 season.
London Scottish is currently a semi-professional squad which are coached by Brett Taylor formerly the USA Eagles backs coach and managed by Colin McIntyre.
[edit] London Scottish Club Captains & League position ( since 1999/2000 season )
- 1999/2000 - Ewan Kearney ( Winners London Senior Clubs Merit table )
- 2000/2001 - Damian Lilley ( Runners up Herts/Middlesex division 1 )
- 2001/2002 - Steven Wichary ( Champions London 4 North/West )
- 2002/2003 - Magnus Macdonald ( Champions London 3 North/West )
- 2003/2004 - David Watt ( Champions London 2 North )
- 2004/2005 - Karl Hensley ( 4th London 1 )
- 2005/2006 - Karl Hensley ( 3rd London 1 )
- 2006/2007 - Alex Alesbrook ( Champions London 1 )
- 2007/2008 - Alex Alesbrook ( 4th National 3 South )
- 2008/2009 - Gary Trueman ( Champions National 3 South )
[edit] Notable players
London Scottish have produced more Scottish international players than any other club.
- Iain Laughland
- Gavin Hastings, their most capped player with 61 matches for Scotland.[1]
- Paul Burnell
- Derek White
- Damian Cronin
- Mike Biggar
- Al Biggar
- Rob Wainwright
- Iain Morrison
- Derek Lee
- Simon Holmes
- Ronnie Eriksson
- Kenny Logan
- Max Evans
- Alastair McHarg - a stalwart of the club[1]
- Mike Campbell-Lamerton[1]
- David Bedell-Sivright[1]
- Bill Maclagan[1]
- Mick Watson
- Barry Irvine
- Eddie Jones
- Jannie De Beer
Current players include Iain Fullarton, Simor Amor, James Brown, Paul Volley, Gary Trueman and Mark Soden who all have had Guinness Premiership and/or International rugby experience.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Exiles earn promotion in England, The Scotsman, April 16, 2007
[edit] References
- Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1 86200 013 3)
- Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ISBN 1905326246)
- Godwin, Terry Complete Who's Who of International Rugby (Cassell, 1987, ISBN 0713718382)
- Massie, Allan A Portrait of Scottish Rugby (Polygon, Edinburgh; ISBN 0 904919 84 6)
|
|||||
|
||||||||||||||
