West of Scotland F.C.
| Full name | West of Scotland Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1865 | ||
| Location | Milngavie, Scotland | ||
| Ground(s) | Burnbrae (Capacity: 2500) | ||
| President | Gordon Cairns | ||
| Coach(es) |  John Beattie | ||
| League(s) | Premiership Division One | ||
| 2007/2008 | 1st | ||
| |||
| Official website | |||
| www | |||
West of Scotland Football Club are a Scottish rugby union club from Milngavie, just outside Glasgow. They are known as West of Scotland Football Club, but play rugby football rather than association football (soccer).
Formed in 1865, they played a founding role in establishing international rugby in Scotland and have provided a number of SRU Presidents and players. The club originated at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Glasgow as an off-shoot of the Cricket Club. The bye laws of West of Scotland Football Club were agreed on the 15th October 1865.
In 1867, they played their first game against another club, Edinburgh Academicals, in a fixture that is one of the earliest rugby football matches in the world. In 1872 the formation of the Scottish Rugby Union took place at a meeting at Elmbank academy and the first members were Edinburgh Academicals FC, West of Scotland FC, Royal High School FP, Glasgow Academicals, Merchistonians and Edinburgh University
West have played in red and yellow coloured strips since 1871, which the then local football club Partick Thistle decided to copy in the 1930s when they also switched from dark blue strips.
In 1952 after some 15 years without a home they moved to Burnbrae at Milngavie. They were an open club and able to attract new players into the area as any others were closed to Former Pupils (FP's) until the 1990s West of Scotland play in Premiership Division One having won promotion from Premiership Division Two in 2008, having only been promoted from Premiership Division Three the previous season.
It was on Saturday 29 March 2008 that West secured their promotion from Premiership Division Two as champions. The 2nd XV and 3rd XV teams also won their leagues, making 2007/08 a historic season for the club.
Distinguished Past Players
Many of West's players have played at Scottish international and as Lions including
- Gordon Brown 30 caps 1969 - 1976
- Peter Brown 27 caps 1964 - 73
- Sandy Carmichael 50 caps and Lion
- Andrew Henderson20 caps
- Alastair McHarg
- Gordon Bulloch - 75 caps; Scottish captain and Lion. Currently back playing for the club.
- Fergus Thomson
- David Leslie - 32 caps 1975 -85
- David Gray - 9 caps 1978 - 1981
- Matt Duncan 18 caps 1986-9
- James Craig 4 caps
- Alan Bulloch 5 caps
- W A Burnett 8 caps 1934 - 6
- W S Kidston One cap (against England) in 1874. President of the SRU 1876/7 and the first President of West of Scotland football club.
- D Y Cassells 7 caps 1880-3
- C W Rae 13 caps 1968-79
- David Shedden 18 caps 1972 - 8
- Bryan Gossman 2 caps 1980 3
- Jimy Gossman 1 cap 1980
- Steve Munro 10 caps 1980 - 84
- Gerry McGuiness 7 caps 1982 - 85
- Sean Carmichael 46 caps 2001 - 2010
One player Lionel Weston was capped for England