| Union | Scottish Rugby Union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1871 |
| Location | Aberdeen, Scotland |
| League(s) | BUCS Men's Scottish Conference 1A |
| Official website | |
| http://aurugbyfc.com/ | |
Aberdeen University Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
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Acknowledged as the equal oldest rugby club in the North East of Scotland, 1871, AURFC has had a long and successful history producing both Scotland and British Lions players. Its traditional playing venue has been Kings Playing Fields right in the heart of old Aberdeen and the centre of campus for the University of Aberdeen, the fifth oldest university in Britain. It was not until 1882 that AURFC affiliated to the Scottish Rugby Union, it was the 17th club to join the SRU structure but most amazingly, given its location, it was the first club north of Edinburgh to join after the University of St Andrews RFC, which is one of the founder members of the Scottish Rugby Union[1]. University rugby is exceptionally important to Scottish Rugby with one quarter of the oldest teams in Scotland being university based.
AURFC was disciplined by the Scottish Rugby Union for not fulfilling fixtures in the late 90's. This resulted in the club being removed from the SRU league structure and forced to start from the bottom division. This was the lowest point in the clubs long and distinguished history. With Aberdeen Grammar being demoted from the Scottish Premier league a void of high class rugby teams in Aberdeen existed and resulted in many university players returning from clubs to play for AURFC. Several seasons of straight promotions in the beginning of the new century has seen the team rise to Caledonian Division League 1 [2] and also a return to the first division of the Scottish Universities Sport and BUCS Leagues [3] going on to win 1a in 2010.
Recent achievements have been considerable. Most notably was the 2007/08 Scottish Hydro Electric Scottish Rugby Union Plate victory at Murrayfield. The first time a university side has ever reached the final of an SRU competition [4]. They followed up this success in season 2008/09 when they successful defended their title with a 33-10 win againsty Duns. This same year the university 1st XV was promoted to division 1a and narrowly missed out on winning the league coming in second place, but in 2010 the 1st XV went on to win Scotland top University league.
AURFC is a full member of Aberdeen University Sports Union and the Scottish Rugby Union.
The club throughout history has boasted some impressive individual rugby players and have represented Scotland and the British Lions.
With the professional era upon us it will be unlikely the club will ever have any Scottish or British Lions players again but it is still punching above its weight and the club annually boasts several age group Scottish internationals and in 2008/09 had 15 players selected for the Scottish Universities squad.
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