| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1973 |
| No. of teams | 157 |
| Country(ies) | Scotland |
| Most recent champion(s) | Ayr RFC |
The Scottish League Championship (named the RBS League Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the national rugby union league for Scotland. Operated by the Scottish Rugby Union, and presently sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland, it was formed as a league of six divisions in 1973 to replace the haphazard "unofficial championship" system that had been in operation until then. Traditionally dominated by teams from the Scottish Borders, the area of Scotland where the sport is most popular, it currently is split into two sections; the Premiership, which has three nationwide divisions; and the National League which has one nationwide and varying regional levels. Direct promotion and relegation operate throughout.
Following some years of 'pool' systems in the regional levels (where clubs played in small groups of say 4 or 6 teams before Christmas, with new groups formed with the pool winners in one group, 2nd placed clubs in another group etc. after Christmas), a standard system has now been adopted nationwide. This seeks to ensure that every division consists of 12 clubs, with the exception of the top level in each region which shall each be of 10 clubs.
With thirteen championships, Hawick RFC have won the league the most times, followed by Melrose R.F.C. with six titles.
The format of the league system had been up for much debate recently, due to the arduous nature of the competition. As of 2007-2008, all 6 nationwide divisions consist of 12 teams, meaning all 72 clubs in these divisions have to be able to finance 11 trips across Scotland each year. Calls for fewer nationwide divisions have been made, or a reduction in the size of each division, to 10 clubs.
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Up to season 1972-73, Scotland's rugby union clubs participated in what was known as an 'unofficial championship'. It provided very unbalanced competition: some clubs played more fixtures than others and some fixture lists provided stiffer opposition than others. The resulting league table at the end of each season gave a very unbalanced and difficult-to-comprehend set of results.
Starting in season 1973-74, the Scottish Rugby Union organised the full member clubs into six leagues. This suited some of the 'open' clubs but many of the older former pupils clubs found it difficult to compete successfully and were forced into going 'open' themselves to try to recruit some of the better players. Those that didn’t declined. Open clubs kept their old FP or Academical name, and still played on grounds owned by the schools. In the first 14 seasons of league rugby the Division I championship was won by Hawick on 10 occasions.
One consequence was soon apparent: fewer players were selected from English clubs to represent Scotland. For the first time since before the First World War, the domestic game was producing an adequate number of players of genuine international class. Though the SRU's administrators were often seen as backward looking, Scotland had a national league before England, Wales or Ireland.
In the first 14 seasons of league rugby the Division I championship was won by Hawick on 10 occasions. Heriot’s FP became the first city club to win the championship, they had already attracted "outsiders"; their leading try-scorer was Bill Gammell, a Fettesian already capped for the Scotland national rugby union team while playing for Edinburgh Wanderers. League rugby drew the crowds, and the 20 years that followed its introduction were the best in the history of Scottish club rugby. In that period the title of champions rarely went out of the Borders: with Hawick, Gala and Melrose enjoying long periods of ascendancy. Recently, however, the Borders domination has faded and Glasgow Hawks won the title three times in successive years between 2003/4 and 2005/6.
Since the advent of the leagues, the Scottish Rugby Union and its member clubs have re-organised the competition several times, usually to change the number of teams. In 1995 they added a knock-out cup competition, with Hawick again the inaugural winners, defeating Watsonians in the final.
At the end of each season, the top two clubs in each division were promoted, and the bottom two clubs were relegated. The exception was between National League Division One and the three Regional League Division Ones, where three clubs were relegated and the three regional champions promoted. The committees in charge of the regional leagues had powers to alter promotion and relegation rules.
Certain leagues are not included in the system:
In addition, competitive rugby at universities, and rugby for 2nd and 3rd XVs, is organised separately, and in the case of 2nd and 3rd XVs on something of an ad-hoc basis (there having been a number of splits from The Scottish 2nd XV League in recent years). Note that the larger universities run their first teams in both the Scottish Championship, and in the university leagues.
See University Leagues in Scotland and 2nd XV Leagues in Scotland for further details.
There is one major cup competition, the Scottish Cup which has offshoot competitions of Bowl, Shield and Plate for teams knocked out in the early rounds. This competition has existed in one form or another since 1995. The cup is regionalised in the early rounds.
Some SRU member clubs which do not participate in the league system, do nevertheless form teams especially to play in the cup. This has however become less common in recent years.
In season 2006-2007, Premiership One consisted of only 10 clubs, and a supplementary competition, the Scottish SuperCup, involving two groups of 5 clubs and a Final, was played to make up for the lost fixtures. With Premiership One reverting to 12 clubs again for 2007-2008, it was abandoned.
Division One
Details: [4] |
There are three Regions: West, East and Caledonia. These have been formed over time from the old system of independent District leagues.
One
Details: [5] |
Two
Details: [6] |
Three
Details: [7] |
Four
Details: [8] |
One
Details: [9] |
Two
Details: [10] |
Three
Details: [11] |
One
Details: [12] |
Two Midlands
Details: [13] |
Two North
Details: [14] |
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Three Midlands
Details: [15] |
Three Northeast
Details: [16] |
Three Northwest
Details: [17] |
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