Melrose RFC
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| Full name | Melrose Rugby Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1877 | ||
| Location | Melrose, Scotland | ||
| Ground(s) | The Greenyards | ||
| President | John Reed | ||
| Coach(es) | John Dalziel | ||
| League(s) | Scottish Premiership | ||
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Melrose Rugby Football Club, located and founded in the town of Melrose in the Scottish Borders in 1877, is one of the oldest rugby clubs in the world.
History
The club was formed in 1877 and was elected to full membership of the Scottish Rugby Union in 1880.[1] The club have played at the Greenyards since the club's inception.[1]
Melrose have won the Scottish 1st Division title 8 times (1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2011 and 2012). Melrose won the Scottish cup in 2008 and were runners up in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Despite the population of Melrose hovering around 3,500 for a number of years the team has been a consistently successful club in the upper echelons of the Scottish game.[1]
Sevens tournament
Melrose is most famous as the host of the first-ever rugby sevens tournament in 1883, the abbreviated game having been invented by Ned Haig, a local butcher. The first Melrose Sevens was won by Melrose, beating local rivals Gala in the final during extra time. The Melrose Sevens, played on the second Saturday in April every year, remains the most popular Scottish Sevens tournament, regularly attracting crowds in excess of 10,000. In honour of the role of Melrose RFC in the creation of rugby sevens, the club was inducted along with Haig to the IRB Hall of Fame in 2008.[2] Melrose have had some recent success in their home tournament, coming runner-up on a couple of occasions and winning it in 2011. In 2010 they were crowned Kings of the Sevens winning the Kelso, Earlston, Gala and Jedforest sevens and placing respectably in the others.
The stadium
Melrose play at the Greenyards. They have played here since the club was formed. The grandstand has wooden benches and is painted in the club colours; yellow and black.
Notable players
Melrose has provided 22 Scotland internationals including
- Craig Chalmers (60 caps)
- Keith Robertson (44 caps).
- Alex Hastie
- Charlie Laidlaw
- Doddie Weir
- Craig Joiner
- Jock Allan
- Doug Davies
- George Dobson
- Frank Laidlaw (32 caps)[3]
- Kelly Brown
- Jim Telfer
- Bryan Redpath
* Graham shiel
Youth rugby
There is an under 18s team called Melrose Wasps, coached by the famous Jim Telfer and David Sheil. Over the last couple of years this team as become more competitive in the local borders league they play in coming 2nd in 2009 behind Hawick Wands in 2009, with good players such as Grant Runciman, Richard Ferguson, Craig Marshall, Bruce Colvine and a lot more. That year they were very successful in the 7s circuit winning the kings of the 7s. Melrose rugby club also have an under 16s, 15s, S2s, S1s, and then all primary ages groups however only start playing matches at primary 4.
See also
- Melrose, Scotland
- Scottish Premiership Division One
- Border League
- Borders Sevens Circuit
External links
References
- Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1-86200-013-1)
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Bath, p91
- ↑ "IRB Hall of Fame Welcomes Five Inductees". International Rugby Board. 2008-11-23. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
- ↑ Encyclopedia of Rugby Union Football, p92
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