Edinburgh Academical Football Club

Edinburgh Academicals
Full name The Edinburgh Academical Football Club
Union Scottish Rugby Union
Nickname(s) Accies, Acads
Founded 1857 (1857)
Location Edinburgh, Scotland
Region Edinburgh
Ground(s) Raeburn Place, Stockbridge, Edinburgh (Capacity: 5,000)
President Dave McIvor
Coach(es) Derek O'Riordan
Captain(s) Jamie Sole
League(s) Scottish National League Division One
2016-17 3rd
Team kit
Official website
www.edinburghaccies.com

The Edinburgh Academical Football Club, also known as Edinburgh Accies or Edinburgh Acads, is a rugby union football club in Edinburgh, Scotland. At present it plays in the Scottish BT National 1 and plays their home games at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh. They are coached by Derek O'Riordan and Iain Berthinussen.

The club regularly fields four teams with the addition of the BATS initiative which they run along with Edinburgh BATs Rugby (a Community Amateur Sports Club), Broughton RFC and Trinity Accies RFC.

Early history

The team for the 1878–79 season.

The club was formed in 1857 and is the oldest rugby club in Scotland,[1] the second oldest club in continuous existence in the world behind Dublin University Football Club (founded 1854). They are one of the founding members of the Scottish Rugby Union.

In the 1873–74 season, they played ten matches, and won all of them.[2]

Oldest rugby match

The Academicals are also responsible for the oldest organised rugby match, between The Edinburgh Academy (the school from which the club was formed) and Merchiston Castle School which was first played in 1859.[2]

Ground

Raeburn Place.

The Accies' home ground, Raeburn Place is also significant as the location of the first ever rugby international.[2] Seven players of the original Scotland side were Academicals, including the captain, FJ Moncrieff.[2]

Recent history

In season 2007–08, the Club's 1st XV finished second in the Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership Division 2, thereby securing promotion to the Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership Division 1. That same season they experienced a successful Scottish Cup run, reaching the final with victories over Premiership 1 teams Currie, Hawick and Boroughmuir. The team lost the final 24–13 to the Glasgow Hawks.

In season 2009–10 the Club's 1st XV was relegated to Scottish Premier Division 2 after they lost to Heriot's FP in the last game of the season and on the same day Watsonian's beat Melrose at The Greenyards. The Club's 2nd XV finished 3rd in the Scottish Reserve League National 1, the 'Blues' (3rd XV) finished 2nd in the Scottish Reserve League East 1, the 'Whites' (4th XV) finished 2nd in the Scottish Reserve League East 2 and the U20's finished the season unbeaten and were crowned champions of the Student & U20's Development League (Edinburgh).

In season 2010–11 the club were Premier 2 League champions and returned to the top level of Scottish club rugby, the Premier 1 League, for the 2011–12 season. They remained in the Scottish Premiership after the restructure of the Scottish league system.

Notable players

Cross-Sporting internationalists

Cricket

The following former Edinburgh Academical players have represented both the Scotland national rugby union team and the Scotland national cricket team.[3]

Scotland Rugby League internationalists

The following (not previously listed above) former Edinburgh Academical players have represented Scotland at full international level.

British and Irish Lions

The following (not previously listed above) former Edinburgh Academical players have represented the British and Irish Lions.

Scotland internationalists

The following (not previously listed above) former Edinburgh Academical players have represented Scotland at full international level in rugby union.

Other internationalists

The following former Edinburgh Academical players have represented their nations at full international level.

References

  1. ↑ Edinburgh Accies Club History, http://www.edinburghaccies.com/club_history.html
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bath, p86
  3. ↑ Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ISBN 1-905326-24-6), pp 104, 105; note list shows initials not full names
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