The Edinburgh Diamond Devils are a baseball club that was formed in Edinburgh, Scotland. The club has 3 senior teams, the Diamond Devils, Cannons, and Giants. All 3 teams train together and play their home games at Warriston Playing Fields near the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The club refers to the field as Bobby Thomson Field in honour of the former major leaguer who was born in Scotland.
The club also has a little league baseball programme which shares the same field. All teams are open to players of all abilities.
The Diamond Devils are the largest baseball club in Scotland with three adult teams and two junior teams.
The 3 senior teams all play in the Scotland National League. Since 2009 an Edinburgh team has won the league title each year until 2016. The reigning league champions are the Diamond Devils who have won the league title 4 consecutive seasons. Prior to this streak the Cannons won 3 consecutive league titles.
History
Baseball has been played in the Edinburgh area since the 1950s when it was played at United States Air Force bases at Kirknewton, then in Midlothian, and East Fortune in East Lothian, both just a few miles from the city. The Edinburgh Diamond Devils baseball club was formed in 1986 as the Edinburgh Royals. As one of the teams involved in the inaugural Scottish League, the Devils have enjoyed a long and rich history. League success came in 1991, two years after the 'Royals' became the 'Reivers' with the team claiming its first Scottish Championship. 1992 saw the team repeat as national champions, becoming the first team to do so in league history and saw the start of the club's first youth team, the Blue Jays.
1993 and 1994 were barren years for the team as Glasgow and Dundee emerged as national powers, however 1995 saw a significant change in team fortunes. Long-time General Manager Donald Brotchie retired from baseball and junior team head coach Nick Clark assumed the mantle of responsibility. A superb Reivers team was assembled which won the national title with an 11–1 record for the first time in three years. The team also won the Scottish Cup tournament. Double glory was secured when the Blue Jays won the first ever Scottish Junior League title with a 10–0 record. 1995 will forever be known as the year the organisation turned the corner and emerged as one of the biggest and best baseball clubs in Britain.
1996 saw the Reivers relinquish their title after a 6–6 season but 1997 and 1998 saw the team return to power with a back-to-back 11–1 seasons and another two titles.
In 1999, as a result of the creation of a new Edinburgh rugby team called the Reivers, the club changed to the Edinburgh Diamond Devils and left the Scottish League to join the British Baseball League – Division 1. This was a first for a Scottish team. Hard work paid off with a successful first foray into this league with the Devils gaining promotion to the top-flight of British baseball, the BBF Premier Division. In addition, the team became a major supporter of the Scotland National Team and 15 Devils were selected for an international match with England staged at Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh. Although defeated 11–13, Team Scotland enjoyed a tremendous occasion with almost 1,000 fans turning out to see the game. 1999 also saw the expansion of the team's youth programme to incorporate a four-team youth league within the city and a school development scheme called 'Pitch, Hit and Run' which provides baseball for children in 17 schools across the city.
2000 saw the Devils endure a tough first season of Premier League baseball but it ended with a glorious Team Scotland victory over England by a score of 18–5 in the annual international. Perhaps the most exciting development was the team's qualification for the June 2001 C.E.B. (Confederation of European Baseball) Cup of Cups tournament in Prague, the first time ever that a Scottish team has entered a European competition. This will be the most significant boost for Scottish baseball in its history... something that the Edinburgh Diamond Devils baseball organisation will take pride in doing.
In 2007 the Diamond Devils won the Scottish National League with one of the best records in the history of the league, 15–1.
Alternate Logo
In 2010 the Diamond Devils split into two teams, the second being the Edinburgh Cannons, which went on to win the Scottish National League in their inaugural season. The team also moved to a new field in the centre of Edinburgh, near the Botanical Gardens. The two teams combined to make the Diamond Devils' first trip abroad to Europe in four years. They travelled to Norway and defeated the Kristiansand Suns 12–2 and Stavanger 17–3.
In 2011 interest increased again with the Edinburgh Giants being added to the league. The Cannons won the league for the second year in a row. The second North Sea Cup was played in Edinburgh against the Kristiansand Suns. The Devils and Cannons both won with the Giants losing narrowly to the Suns on the final day.
In 2012 the Cannons won the league title for the 3rd straight year.
In 2013 the Diamond Devils won the league title for the first time since 2009 with a 13–2 record. This season marked the start of a dominating run the Diamond Devils as they went on to win the league title in 2014, 2015, and 2016. The Diamond Devils are the only team to win four consecutive titles in the current league. The 2016 team finished with a record of 13–3, which marks the highest number of losses in a season for the Diamond Devils since 2012.
The Edinburgh teams all combined together to form a Scotland team for the annual Belfast baseball tournament in 2015 and 2016. In the 2015 tournament the combined team finished in 3rd place, which was the highest finish for a Scottish baseball team at a tournament abroad for more than 20 years.
On 22 August 2021, the Edinburgh Diamond Devils defeated the Glasgow Galaxy to win the 2021 Scottish National League ending the Glasgow Galaxy's 3 year league winning streak that took place from 2017 to 2019. The 2021 team finished the season with a record of 10-1.
The Diamond Devils are currently the team with the most Scottish National League titles at 7.
On 5 September 2021, the Edinburgh Diamond Devils became the first team to win the inaugural Scottish National Developmental A League.
On 26 September 2021, the Edinburgh Diamond Devils defeated the Edinburgh Cannons in the final of the 2021 Caledonia Cup to become the first team in Baseball Scotland history to win the league title, the developmental A league title and the Caledonia Cup in one year.
The Scottish Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Now marketed as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league system, known as the Scottish League Championship, and the Scottish National teams. The SRU is headed by the President and Chairman, with Mark Dodson acting as the Chief Executive Officer. Dee Bradbury became the first female president of a Tier 1 rugby nation upon her appointment on 4 August 2018.
The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in South Africa, and the BKT United Rugby Championship in the competition's other territories, the split branding mirroring the format previously adopted in Super Rugby. The Championship represents the highest level of domestic club or franchise rugby in each of its constituent countries.
Border Reivers, originally known as "Scottish Borders Rugby", and also known as The Borders, were one of four professional rugby union teams in Scotland, alongside Edinburgh, Caledonia Reds and Glasgow Warriors.
Edinburgh Rugby is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh plays the majority of its home games at Edinburgh Rugby Stadium.
Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became the first Scottish team to win a major trophy in rugby union's professional era. In 2023-24 they became the first Scottish side to win the United Rugby Championship in its current form. The side is known for its fast, dynamic and attacking style of play, using offloads and quick rucks. Defensively the club prides itself on its 'Fortress Scotstoun' where the club play at home.
Gregor Peter John Townsend is a Scottish professional rugby union coach and former player who has been coaching the Scotland national team since 2017.
Rugby union in Scotland is a popular team sport. Scotland's national side today competes in the annual Six Nations Championship and the Rugby World Cup. The first ever international rugby match was played on 27 March 1871, at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh, when Scotland defeated England in front of 4,000 people. Professional clubs compete in the United Rugby Championship, European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup, while the Scottish League Championship exists for over 200 amateur and semi-professional clubs, as does a knock-out competition, the Scottish Cup. The governing body, the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU), is one of the ten first-tier member nations of World Rugby.
Sport plays a central role in Scottish culture. The temperate, oceanic climate has played a key part in the evolution of sport in Scotland, with all-weather sports like association football and golf dominating the national sporting consciousness. However, many other sports are played in the country, with popularity varying between sports and between regions.
Australian rules football has been played on an organised basis in Wales since 2007, with the league and representative teams run and managed by the Welsh Australian Rules Football League who is the controlling body of the sport in the country. All six senior teams in the WARFL are named after clubs in the South Australian National Football League. Prior to 2007 some clubs played in the BARFL but the rising popularity of Australian Football demanded the creation of a Welsh league.
Rugby union in Scotland in its modern form has existed since the mid-19th century. Scotland has one of the oldest rugby union traditions and has introduced various innovations including rugby sevens.
The Scottish National League is an amateur men's rugby league competition and the first tier of domestic rugby league in Scotland. The league formed in 1997 under the name The Scottish Conference three years after the formalisation of the sport in Scotland with the founding of Scotland Rugby League.
Cameron George Mather is a rugby union footballer who plays in the back row. He won eleven caps for Scotland between 1999 and 2004.
The Celtic Cup was a rugby union cup competition featuring regional and provincial teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales that ran for two seasons between 2003 and 2005. The first edition of the competition was won by Ulster and the second by Munster, both from Ireland. After the Welsh teams agreed to join the English Premiership clubs to form the Anglo-Welsh Cup for the 2005–06 season, the Celtic Cup was discontinued. A separate competition under the same name was inaugurated in 2018 for Welsh and Irish development sides.
The 1872 Cup – also known as the 1872 Challenge Cup – is a men's rugby union tournament contested every year between the two Scottish professional clubs, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby.
The Scottish Inter-District Championship is a rugby union competition between regional sides in Scotland. Established in 1953, the tournament went through several formats.
The 1998–99 season is the third in the history of the Glasgow Warriors as a professional side. During this season the young professional side competed as Glasgow Caledonians.
The Welsh–Scottish League was a rugby union league in Scotland and Wales jointly implemented by the Scottish Rugby Union and the Welsh Rugby Union from the 1999–2000 season onwards. It was a precursor to the Celtic League and lasted three seasons, being disbanded after the Celtic League was set up.
Scotland's District rugby union sides are provincial representative teams, that in the amateur era capped the best amateur players from their area's club sides to play inter-district matches and matches against touring sides. These districts still survive at amateur level playing in an amateur Inter-District Championship and age-grade. The professional teams Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby remain provincial sides based on the traditional districts.
The Caledonia Gladiators are a professional basketball club based in East Kilbride, Scotland. The Gladiators compete as the sole Scottish-based team in the British Basketball League, the top tier of domestic basketball in the United Kingdom.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
