The Highland Alliance League, is a small rugby union competition participated in by clubs (including some 2nd XVs) in the far north of Scotland. Together with the Grampian Alliance League, it is one of the few remaining leagues not part of the Scottish rugby union system, and therefore neither it nor its clubs are part of the Scottish League Championship structure.
Rugby union, commonly known in most of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts at each end.
The Grampian Alliance League was a small rugby union competition participated in by clubs in the Grampian region. Together with the Highland Alliance League, it was one of the few remaining leagues not part of the Scottish rugby union system, and therefore neither it nor its clubs were part of the Scottish League Championship structure.
Domestic club rugby union within Scotland remains a predominantly amateur sport; however, semi-professional and professional outfits have been created in recent decades to participate in cross-border competitions.
It was not contested during 2006-2007, although Stornoway RFC did participate in the Brin Cup, a 2nd XV tournament.
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.
The Scottish Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. It is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873, as the Scottish Football Union. The SRU oversees the national league system, known as the Scottish League Championship. The SRU is headed by the President and Chairman, with Mark Dodson acting as the Chief Executive Officer. Bradbury became the first female president of a Tier 1 rugby nation upon her appointment on the 4th August 2018.
Rugby league is a comparatively minor sport in Scotland, dwarfed by the popularity of association football, and to a lesser extent sports such as rugby union, curling, ice hockey and shinty. With the introduction of rugby league into a small number schools and the formation of youth rugby league in Scotland it has seen juniors being signed to Super League clubs.
Watsonian Football Club is a rugby union club based in Edinburgh and part of the Scottish Rugby Union. The club is connected with George Watson's College as a club for former pupils, but now accepts players who did not attend the school. It is one of a small number of rugby union clubs entitled to call itself a 'football club', rather than a 'rugby football club'.
Hawick Rugby Football Club is an amateur rugby union side, currently playing in the Scottish Premiership and Border League. The club was founded in 1873 and are based at Mansfield Park at Hawick in the Scottish Borders.
Gala Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders. Founded in 1875, it plays its home games at Netherdale. The team currently competes in Scottish National League Division One, the second tier of Scottish club rugby, and the Border League.
The Scottish Premiership is the highest level club division in Scotland's national rugby union league divisions, and therefore part of the Scottish League Championship.
Kelso Rugby Football Club are a rugby union team founded in 1876. They play their home games at Poynder Park, Kelso in the Scottish Borders.
RHC Cougars is a rugby union side based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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 Pro14, 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.
The Scottish League Championship is the domestic rugby union league system within Scotland. Operated by the Scottish Rugby Union, the championship was founded in 1973 as the first formalised national league system within any home nations country. The new six division championship replaced the haphazard "unofficial championship" system that had been in operation until that time. The top division is the Scottish Premiership.
The Scottish Premiership is an amateur league competition for Scottish rugby union clubs.
First held in 1973, it is the top division of the Scottish League Championship. The current champions are Melrose, while the most successful club is Hawick, who have won the competition twelve times.
The Scottish Regional Leagues are the lowest levels of the Scottish rugby union system. They consist of three regions:
University rugby union in Scotland is predominantly organised through BUCS, the British Universities Sports Association. Unlike in England and Wales, where a pyramid system of 4 regions and a Premier above exists, the Scottish system is separate. However, Scottish universities do receive places in the end of season knock-out tournaments which decide overall British champions. However, due to the small size of the divisions, some Scottish universities organise teams to play in regional or national leagues as part of the general Scottish league system for clubs, the Scottish League Championship. In addition, some universities organise University Saturday Leagues for their 2nd XV, or they organise informal friendly matches.
The following universities have teams playing elsewhere in Scottish Rugby:
There are three organisations operating 2nd XV Leagues in Scotland. These are :
The Guatemala national rugby union team represents Guatemala in rugby union.
The Scottish Championship Leagues formed the third tier in the Scottish rugby union system for amateur rugby union clubs in Scotland between 2012 and 2014.
Cumbria 2 is a competitive rugby union league at tier 8 of the English rugby union system run by the English Rugby Football Union for club sides based in Cumbria. Teams are promoted to Cumbria 1 and as it is the lowest ranked RFU league in the county there is no relegation. Each season a team from Cumbria 2 is picked to take part in the RFU Senior Vase - a national competition for clubs at level 8.
