Scottish League Championship

Last updated
Scottish League Championship
Scottish rugby textlogo.svg
Organising body SRU
Founded1973;50 years ago (1973)
Region Scotland
Number of teams10
Domestic cup(s) Scottish Cup
Current champions Hawick (2022–23)
Most successful club(s)Hawick (12 titles)
Website fixtures.scottishrugby.org
Soccerball current event.svg 2023–24 Scottish League Championship

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. [1]

Contents

The new six division championship replaced the haphazard Scottish Unofficial Championship that had been in operation until that time. The new top division is the Scottish Premiership.

Traditionally the championship has been dominated by teams from the Borders region, the sport's hotbed of popularity in Scotland. This is illustrated by the most successful clubs in the championships history, with Hawick RFC possessing 13 titles and Melrose RFC currently holding eight titles.

History

For the history of the League championship before the 1973–74 season see:

The Scottish Rugby Union created a formal six division championship from the 1973–74 season, the first within any home nations country. The union's full member clubs were allocated into the new divisions, an arrangement that 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 in an attempt to attract the better players. The new open clubs retained their FP or Academical names and continued to play on school owned grounds whilst those who persisted with their founding membership rules declined or disappeared altogether. The Championship's impact on the national team was quickly apparent; with fewer players being selected from English clubs to represent Scotland. For the first time since the First World War, the domestic game was strong enough to produce an adequate number of players of genuine international class.

The early decades of Championship rugby were dominated by Hawick who were crowned champions for 10 of the first 14 seasons. [2] Heriot’s FP became the first 'Former Pupil' and 'City' club to win the Championship in 1979, they had already attracted "outsiders"; their leading try-scorer was Bill Gammell, a Fettesian already capped by the Scotland national rugby union team while playing for Edinburgh Wanderers. The first twenty years of Championship rugby saw large crowds and continued success, this period is largely considered the peak of domestic rugby union within Scotland to date. The early dominance of clubs in the Scottish Borders has faded in recent years with the rise of clubs from the Central Belt; especially Glasgow Hawks and Ayr RFC.

During the Championships forty-year history the Scottish Rugby Union and its member clubs have re-organised the competition several times, usually revolving around the number of participants in certain divisions. A complementary knock-out cup competition was introduced from 1995 with Border clubs again dominating the competition, starting with Hawick defeating Watsonians in the inaugural final.

Championship and Cup winners

Ed.SeasonChampionship WinnersCup Winners
1
1973–74 Hawick (1)
2
1974–75Hawick (2)
3
1975–76Hawick (3)
4
1976–77Hawick (4)
5
1977–78Hawick (5)
6
1978–79 Heriot's (1)
7
1979–80 Gala (1)
8
1980–81Gala (2)
9
1981–82Hawick (6)
10
1982–83Gala (3)
11
1983–84Hawick (7)
12
1984–85Hawick (8)
13
1985–86Hawick (9)
14
1986–87Hawick (10)
15
1987–88 Kelso (1)
16
1988–89Kelso ()
17
1989–90 Melrose (1)
18
1990–91 Boroughmuir (1)
19
1991–92Melrose (2)
20
1992–93Melrose (3)
21
1993–94Melrose (4)
22
1994–95 Stirling County
23
1995–96Melrose (5) Hawick
24
1996–97Melrose (6) Melrose
25
1997–98 Watsonians Glasgow Hawks
26
1998–99Heriot's (2) Gala
27
1999–00Heriot's (3) Boroughmuir
28
2000–01Hawick (11)Boroughmuir
29
2001–02Hawick (12)Hawick
30
2002–03Boroughmuir (2) Heriot's
31
2003–04 Glasgow Hawks (1)Glasgow Hawks
32
2004–05Glasgow Hawks (2)Boroughmuir
33
2005–06Glasgow Hawks (3) Watsonians
34
2006–07 Currie (1)Glasgow Hawks
35
2007–08Boroughmuir (3)Melrose
36
2008–09 Ayr (1)Heriot's
37
2009–10Currie (2) Ayr
38
2010–11Melrose (7)Ayr
39
 2011–12 Melrose (8)Gala
40
 2012–13 Ayr (2)Ayr
41
 2013–14 Melrose (9)Heriot's
42
2014–15Heriot's (4)Boroughmuir
43
2015–16Heriot's (5)Heriot's
44
2016–17Ayr (3)Melrose
45
2017–18Melrose (10)Melrose
46
2018–19Ayr (4)Ayr
–
2019–20(cancelled)(cancelled)
–
2020–21(cancelled)(cancelled)
47
2021–22Marr(cancelled)
48
 2022–23 Hawick (13)Hawick

Championship titles by club

RankClubTitles
1
Hawick
13
2
Melrose
10
3
Heriot's
5
4
Ayr
3
Boroughmuir
3
Gala
3
Glasgow Hawks
3
5
Currie
2
Kelso
2
6
Stirling County
1
Watsonians
1

Scottish Cup titles by club

RankClubTitles
1
Ayr
4
Boroughmuir
4
Heriot's
4
Melrose
4
2
Glasgow Hawks
3
3
Gala
2
Hawick
2
4
Watsonians
1

Leagues not part of the Scottish League Championship

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.

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References

  1. ↑ "Rugby | Sports Heritage Scotland". sportsheritagescotland.co.uk.
  2. ↑ Weir, Stewart (August 15, 2019). 100 Great Scottish Rugby Moments. Black & White Publishing Ltd. ISBN   9781785302855 – via Google Books.
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