The Club

General Information

The Club was founded in 1893. The use of the current ground, Rubislaw, was granted to the former pupils in 1914 and has provided the School and the FP Club with excellent facilities over the years. The present stand was erected in 1993 to mark the Club’s centenary year and plans for the further re-development of Rubislaw are now well under way. Phase I of the re-development, a floodlit all-weather playing facility, was completed in 2005 with the proposed Phase II development, a new pavilion and changing accommodation, due to commence in the autumn of 2007. We look forward to the future and the improved facilities that will be available to us upon the successful completion of the project. The amenities at Rubislaw are complemented by the Club Centre at 86 Queens Road, which is only a few minutes walk from the ground. The Centre has two bars, TV rooms, Gymnasium, Snooker, Table Tennis, Petanque and has a large garden and barbeque area. Membership of the Club Centre is open to all. The Club has produced a number of Scottish Internationalists throughout its 114-year existence. Dr Donny Innes and the late Dally Allardice were it’s most capped until Robbie Russell in recent times bagged 27 before retiring this year. The latest capped player is Johnny Beattie, now with the Glasgow Warriors. Our club has been further honoured in having provided five Presidents of the Scottish Rugby Union, the most recent being Charlie Ritchie in 1997/98. D.W.C. (Doug) Smith is particularly remembered for also being manager of the victorious 1971 Lions Tour to New Zealand and Australia.

Recent and Current Playing Information

In season 1996/97 when the Club was playing in National League Division 2 an ambitious 5 year plan was implemented to take the Club to the top level in Scottish Club Rugby. In successive years the Club gained promotion through the leagues and after 2 seasons in Premier League 2 we achieved our objective in gaining promotion to Premier League 1 in season 2000/01. We consistently finished in the top half of Premier 1 for the past 5 seasons but unfortunately last year we were relegated to Premier 2. The Club is currently re-building it’s coaching, playing and management structures and the aim is to return to Premier 1 at the earliest opportunity – this season is our target!

The Club runs two senior sides, both in National competitions, and through its Associations with other local clubs provides everyone who wishes to play with a game throughout the season.

We currently have 230 players under the age of 18 at the Club. We run a successful Junior Section with boys and girls registered at Mini level (Primary 4 to Primary 7 age groups) and a thriving Midgets section for those below the P4 age level. We also run Midi and Youth teams at S1, S2, U-15, U-16 and U-18 levels. Last season all our Mini, Midi and Youth teams enjoyed significant successes in their respective competitions with further additions made to our trophy cabinets.

We have an established Rugby Academy with specialist support services being provided for selected players to accelerate their development and which should hopefully provide us with the stars of tomorrow.

We are delighted to have secured the services of Mike O’Donovan for the forthcoming season as our Head Coach and he will be supported by Colin Philips (Club Captain) and Andrew Wilson (Vice-Captain). With senior rugby coaches Alan Mekie, Mark Borowski, Rob Currie and Alex Duncan, together with a host of coaches and managers from throughout the Junior Section they will certainly improve the quality of rugby at the Club.

One measure of progress at the Club is the continuing elevation of players to the upper ranks of Scottish rugby. Our congratulations go to Sean Crombie and Moray Low who last season joined Stuart Corsar, Andrew Wilson, Johnny Beattie, David Millard, Ben Prescott, Matthew Taylor and Robbie Russell as players who have all gone on from our Club to play in the professional game. Angus Dixon and Redha Guedroudj were both part of the Scotland U-19 squad for IRB tournament in Belfast and James Millar represented Scottish Universities.