Edinburgh Wanderers is a former rugby union club, founded in 1868. It was latterly a tenant of the Scottish Rugby Union, playing home fixtures at

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularly as Murrayfield) is a Rugby stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has a seating capacity of 67,144 making it the largest sta ...

for nearly 75 years. In 1997 it merged with

Murrayfield RFC Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often conside ...

to form Murrayfield Wanderers.

Formation

The rugby club was formed in 1868. The club was initially known as St. Andrew's Wanderers, as it was formed by St. Andrew's University graduates based in Edinburgh.

Early history

The club quickly became known as Edinburgh Wanderers - and the side established itself as one of the best in Scotland. In the world's first provincial match - between Glasgow District and Edinburgh District - in 1872, the side was already known as Edinburgh Wanderers and provided 3 players to the first Edinburgh District side:- A. Ross; J. Forsyth and A. R. Stewart The club would have been the ninth founding club of the Scottish Rugby Union had the club secretary made it to the inauguration meeting of the union in 1872. Instead it initially joined the English Rugby Union in that same year. However a year later as the Scottish Rugby Union grew, the Wanderers resigned from the English union to join the SRU. The Wanderers team of 1876-77 is noted as one of the best in its history. In 1937 Wanderers provided both captains,

Ross Logan William Ross Logan (24 November 1909 – 26 October 1993) was a Scottish international rugby union and cricket player.Bath, p105 Rugby Union career Amateur career He attended Merchiston Castle School,Bath, p41 where he captained the school ...

and

Idwal Rees John Idwal Rees (25 July 1910 – 31 August 1991) was a Welsh international rugby union centre who played club rugby for Swansea and Cambridge University. He was capped 14 times for Wales captaining the team on two occasions. Personal history Re ...

, in the Scotland v Wales fixture that year. This remains the only time in the history of rugby that opposing international captains were, at the same time, teammates at club level.

Renaming and admission of MRFC members

At a Special General Meeting in 1997 Wanderers changed their name for a second time to become Murrayfield Wanderers FC. This was to facilitate the merger of the

. The Club then invited the members of

to join the renamed organisation and this proposal was accepted at an SGM of MRFC shortly thereafter. For the subsequent history of Murrayfield Wanderers see:

Honours

* Scottish Division 2 winners: 1990. * Scottish Division 3 winners: 1984. * Hawick Sevens ** Champions (1): 1946 (jointly fielded team with

Edinburgh Academicals The Edinburgh Academical Football Club, also known as Edinburgh Accies, is a rugby union club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The club is currently a member of the Scottish Premiership, the top tier of Scottish club rugby. Its home ground is Raeburn Pl ...

) * Melrose Sevens ** Champions (1): 1973 *

Peebles Sevens Peebles Sevens is an annual rugby sevens event held by Peebles RFC, in Peebles, Scotland. This was one of a group of Sevens tournaments instated after the First World War extending the original Borders Spring Circuit. The Peebles Sevens began i ...

** Champions (1): 1947 (jointly fielded team with

) * Edinburgh Charity Sevens ** Champions (5 outright): 1942 & 1945 (both years a jointly fielded team with

), 1953, 1966, 1967, 1973, 1974 * Royal HSFP Sevens ** Champions (2): 1971, 1988 * Portobello Sevens ** Champions (1): 1982 * Moray Sevens ** Champions (1): 1968 * Kirkcaldy Sevens ** Champions (1): 1970 * Howe of Fife Sevens ** Champions (4): 1970, 1973, 1988, 1989 * Stirling Sevens ** Champions (1): 1984 * Greenock Sevens ** Champions (6): 1960, 1961, 1962, 1973, 1978, 1986 * Ardrossan Sevens ** Champions (1): 1965 * Edinburgh Northern Sevens ** Champions (1): 1990, 1992, 1997

Notable former players

British and Irish Lions

The following former Edinburgh Wanderers players have represented the British and Irish Lions.

Scotland internationalists

The following former Edinburgh Wanderers players have represented Scotland at full international level.

Notable non-Scottish players

The following is a list of notable non-Scottish international representative former Edinburgh Wanderers players:

Edinburgh District players

The following former Edinburgh Wanderers players have represented Edinburgh District at provincial level.

Professional players

Professionalism began in rugby union in 1995 - and in Scotland it came a year later in 1996. These players went on from the Wanderers to professional teams: *

Murray Craig Murray Craig is a Scottish former rugby union player. He played professionally for Glasgow Warriors and at amateur level for Currie normally playing at the Centre position. Craig learnt his rugby at Haddington then played for Edinburgh Wandere ...

Notable also outside of rugby

The following is a list of notable former Edinburgh Wanderers players who have achieved notability in fields outwith rugby: * Roy Williamson - Songwriter and folk musician of The Corries

References

{{Rugby union in Edinburgh Rugby union in Edinburgh 1868 establishments in Scotland Rugby clubs established in 1868 Scottish rugby union teams Defunct Scottish rugby union clubs