Glasgow Southern RFC was a former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School 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 it ...

team. It was based in

Giffnock Giffnock (; sco, Giffnock; gd, Giofnag, ) is a town and the administrative centre of East Renfrewshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies east of Barrhead, east-southeast of Paisley and northwest of East Kilbride, at the south ...

East Renfrewshire East Renfrewshire ( sco, Aest Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. Until 1975, it formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas ...

. Previously known as Clarkston RFC the Club altered its name to Glasgow Southern RFC in an AGM of May 1995. In 2002, the club merged with a Glasgow club Hutchesons Aloysians to form

Glasgow Hutchesons Aloysians RFC Glasgow Hutchesons Aloysians Rugby Football Club, often abbreviated to GHA and colloquially referred to as ''G-HA!!'' , is a rugby union club based in the Giffnock area of East Renfrewshire, Scotland. The club plays its home matches at Braidho ...

History

Clarkston RFC changed its name to Glasgow Southern in 1995. The club had successfully persuaded many Hutchesons Aloysians players and officials to join the Giffnock club; the change of name was a result of that changing character and an impetus for HA to merge with the new club. However HA refused the merger - and the Giffnock club, now laden with Hutchesons Aloysians players, continued with the new name and as a new club. Although Southern was in existence for a mere seven years, the timespan of the club bridged the amateur and professional period of

. Rugby Union professionalism in Scotland began in 1996 and the Glasgow Southern club became well placed as a development club to the professional

Glasgow Warriors 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 t ...

side. The first batch of Glasgow Thistles picked in 1997–98, a young development side sent to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

by Glasgow District Union, contained Stuart Bryce, Iain Monaghan, Euan Murray and Jan Vos; all players from Southern. Notably Murray became a Scotland internationalist and played for the British and Irish Lions; and Iain Monaghan became a development coach at Glasgow Warriors. A brief return for amateur inter-district rugby saw Glasgow District play Scotland U21 in December 2001. Included in the Glasgow district side were Jan Vos and Ross Armour from Southern (as well as Stuart Bryce who had then joined

Dalziel Dalziel, Dalzell or Dalyell ( ) is a Scottish surname. Pronunciation The unintuitive spelling of the name is due to it being an anglicisation of Scottish Gaelic ''Dail-gheal'', meaning bright dale. The sound now spelled with a or is historica ...

). An agreement reached with a development organisation saw the original Clarkston RFC's 1970 Clubhouse demolished to make way for a health club. A new, state of the art, Clubhouse was formally opened by S.R.U. President Ronnie Young at Braidholm in January 2002.

Merger

The Glasgow Southern name was only to survive for seven years before the merger with Hutchesons Aloysians was again mooted. Glasgow Southern and Hutchesons Aloysians were in the same division; HA at the top, Southern sitting sixth but with better facilities. This time the model of Glasgow Hawks - a successful merged side in the north-west of Glasgow - became an impetus for the south side teams to follow. Glasgow Southern and Hutchesons Aloysians merged in May 2002 to form Glasgow Hutchesons Aloysians Rugby Football Club.

Notable former players

Over several years a variety of players graduated through the Club participation from both youth and senior level to achieve representative status.

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
internationalists

* Gordon McIlwham * Euan Murray

Glasgow Warriors 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 t ...
players

* Gordon McIlwham * Erin Cossey * Richard McKnight * Gavin Blackburn * Euan Murray *

James Eddie James Eddie (born 3 June 1985) is a Scottish former professional Rugby union player. He played as a flanker or lock for Glasgow Warriors in the Guinness PRO12. Eddie has represented both Scotland A and Scotland Sevens The Scotland Sev ...

Glasgow District players

* Jan Vos * Ross Armour * Stuart Bryce

Honours

Women

* Mull Sevens ** Champions: 1998

References

{{Rugby union in East Renfrewshire 2002 disestablishments in Scotland Rugby union in East Renfrewshire Scottish rugby union teams Defunct Scottish rugby union clubs Giffnock Rugby union clubs disestablished in 2002 1995 establishments in Scotland Rugby clubs established in 1995