Haddington Rugby Football Club is a

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 its m ...

team based in

Haddington, East Lothian The Royal Burgh of Haddington ( sco, Haidintoun, gd, Baile Adainn) is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the main administrative, cultural and geographical centre for East Lothian. It lies about east of Edinburgh. The name Haddington is ...

History

Founded in 1911, the team plays its home games at Neilson Park. Haddington player

Jock Wemyss Andrew "Jock" Wemyss (pronounced "Weemz") (22 May 1893, Galashiels – 21 January 1974, Edinburgh) was a Scottish rugby union player, who played at prop. Wemyss lost one of his eyes in World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 Novembe ...

founded the Co-optimists; following a Barbarians inspired match in Haddington in 1924. They compete in BT National League Division 3, the 3rd tier of Scottish club rugby.

Player development

The minis section was set up almost 50 years ago by Bill Hamilton. The minis and the School of Rugby with Knox Academy are key to the ongoing success serving as nursery for players. Haddington currently have over 100 kids in each; and the club are delighted that they recently managed to play a couple of girls matches as they seek to develop a woman's team. There is a tradition of families serving the Club, with many sets of brothers, fathers sons and grandsons turning out.

World record

On 12 August 2018, the club set a world record of 467 for the most participants in a touch/mini/tag game of rugby, ratified by

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

. In the game, players from age 5 to 73 turned out, including 18 from the Snodgrass Family, covering three generations a former president and two former captains.

Haddington Sevens

The club ran the Haddington Sevens tournament. Dating from 1926, the club claims it is the 10th oldest surviving in the world.

Notable players

Five of the club's players have represented Scotland at full international level:

, RJC Ronnie Glasgow, Derek White,

Grant McKelvey Grant McKelvey (born 28 December 1968) is a senior manager at the Scottish Rugby Union who has also worked as a rugby union coach. He was previously a Scotland international rugby union player. Early life McKelvey was born on 28 December 1968 in ...

and Cammy Murray. Wemyss at 17 was one of the five founding members. The Internationalists were honoured in a lunch in 2017, with tributes paid amongst others by Finlay Calder, Dave Rollo, Craig Chalmers, Barry Stewart and, for Wemyss the President of the Barbarians Mickey Steele Bodger. White toured with the 1989 Lions and Glasgow. He played for the World XV in 1964.

Honours

Men

* Haddington Sevens ** Champions (8): 1933, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1956, 1961, 1969, 1970 *

Scottish National League Division Two The Scottish National League Division Two (known as Tennent's National League Division 2 for sponsorship reasons) is the third tier of the Scottish League Championship for amateur rugby union clubs in Scotland. The division was established in it ...

** Champions (1): 2006-07 *

Glasgow City Sevens Glasgow City Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament held by Cartha Queens Park, in Dumbreck in the south side of Glasgow. The tournament was previously known as the Cartha Sevens and the Cartha Queens Park Sevens. History The first rugb ...

** Champions (4): 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958 *

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 (2): 1977, 1982 *

Walkerburn Sevens Walkerburn Sevens is an annual rugby sevens event held by Walkerburn RFC, in Walkerburn, Scotland. The Walkerburn Sevens was the sixth of the Border Sevens tournaments to be instated, in 1911, after the bigger events of the Border Sevens sprin ...

** Champions (6): 1976, 1978, 1980, 2004, 2006, 2017, 2023 * Musselburgh Sevens ** Champions (8): 1971, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1991 * Royal HSFP Sevens ** Champions (1): 1985 * Preston Lodge Sevens ** Champions (1): 1987 * Penicuik Sevens ** Champions (2): 1969, 1985 * Edinburgh District Sevens ** Champions (1): 1951 * North Berwick Sevens ** Champions (4): 1970, 1971, 1977, 2014

Women

* Lismore Sevens ** Champions (1): 1995

References

Rugby union in East Lothian Rugby union teams in Scotland Haddington, East Lothian {{Scotland-rugbyunion-team-stub