Madras College Former Pupils 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 ...

side based in

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. They play in Caledonia Regional League Division 2. They play at Station Park, St Andrews and field two men's fifteens each weekend, as well as a women's team (AKA The Saints). The club has close ties with

Madras College Madras College, often referred to as Madras, is a Scottish comprehensive secondary school located in St Andrews, Fife. It educates over 1,400 pupils aged between 11 and 18 and was founded in 1833 by the Rev. Dr Andrew Bell. History Madras ...

, a secondary school in St Andrews. Although not all players are former pupils of the school, many are and sixth year pupils often train and play with the club during holidays and weeks in which school rugby is not on. The good facilities of the rugby club and St Andrews in general attract many bigger teams such as the Scottish national side and

Heriot's Rugby Club Heriot's Rugby Club, also known as Heriot's FP, is one of Scotland's senior rugby football clubs in the Scottish Rugby Union, whose Men's 1st XV play in the FOSROC . The women play in The club's home is in the Goldenacre area in Edinburgh.Bath ...

to train there during pre-season.

History

has been instrumental in the development of rugby in Scotland. Rugby was introduced to

St Andrews University (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

in 1858 as a means of interesting the Scottish gentry away from the great English universities and to study in Scotland. Scotland's oldest club is

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 ...

, established in 1857, which shows that rugby in St Andrews was not far behind. In 1871, JH Oatts, a former pupil of Madras College, amongst colleagues, issued an invite to the English to come to Edinburgh and play the first international fixture of the 'carrying game' on 27 March . This invite came after a 10-year run of defeats at football at the hands of the English. 2 players from St Andrews featured in this 20-a-side game, which the Scots won. Representatives from the four great clubs,

Glasgow Academicals The Glasgow Academical Football Club is the third oldest rugby football club in Scotland. The club was also a founder member of the Scottish Football Union (the future SRU) in 1873. History Glasgow Hawks In 1997 the decision was made to ...

Edinburgh Academical Football Club 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 ...

, West of Scotland and

University of St Andrews RFC The University of St Andrews Rugby Football Club is an affiliated member of the University of St Andrews Athletic Union in Fife, Scotland. The club runs four men's and two women's teams, which play in the university leagues. History It was foun ...

, then formed the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

in 1873, and the game was reduced to 15-a-side soon after. St Andrews built up a strong reputation for its backs-play, which was very different from the typical forwards-led style of the day. Madras play the St. Andrews University side in a derby match annually for the Drummond Cup.

Notable players

Scotland

The following former Madras College F.P. players have represented

at international level.

North and Midlands

The following former Madras College F.P. players have represented

North and Midlands North and Midlands - and now known as Caledonia - is a select provincial amateur rugby union team that draws its players mainly from north of Scotland, roughly corresponding from around Stirling northwards. Historically the North and Midlands te ...

at provincial level.

North of Scotland

The following former Madras College F.P. players have represented

North of Scotland The Highlands and Islands is an area of Scotland broadly covering the Scottish Highlands, plus Orkney, Shetland and Outer Hebrides (Western Isles). The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 ...

at provincial level.

Glasgow Warriors

The following former Madras College F.P. players have represented

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 ...

at professional level.

Honours

* Waid Academy F.P. Sevens ** Champions: 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1980, 1988, 1990 * Kirkcaldy Sevens ** Champions: 1961

References

Rugby union teams in Scotland St Andrews Rugby union in Fife {{scotland-rugbyunion-team-stub