Musselburgh 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 it ...
club based in
Musselburgh,
East Lothian,
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 ...
. The team play their home games at Stoneyhill and currently compete in the , the top tier of Scottish club rugby.
Musselburgh RFC first applied to join the Edinburgh & District League in 1921 but it is believed that the town had a team for at least 20 years before that.
History
The club was formed in 1921 as a section of the Musselburgh Sports Club. They initially played their games at Shirehaugh which is now a practice green at The Musselburgh Golf Club in Monktonhall. During the 1930s The Musselburgh Sports Club changed its name to become Musselburgh Rugby Football Club in its entirety.
During 1951, the club moved from its home at Shirehaugh to a new pitch at Stoneyhill where the club currently resides. A clubhouse was built on the site and opened in 1971, with changing rooms added in 1984 and a gym added in 2021.
After the creation of the new leagues in Scotland the club were placed in the third division, ultimately falling to fifth division in 1975. However they bounced back and continued to climb up the leagues where they were promoted to the Premiership for the first time in 1987, lasting one season before being relegated.
The club continued to stay around the second and third tiers before a sharp fall to the regional leagues in the late 2000s. The team slowly climbed their way back up to the National leagues before winning National 2 in 2015. With the formation of the Super6 in 2018, the top six teams from National 1 had the chance to be promoted to the Premiership to join the remaining four teams. Musselburgh claimed a bonus point on the final day of the season to win the final spot.
Musselburgh Sevens
The club runs the Musselburgh Sevens tournament.
Honours
*
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 (2): 1984–85, 2014–15
*Musselburgh Sevens
** Champions: 1949, 1950, 1951, 1957, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019
*Highland Sevens
**Champions: 1956, 1958, 1963, 1978, 1979
* Preston Lodge Sevens
** Champions: 1992, 1993
* Glasgow University Sevens
** Champions: 1957
* Kelso Harlequins Sevens
** Champions: 1990
* Haddington Sevens
** Champions: 1993, 1995
* North Berwick Sevens
** Champions: 2002, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2023
* Scottish Rugby Shield
** Runners-Up: (1) 2011-12
*
Kelso Sevens
Kelso Sevens is an annual rugby sevens event held by Kelso RFC, in Kelso, Scotland. This was one of a group of Sevens tournaments instated after the First World War extending the original Borders Spring Circuit. The Kelso Sevens began in 1920.
...
** Champions (1): 1955
*
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 (3): 1986, 1988, 1997
*
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 (9): 1951, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1990, 1993, 2002, 2003
*
Edinburgh Northern Sevens
Edinburgh Northern Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament held by Edinburgh Northern, in the Inverleith district of Edinburgh, Scotland.
History
The first rugby sevens tournament took place in 1955 and it has been played in all subsequen ...
** Champions (1): 2013
* Portobello Sevens
** Champions (1): 2023
Notable former players
Ireland internationalists
Glasgow Warriors players
Edinburgh District
The following former Musselburgh players have represented
Edinburgh District at provincial level.
References
* Massie, Allan ''A Portrait of Scottish Rugby'' (Polygon, Edinburgh; )
External links
*
Rugby union in East Lothian
Rugby union teams in Scotland
Musselburgh
{{Scotland-rugbyunion-team-stub