Raeburn Place is the main street of the suburb of
Stockbridge,
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, Scotland, and the name of the playing fields there.
Rugby
The first ever international rugby football
Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league.
Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...
game was played on the playing fields at Raeburn Place on 27 March 1871 between
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
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 ...
.
A window on sporting history: the first rugby match, Scotland v England in 1871
Andy Mitchell, Scottish Sport History, 10 August 2019 It was won by Scotland. Scotland continued to play their home internationals in Raeburn Place, then at Inverleith Sports Ground
The Inverleith Sports Ground is a rugby union stadium in Inverleith, Edinburgh, Scotland which is the home ground of amateur club Stewart's Melville RFC and was the home ground of the Scotland national rugby union team between 1899 and 1925.
His ...
until the SRU acquired Murray's Field (as it was known then), the Edinburgh Polo
Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...
ground, in the 1920s.
The playing fields are still used by the Edinburgh Academy
The Edinburgh Academy is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, is now part of the Se ...
sports branches, 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 ...
and Edinburgh Academical Cricket Club
Edinburgh Academical Cricket Club, generally known as Edinburgh Accies, is a cricket club founded in 1855 and based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The club is the oldest Old Boys cricket club in Scotland.
In 1854, the Edinburgh Academy acquired a playi ...
.
In 1994, the Women's Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is the women's rugby union world championship which is organised by World Rugby. The first Rugby World Cup for women was held in 1991, but it was not until the 1998 tournament that the tournament received official backing ...
final between England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and the USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, which England won, was played at Raeburn Place. It was also the site of the first ever women's rugby union
Women's rugby union is a full contact team sport based on running with the ball in hand. The same laws are used in men's rugby union with the same sized pitch and same equipment. Rugby was originally a men's sport, and women's rugby has become p ...
international for both 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 ...
and Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, occurring when the two nations met in 1993.
Cricket
Within Raeburn Place, opposite the rugby ground, lies Grange Cricket Club
The Grange Club is a cricket and sports club in the Stockbridge district of Edinburgh, Scotland. The cricket ground, commonly known as The Grange, is the regular home of the Scotland national cricket team, and is situated adjacent to the Edin ...
. England was the host of the 1999 Cricket World Cup
The 1999 Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Cricket World Cup '99) was the seventh edition of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted primarily by England, with Scotland, Ireland, Wales ...
, but two of Scotland's games were held there. On 24 May 1999 at The Grange, Bangladesh played Scotland, and on 31 May 1999, Scotland played New Zealand.
See also
* Rugby union in Scotland
Rugby union in Scotland is a popular team sport. Scotland's national side today competes in the annual Six Nations Championship and the Rugby World Cup. The first ever international rugby match was played on 27 March 1871, at Raeburn Place in Edi ...
* History of rugby union in Scotland
Rugby union in Scotland in its modern form has existed since the mid-19th century. As with the history of rugby union itself however, it emerged from older traditional forms of football which preceded the codification of the sport. In the same m ...
* Cricket in Scotland
Cricket has a considerably lower profile in Scotland than it has in neighbouring England. Scotland is not one of the twelve leading cricketing nations which play Test matches, but the Scottish national team is now allowed to play full One Day I ...
References
External links
Library
of 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 ...
Edinburgh Academicals Football Club
Edinburgh Academicals Cricket Club
Sports venues in Edinburgh
Rugby union stadiums in Scotland
Rugby union in Edinburgh
Areas of Edinburgh
History of rugby union in Scotland
Scotland national rugby union team
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