Domestic club

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 ...

within

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 ...

remains a predominantly amateur sport; however, semi-professional and professional outfits have been created in recent decades to participate in cross-border competitions.

Professional Outfits

With the advent of professionalism in 1995 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 ...

, just like the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

, decided that existing club sides would be unable to compete with their counterparts in new cross-border tournaments such as the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

and

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

. It was decided by the

that new professional teams would be created based on the union's four historic geographical districts and building upon the legacy/vehicle of the

Scottish Inter-District Championship The Scottish Inter-District Championship is a rugby union competition between regional sides in Scotland. Established in 1953, the tournament went through several formats. The Scottish Rugby Union confirmed in January 2023 that the Scottish In ...

: The North and Midlands side was a de facto district based on the combination of The North and

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

districts.

Domestic Rugby

Scottish League Championship

The

Scottish League Championship The Scottish League Championship (currently the Tennents League Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic rugby union league system within Scotland. Operated by the Scottish Rugby Union, the championship was founded in 1973 as the fi ...

is the annual domestic league structure competed for by over 150 clubs at both national and regional levels. Prior to restructuring in 2010, there were six national leagues - three divisions in the Premiership, and three in the National League - above the Regional Leagues. Further restructuring before the 2014-15 season scrapped the regional Championship A & B leagues which sat below the National League for two seasons. The current structure is: *The Premiership: 10 clubs, top four compete in a knock-out play-off to decide the Premiership champions, bottom team relegated and ninth-placed enter promotion/relegation play-off *National League: 36 clubs in three divisions: ** Division 1: 12 clubs, winners promoted, runners-up enter promotion/relegation play-off, bottom two teams relegated ** Division 2: 12 clubs, winners and runners-up promoted, bottom two teams relegated ** Division 3: 12 clubs, winners and runners-up promoted, bottom three teams relegated to the appropriate Regional league *

Regional Leagues In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

: 3 Regions (Caledonia, East and West) who organize their own league structures (though top divisions normally consist of 10 clubs), with the winners of each region promoted

Structure

Scottish Cup

The

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularly as Murrayfield) is a Rugby stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has a seating capacity of 67,144 making it the largest sta ...

Scottish SuperCup

During the 2006-07 season an extra cup competition (The Scottish SuperCup) was introduced to replace the loss of fixtures in the Premiership due to league restricting. With the reversal of this restriction the following season the cup became redundant and was abandoned after a single season.

British and Irish Cup

For the 2009-10 season a new cross-border tournament was introduced, the

British and Irish Cup The British and Irish Cup was an annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs and the reserves or developing teams from professional clubs from Great Britain and Ireland. It took place for the first time in the 2009 ...

which would contain semi-professional clubs from the four

home nations Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...

. Originally Scotland was represented by three sides but with restricting this has increased to four, who are determined by final positions in the League Championship.

Unincorporated Leagues

Scotland is also home to the oldest organised rugby union league in the world, the

Border League The Border League, is the oldest established rugby union league in the World, having been formed in 1901. Currently known as the Booker Border League, after its sponsors, teams from all over the Scottish Borders as well as Berwick RFC from Nor ...

, which was formed in 1901. The Border League does not take part in the pyramid structure to the National League, but all of its clubs play in both. Two small independent leagues remain, with only a handful of members: the

Grampian Alliance League The Grampian Alliance League was a small rugby union competition participated in by clubs (including some 2nd XVs) in the Grampian region. Together with the Highland Alliance League, it was one of the few remaining leagues not part of the Scotti ...

and the

Highland Alliance League The Highland Alliance League, is a small rugby union competition participated in by clubs (including some 2nd XVs) in the far north of Scotland. Together with the Grampian Alliance League, it is one of the few remaining leagues not part of the Sc ...

. For university and 2nd and 3rd XV leagues, see University Leagues in Scotland and

2nd XV Leagues in Scotland There are three organisations operating 2nd XV Leagues in Scotland. These are (by membership size): * Scottish Reserve League (involving some 3rd XVs) * the Edinburgh & Lothian 2nd XV League (also involving some 3rd XVs) * the Borders Championship I ...

. There are a small number of women's leagues in operation - see University Leagues in Scotland and SWRU League.

Sources

* http://www.scottishrugby.org/ {{League systems * Sports league systems