Aberdeen University Rugby Football Club (AURFC) is the

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 at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

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 ...

. The men's team play in ; the women's team play in the university leagues.

History

Acknowledged as the equal oldest rugby club in the North East of Scotland, (founded in 1871), AURFC has had a long and successful history producing both Scotland and British Lions players. Its traditional playing venue has been Kings Playing Fields right in the heart of old Aberdeen and the centre of campus for the

, the fifth oldest university in Britain. It was not until 1882 that AURFC affiliated to 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 ...

, it was the 17th club to join the SRU structure and the first club north of Edinburgh to join after the

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 fou ...

, which is one of the founder members of the Scottish Rugby Union. University rugby is exceptionally important to Scottish Rugby with one quarter of the oldest teams in Scotland being university based.

Decline and rebirth

AURFC was disciplined by the

for not fulfilling fixtures in the late 1990s. This resulted in the club being removed from the SRU league structure and forced to start from the bottom division. This was the lowest point in the club's long and distinguished history. With Aberdeen Grammar being demoted from the Scottish Premier league a void of high class rugby teams in Aberdeen existed and resulted in many university players returning from clubs to play for AURFC. Several seasons of straight promotions in the beginning of the new century has seen the team rise to Caledonian Division League 1 under the coaching of Campbell Scott 2006/2014 and also a return to the first division of the

Scottish Universities Sport Scottish Student Sport (SSS) formed in June 2005 as Scottish Universities Sport is the professional body for delivery and furthering of sports at university and college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institutio ...

and

BUCS British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for higher education sport in the United Kingdom. BUCS was formed in June 2008 following a merger of British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) and University College Sport ...

Leagues and won Division 1A in 2010.

Achievements

The club's achievements have been considerable. Most notably was the 2007/08 Scottish Hydro Electric Scottish Rugby Union Plate victory at

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often conside ...

. This was the first time a university side has ever reached the final of an SRU competition. They followed up this success in season 2008/09 when they successful defended their title with a 33–10 win against Duns. In the same year the university 1st XV was promoted to Division 1A and narrowly missed out on winning the league coming in second place, but in 2010 the 1st XV won Scotland's top University league. The real halcyon period for AURFC was in the 70's when under the tutelage of Mal Reid they dominated University rugby in Scotland winning seven championships and providing countless players and captains for Scottish Universities. In 1975, the Scottish Universities team that beat England away had 10 Aberdeen players in the fifteen.

Affiliations

AURFC is a full member of Aberdeen University Sports Union and the

Notable players

The club throughout history has boasted some impressive individual rugby players and have represented Scotland and the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

. Since the dawn of the professional era, the club has not had any Scottish international or British Lions players again but annually boasts several age group Scottish internationals and in 2008/09 had 15 players selected for the Scottish Universities squad. *

Ronald Cumming Ronald Cumming (4 April 1900 – 17 November 1982) was a Scotland international rugby union player. Rugby Union career Amateur career Cumming played for Aberdeen University. Provincial career He played for North of Scotland District. Inte ...

, the first AURFC international cap in 1921, when he played against for ScotlandJones, p11 *

Donny Innes Donny Innes (16 September 1917 – 21 January 2012) was a Scotland international rugby union player and a doctor who worked as a general practitioner (GP). Early life Innes was born on 16 September 1917 in Aberdeen Scotland. His father was a ph ...

, in 1939 and 1946 * E.T.S Michie, the first

player in the 1955 tour to South Africa *

Macbeth Duncan Colonel Macbeth Duncan (1 September 1866 – 2 October 1942) was a Scotland international rugby union player. He later became the 48th President of the Scottish Rugby Union. Rugby Union career Amateur career Duncan was schooled at Cargilfield ...

Aberdeen University Sevens

The Aberdeen University Sevens began in 1890. Outside the Borders the only Sevens tournament earlier was the

Aberdeen F.C. Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the Scottish Premiership and have never been relegated from the top division of the Scottish football league system since they were ...

Sevens tournament of 1889; thus sevens rugby reached Aberdeen before Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Stirling or Inverness.

Honours

Men

*Aberdeen University Sevens ** Champions: 1890, 1893 *Scottish University Sevens ** Champions: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979 *

Sevens ** Champions: 1889, 1890, 1891, 1893 *Garioch Sevens ** Champions: 1980, 1996

Women

* North East Sevens ** Champions: 2019

Bibliography

* Godwin, Terry ''Complete Who's Who of International Rugby'' (Cassell, 1987, ) * Jones, J.R. ''Encyclopedia of Rugby Football'' (Robert Hale, London, 1958) * Massie, Allan ''A Portrait of Scottish Rugby'' (Polygon, Edinburgh; )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aberdeen University Rfc University and college rugby union clubs in Scotland Rugby union in Aberdeen Rugby union teams in Scotland University of Aberdeen Sports clubs and teams in Aberdeen Rugby clubs established in 1871 1871 establishments in Scotland