Border Reivers, originally known as Scottish Borders Rugby, and also known as The Borders, were one of four professional

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 ...

teams in Scotland, alongside

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 ...

Caledonia Reds Caledonia Reds were a Scottish rugby union professional district team who participated in the Scottish Inter-District Championship and in two seasons of the Heineken Cup. They evolved from one of the traditional four amateur districts of Scotlan ...

and

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 ...

. Border Reivers were active in 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 ...

from 1996 to 1998 and in the

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 ...

, Celtic Cup and

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

from 2002 until 2007, when, as part of the Scottish Rugby Union's cost-cutting measures, they were disbanded. They played their home matches at

Netherdale Netherdale is a sports complex in Galashiels, Scottish Borders, consisting of two adjacent stadiums used for rugby union and football. The rugby ground is the home of Gala RFC and was formerly used by the professional Border Reivers team. It host ...

(capacity circa 6,000) in

Galashiels Galashiels (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lot ...

region.

History

The Border Reivers were a continuation of the amateur South of Scotland rugby union team, reshaped as a professional side in 1996.

District sides

Scotland had four district sides:

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 ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

, Glasgow District, and Edinburgh District. The district sides capped the best amateur players from their areas' club sides to play inter-district matches and matches against touring sides. Unlike the Scottish clubs (and Ireland's provincial sides), the Scottish district sides had no settled home and were not members of their Rugby Union. This meant when Scottish rugby embraced professionalism, it was not clear if a model based on districts or clubs would be used.

Professional model: club or district

It was not clear which route professionalism would go in Scotland. This created a turbulent start for professionalism in Scotland and left Scotland far behind fast-embracing Ireland in the set-up of its professional structure. The first season of the Heineken Cup in 1995–96 was run without any Scottish teams in European competition. The SRU were concerned that the existing and long-established Scottish amateur club sides could not compete against the best teams from France and England and that by professionalising the district sides they would be more capable of advancing Scottish Rugby. The four amateur district teams – Glasgow, Edinburgh, South of Scotland, and North and Midlands – were to become the professional sides Glasgow Warriors,

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh p ...

, Border Reivers, and the

, respectively.

Formation of Border Reivers

Parc des Sports d'Aguilera in Biarritz, France, 2006

The Border Reivers were created in 1996 to compete in the

, because 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 ...

did not think that Scottish club sides would be able to compete against the best teams from France and England. Border Reivers and the other three Scottish districts competed in the

to determine their European qualifying; the leagues positions determining whether they entered the

or the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involve ...

Merger with Edinburgh Rugby

Then financial difficulties – the SRU's high debt, partly as a result of the redevelopment of

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 con ...

– called for retrenchment. After two seasons, financial difficulties forced the Union to merge the four teams into two. The Border Reivers side merged with Edinburgh Rugby to form a team to be known as Edinburgh Reivers, causing outrage with many

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...

rugby fans, as effectively the Border side was disbanded.

Resurrection

The establishment and early success of a

caused the SRU to rethink its professional district structure. The Border Reivers side was resurrected in 2002 as The Borders and joined the second season of the

. Since their return as a team in 2002, the Borders failed to challenge for the Celtic League title; however, they performed well during the 2005–06, finishing mid-table.

Disbandment again

On 27 March 2007,

announced the Reivers were to disband at the end of the season as a cost-cutting exercise. Many fans and sections of the

Scottish media Scottish media has a long and distinct history. Scotland has a wide range of different types and quality of media. Broadcasting Television BBC Scotland runs two national television stations. Much of the output of BBC Scotland Television, such ...

have claimed that the Reivers suffered due to SRU's determination, despite poor crowds and results, to make rugby a success in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

. At the end of the 2006–07 season, several Borders players transferred to

. The success Glasgow later achieved with sell out crowds and a Pro 12 title win suggests this was a wise strategy.

Potential revival

Following the decision by the SRU to disband the Borders Reivers, the Border Reivers Action Group was formed to fight against the disbandment. However, in April 2007, the Borders Rugby Action Group conceded defeat as the SRU insisted there would be no finance available from the governing body. The action group pledged an attempt to resurrect the team in 2008; however, no such attempt was made. On 19 December 2011, former Scottish internationalist Keith Robertson gave an interview to '' The Herald'' newspaper. Robertson claimed that he was in contact with "people in the Borders who are interested in getting involved in funding a professional team". However the interested parties were said to be unwilling to afford any direct shareholding to the SRU. Robertson went on to claim that if the project came to fruition, the team would feature many "Borderers" – an attribute he felt the defunct Border Reivers had lacked.

Records and achievements

Season standings

Competing as Border Reivers unless otherwise stated.
ᵜ Competing as Scottish Borders.
^β Competing as The Borders.

League competitions

European competitions

Notable former players

Scotland

The following former Border Reivers players have represented

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 ...

at full international level.

Notable non-Scottish players

The following is a list of notable non-Scottish international representative former Border Reivers players:

Notable coaches

* Steve Bates

References

External links

Official site

Unofficial Supporters Club site

Borders secure Heineken spot with record victory
- The Scotsman, May 27, 2006
Border Reivers video vault
on Channel XV
Scottish rugby union fans forum
{{Rugby union in the Borders United Rugby Championship teams

Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...

Scottish Inter-District Championship teams Rugby clubs established in 1999 Defunct Scottish rugby union Districts Sports clubs disestablished in 2007 Galashiels 1999 establishments in Scotland