Edinburgh University Rugby Football Club is a leading

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 ...

side based in

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 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 ...

which currently plays its fixtures in the Edinburgh Regional Shield competition and the

British Universities Universities in the United Kingdom have generally been instituted by royal charter, papal bull, Act of Parliament, or an instrument of government under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 or the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. ...

Premiership. It is one of the eight founder members 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 ...

. In the years prior to the SRU's introduction of club leagues in 1973 and the advent of professionalism in the 1990s, EURFC was a major club power and it won the 'unofficial' Scottish Club championship several times. It remains a club with an all-student committee, and is only open to students of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

. The club runs a men's team and a women's team; both playing in the university leagues.

History

Established in 1857, the club now plays its home fixtures at the

's Peffermill playing grounds, having moved from its traditional ground at

Craiglockhart Craiglockhart (; gd, Creag Longairt) is a suburb in the south west of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying between Colinton to the south, Morningside to the east Merchiston to the north east, and Longstone and Kingsknowe to the west. The Water of Leith ...

in the season 1978–79. Its first ever match was in December 1857 against Edinburgh Academicals FC – in 2007 the two clubs replayed that fixture to celebrate the 150th anniversary of EURFC's founding using replica period kit, ball and complying to the older rules. EURFC has produced 72 young full-international (for major IRB countries) players whilst still students representing the club; these include 1924

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

400m Gold Medallist Eric Liddell, 1904 British Lions captain

David Bedell-Sivright David Revell "Darkie" Bedell-Sivright (8 December 1880 – 5 September 1915) was a Scottish international rugby union forward who captained both Scotland and the British Isles. Born in Edinburgh, and educated at Fettes College where he l ...

– one of the seven EURFC members also to play as British Lions whilst still students at the club,

Norman Mair Norman George Robertson Mair (7 October 1928 – 7 December 2014) was a Scottish international rugby union and cricket player.Bath, p105 He later became a journalist for ''The Scotsman'' reporting on rugby and golf,McLaren, p88 and also wro ...

– the future legendary sports writer and Scotland cricketer,

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

& MacDonald the great 1950 British Lions half-back partnership, and

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1 ...

'The Flying Scot' from the 1920s who held the 5-nations try-scoring record for many years. Many more of Rugby's international players worldwide played for the university prior to being capped from other clubs; these include Scotland and British Lions greats Dan Drysdale, and Andy Irvine, both future SRU Presidents from

Heriot's FP Heriot's Rugby Club, also known as Heriot's FP, is one of Scotland's senior rugby football clubs in the Scottish Rugby Union, whose Men's 1st XV play in the FOSROC . The women play in The club's home is in the Goldenacre area in Edinburgh.Bat ...

David Johnston David Lloyd Johnston (born June 28, 1941) is a Canadian academic, author, and statesman who served from 2010 to 2017 as Governor General of Canada, the 28th since Canadian Confederation. He is the commissioner of the Leaders' Debates Commis ...

( Watsonians) who had also played as a contracted footballer for Heart of Midlothian FC, and the recent Club coach Ian Barnes who won many Scotland caps from the

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one ...

club. In 1871, Club member Angus Buchanan scored the first ever International try in the inaugural International match whilst representing Scotland versus England at

Raeburn Place Raeburn Place is the main street of the suburb of Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Scotland, and the name of the playing fields there. Rugby The first ever international rugby football game was played on the playing fields at Raeburn Place on 27 Ma ...

. There were three current Club representatives in the Scottish brown jerseys on that day; the other two being J.Forsyth and J.L.H MacFarlane. In 1901, after winning the Scottish unofficial championship, the Club provided an extraordinary eight members of the Scotland XV to defeat Wales that February. These were Bedell-Sivright, A.B Flett, Alfred Fell,

Alex Frew Alex Frew (24 October 1877 – 29 April 1947) was an international rugby union forward who played for both Scotland and South Africa. Amateur career He played for Kilmarnock RFC before moving to Edinburgh University. He was capped by Scotlan ...

, W.H Welsh, F.M Fasson, A.B Timms, and A.W. Duncan. Of these, Alex Frew not only won three Scotland caps from EURFC but also captained

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

in its first ever match against the touring British Lions on his lone appearance for that country in 1903. This was as a representative member of the

Transvaal Province The Province of the Transvaal ( af, Provinsie van Transvaal), commonly referred to as the Transvaal (; ), was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Trans ...

, where he had settled as a doctor after his Edinburgh graduation of 1902. A great Rugby rarity happened in 1910 when EURFC player C.G. Timms had the distinction of representing the Club throughout that year and the

British & 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 ...

on tour to

without ever winning an international cap before or after. 'Charlie' Timms may have made up for his lack of international caps by going on to be awarded four

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

es in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

as a Medical Officer – another great and possibly unique rarity. His brother A.B Timms was capped for Scotland from the Club in 1896, but by the time he was selected for the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; ad ...

tour of 1899 he was then representing the

Edinburgh Wanderers Edinburgh Wanderers is a former rugby union club, founded in 1868. It was latterly a tenant of the Scottish Rugby Union, playing home fixtures at Murrayfield Stadium for nearly 75 years. In 1997 it merged with Murrayfield RFC to form Murrayfie ...

club. The club's fortunes waned in the 1930s, but a great revival took place in the 1950s, and 1960s when the Club finished runners-up in the

Scottish Unofficial Championship The Scottish Unofficial Championship was the top league of Scotland's best amateur rugby union clubs. The Championship was 'unofficial' as the Scottish Rugby Union held that the sport should remain amateur and at the time did not sanction competit ...

twice in 1963–64 and 1966–67 – in the latter year 28 out of the 34 matches played were won and the club which led the competition in April which was quite enough to have won outright, was highly commended for sportingly arranging extra fixtures, one of which was lost to

who then just won that championship. In this time, names such as contemporary Scotland internationals John Frame, Ian Smith (who went on to score the famous Scotland try that defeated South Africa in 1969), and Harry Rea (an Irish cap) were to the fore. The last major international player from the club was Jock Millican, thrice capped in 1972–73. This was after the decision had been taken by the club's ll-studentcommittee to back the SRU proposal for a fully league system on the grounds that it would benefit Scottish rugby as a whole, but also in the full knowledge that this would inevitably pose great problems for the Club itself. Since 1973, only Phil Lucas has been capped internationally while playing for Barbados in 2009. Until 1983, EURFC enjoyed regular home and away fixtures with

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Universities often with distinct success; many players have interchanged between the three University Clubs on graduations – two of many notable examples of this being Ian Smith, 'The Flying Scot' who joined Edinburgh from

and played for 4 seasons from 1924, and

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...

' president

Micky Steele-Bodger Michael Roland Steele-Bodger CBE (4 September 1925 – 9 May 2019) was an English rugby union footballer who played flanker for Harlequins, and Barbarians, and was President of the Barbarian Football Club and President of the East India Clu ...

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 ...

– a 1947

postgraduate from

destined to become future Chairman of the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international ru ...

. In this time, EURFC also had regular fixtures with the University XV's of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, and other northern English Institutions. EURFC has often received and played against Clubs from all of the major Rugby playing countries In the years 1973 until 2012, the Club retained a position within the top 36 clubs in the SRU league structure on Saturdays; occasional promotions into the Scottish Premiership were usually balanced by returns to the top end of the National League below. Wednesday afternoons saw fixtures in the Scottish Universities championship which was won many times and very many players represented the Scottish Universities XV. Memorable victories include; 2002 BUSA Shield competition with the final played in London, and the SRU'S Scottish HydroElectric Bowl competition was registered in 2009 with the final being played against

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area inclu ...

RFC 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 con ...

. However great ambition coupled with reorganisations in the British University competition saw the Club qualify for admission to

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 ...

Premier North 'B' League at the first available opportunity; this inevitably saw a deeply reluctant departure from the SRU league structure to aid concentration on the enormous travelling requirements south of the border. The Club remains the only Scottish University at this level.

Sides

Men

In total EURFC runs four teams:
The 1st XV currently competes in BUCS Premier North A League.
The 2nd XV currently competes in BUCS Scottish 1A.
The 3rd XV currently competes in BUCS Scottish 3A.
The 4th XV currently competes in BUCS Scottish 4A. The 5th XV currently competes in the Edinburgh University Intramural League. In the past, EURFC has also fielded an EURL (Edinburgh University Rugby League) team in the

competitions.

Women

Edinburgh University also has two ladies teams, run as separate club EULRFC. The first XV were 2009 semi finalists of the British Universities Championships, and have reached the quarter finals in both 2010 and 2011. They compete in the BUCS Northern Premier Division and Scottish Premier League. The 2nd XV team currently compete in the Scottish Universities Championship and the National Development League.

Touring

Edinburgh University RFC has a notable history of touring; 2004 tour to South Africa, a major tour to Japan was undertaken in 2008 where one of the games was televised. In June 2011, EURFC returned to a previously toured country in Brazil, celebrating 25 years since they had previously toured there, with two televised matches against the

Brazil national rugby union team The Brazil national rugby union team, nicknamed Tupis, is controlled by the Brazilian Rugby Confederation. Brazil is one of the founding unions of CONSUR (now Sudamérica Rugby) and played in the inaugural South American tournament. Brazil has ...

, one against a regionals side and another against Brazil's U23 side. As well as Japan and Brazil the club has also had sides in USA, Ireland, Canada, France, Australia, Argentina and Spain in recent years.

Notable former players

Men

Scotland International players

The following 55 members represented Scotland as full internationals as representative members of Edinburgh University RFC.

International players for other countries

The following 18 players represented other full international sides as representative members of Edinburgh University RFC

British & Irish Lions

Seven players have represented British & Irish Lions whilst still students representing the club: * H. Brooks Three-quarter –

1888 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia The 1888 British Isles tour to New Zealand and Australia was a tour by a British rugby union team, known at the time as the "English Footballers", throughout New Zealand and Australia. Although a private venture not organised by any official b ...

* John Smith Forward – 1888 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia * David 'Darkie' Bedell-Sivright –

1903 British Lions tour to South Africa The 1903 British Isles tour to South Africa was the fifth tour by a British Isles rugby team and the third to South Africa. It is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming convention was not adopted until 195 ...

(toured but no test caps);

1904 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand The 1904 British Isles tour to New Zealand and Australia was the sixth tour by a British Isles rugby union team and the third to New Zealand or Australia. It is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming conve ...

(captain) * C.G. 'Charlie' Timms –

1910 British Lions tour to South Africa The 1910 British Isles tour to South Africa was the eighth tour by a British Isles rugby union team and the fourth to South Africa. It is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming convention was not adopted ...

* William Albert Robertson – 1910 British Lions tour to South Africa *

Angus Black Angus William "Gus" Black (6 May 1925 – 14 February 2018) was a Scottish international rugby union player, who played for and the Lions.Bath, Richard (ed.) (2007) ''The Scotland Rugby Miscellany''. Vision Sports Publishing Ltd. . p. 118 Rug ...

–

1950 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia The British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia in 1950 was the first post-war tour made by the Lions; there had not been one since 1938. The 1950 team was the first to be nicknamed "the British Lions", rather than just "British I ...

Ranald Macdonald Ranald MacDonald (February 3, 1824 – August 24, 1894) was the first native English-speaker to teach the English language in Japan, including educating Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters to handle the negotiations between C ...

– 1950 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia

Other notable former players

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for '' A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

, author * Douglas Robb, schoolmaster, President of EURFC 1993

Honours

Men

** Champions (6): 1899–1900 (shared with Edinburgh Academicals & Hawick), 1900–01, 1901–02 (shared with Watsonians), 1902–03 (shared with Glasgow Academicals), 1907–08, 1911–12 (shared with Watsonians) *

Jed-Forest Sevens Jed-Forest Sevens is an annual rugby sevens event held by Jed-Forest RFC, in Jedburgh, Scotland. The Jed-Forest Sevens was the fourth of the Border Sevens tournaments to be instated, in 1894, after the Melrose Sevens (1883), Gala Sevens (1884 ...

** Champions (1): 1911 *

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 (1): 2011 * Edinburgh Institution F.P. Sevens ** Champions (1): 1909 * Edinburgh Charity Sevens ** Champions (2): 1941, 1946 * Highland Sevens ** Champions (2): 1951, 1952 * Preston Lodge Sevens ** Champions (1): 2007 * Dreghorn Sevens ** Champions (1): 2012 * Stewartry Sevens ** Champions (2): 1995, 1996 * Musselburgh Sevens ** Champions (1): 1955 * Scottish University Sevens ** Champions (2): 1969, 1970

Women

* Colonsay Sevens ** Champions (1): 2017

References

;Bibliography * Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Scotland Rugby Miscellany'' (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ) * Godwin, Terry ''Complete Who's Who of International Rugby'' (Cassell, 1987, ) * Jones, J.R. ''Encyclopedia of Rugby Union Football'' (Robert Hale, London, 1976 ) * Massie, Allan ''A Portrait of Scottish Rugby'' (Polygon, Edinburgh; ) * Stevens, Ian ''Edinburgh University Rugby Football Club, A History'' 1999 Edinburgh University Sports Union (EU Press) * https://web.archive.org/web/20110716022658/http://www.scrummagazine.com/news/if-the-cap-fits/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20110525083652/http://www.scottishrugby.org/community/content/view/3865/2/ * http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/all-news/011211-rugby

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edinburgh University RFC Clubs and societies of the University of Edinburgh Rugby union in Edinburgh University and college rugby union clubs in Scotland Rugby clubs established in 1857 1857 establishments in Scotland Sports teams in Edinburgh Scottish rugby union teams