London Scottish F.C.

History

Founding (1878)

In early 1878, three Scottish members of a team called St. Andrew's Rovers FC decided to break away to form their own club for Scots. These men, George Grant, Neil Macglashan and Robert Arnot attracted a number of responses to a circular they sent out. The London Scottish Regiment in particular were very warm to the idea. Very soon after, on 10 April 1878, London Scottish FC was founded in The Queen's Head, in Water Lane, Blackfriars, London (universally known as MacKay's Tavern, frequently mis-recorded, as Ned Mackay the jovial Scottish landlord ran the pub), initially played on Blackheath Common, and later at Richmond Athletic Ground in Surrey.

They had a sizable fixture list and played some of the leading clubs of the time immediately, such as Ravenscourt Park Football Club and Queen's House Football Club (the latter being the only London team to have never lost to London Scottish). They also played St Andrew's Rovers that season. St Andrew's, who had lost the core of their best players, lost twice to London Scottish and folded at the end of the season. London Scottish had a very successful first season, and having played 15 matches they only lost four (against already well established sides, Flamingoes, Guy's Hospital, Queen's House and Wasps).

In 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War all sixty members of the four London Scottish teams who played in their last matches in April enlisted. Fifteen survived. Only one played Rugby again. They are commemorated in Mick Imlah's poem "London Scottish".

Early history

London Scottish was the first of the "Exiles" rugby clubs to be founded, and the last of the main three – after London Irish and London Welsh – to go "open" in 1996.

London Scottish made the John Player Cup Final in 1974, where they lost 26–6 against defending champions Coventry.

The club regularly featured at the Middlesex Sevens tournament, winning the trophy in 1937, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965 and 1991. They have won the Melrose Sevens three times, in 1962, 1965 and 2019.

Professional era (1996–2020)

Scottish turned professional in 1996. Tony Tiarks bought the club for £500,000 in 1996.

In the summer of 1998 Scottish, co-tenants of Richmond at the Athletic Ground, were promoted to the top division via a play-off, and Tiarks forced through an ill-fated groundshare with Harlequins and London Broncos at the Stoop Memorial Ground.

In the 1998–99 season, Scottish made their only appearance in the English Premiership. Under coach John Steele, and despite limited resources, the team finished 12th out of 14 teams, which would have saved them from relegation had they not fallen into administration at the season's end. Notable wins that season included: versus Bath (13–11), Saracens (24–7) and Newcastle Falcons (27–17). That season's squad included Scottish international stars Ronnie Eriksson, Simon Holmes and Derrick Lee, Australians Seán Childs, Simon Fenn and Eddie Jones, and the South African Jannie de Beer.

Midway through the 1998–1999 season, Tiarks became disillusioned and discussed selling Scottish's place in the Premiership to second-division Bristol. He bailed out in the summer of 1999. The professional club London Scottish Rugby was placed into administration in 1999 and nominally merged into London Irish (who moved their games to the Stoop) along with Richmond, who were also placed into administration.

The original amateur club rejoined the RFU leagues at the bottom of the pyramid after effectively having been relegated nine divisions by the RFU. The club progressed back up through seven divisions in 10 seasons to RFU Championship for the 2011–12 season.

The club was promoted to the English National leagues (National Division Three South) for the 2007–08 season after an eight-year absence. The club was unbeaten in the 2008–09 season, earning promotion to the revamped RFU National 1 Division for the 2009–10 season. In 2009–10, the club finished second in their first season in RFU National 1 Division.

The club secured promotion to the RFU Championship for the 2011–12 season. During the 2012–13 season, the club made the switch to a full-time professional set-up, with many of the club's part-time professional players leaving and new coaches brought on board, this included former Leicester Tigers hooker James Buckland and France and London Wasps legend Serge Betsen. The fully professional set-up was credited for an impressive performance away to Championship leaders Newcastle Falcons, where three penalties brought them to the brink of a shock win, but they lost 12–9. There followed significant wins in the second half of the season, including a 26–23 victory over Bedford Blues, a 25–13 win over Nottingham and a 20–17 win away at Cornish Pirates. Scottish were still challenging for a place in the top four of the Championship until as late as March, when they were beaten by Leeds Carnegie, and they ended the season in mid-table.

The Scottish again finished mid-table in the Championship in the 2013–14 season. The team had four players named in the Championship Best XV – American international Eric Fry, Tomas Francis, Mark Bright and Championship top try-scorer Miles Mantella.

Following a mediocre 2016–17 campaign, the club appointed Loughborough Students director of rugby Dave Morris as director of rugby and the club saw a change at the top, with Malcom Offord becoming chairman of the club and Carson Russell as CEO.

Semi-professional club (2021–)

Following a reduction in funding from the RFU, Scottish adopted a semi-professional model from the 2020–21 season, with players and coaches being employed part-time. Following this, in February 2021 it was confirmed that due to funding cuts and the costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic Scottish would not take part in the upcoming season.

Scottish were to leave the Athletic Ground after 127 years, with the first team temporarily relocating to Esher's rugby ground in Hersham and the rest of the club also seeking relocation. However it was later confirmed they would remain at the Athletic Ground for their return to the Championship in the 2021–22 season.

Sevens

London Scottish have been great exponents of rugby sevens, winning the Melrose Sevens three times, Middlesex Sevens seven times and the Rosslyn Park London Floodlit Sevens seven times.

Captains and league position (since 1999–2000)

Head coach and management (since 1999–2000)

Overall league statistics

Honours

London Scottish

• Melrose Sevens champions: 1962, 1965, 2019
• Hawick Sevens champions: 1965
• Kelso Sevens champions: 1991
• Ross Sutherland Sevens champions: 1990
• Glasgow Academicals Sevens champions: 1979, 1989
• Haig Trophy Sevens champions: 1980
• Stirling Sevens champions: 1988
• Middlesex Sevens champions: 1937, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1991
• Courage League Division 3 champions: 1989–90
• Courage League National Division 2 champions: 1991–92
• London Division 4 North West champions: 2001–02
• London Division 3 North West champions: 2002–03
• London Division 2 North champions: 2003–04
• London Division 1 champions: 2006–07
• National League 3 South champions: 2008–09
• National League 1 champions: 2010–11

London Scottish Lions (amateur side)

• Herts/Middlesex 2 champions: 2018–19

Current standings

Current squad

The London Scottish squad as announced for the 2025–26 season is:

Current staff

First team

• Director of Rugby – Alex dougle Elwood
• Head coach – Joe Gray
• Backs Coach –
• Head of Strength and Conditioning - Boris Pineles Commercial
• Chief Operating Officer – Louise Newton

Notable former players

Scotland internationalists

The following former London Scottish players have represented Scotland at full international level. London Scottish have produced more than 220 Scottish international players, more than any other club.

• SCO RSA John Allan
• SCO John Anderson
• SCO David Bedell-Sivright
• SCO John Bell
• SCO William Berkley
• SCO Alastair Biggar
• SCO Mike Biggar
• SCO Norman Bruce
• SCO Paul Burnell, their most-capped player, who played 52 matches for Scotland (3 World Cups – 1991, 1995, 1999)
• SCO George Campbell
• SCO Mike Campbell-Lamerton
• SCO Damian Cronin (2 World Cups – 1991, 1995)
• SCO John Dykes
• SCO Ronnie Eriksson
• SCO Max Evans (1 World Cup – 2011)
• SCO Frank Fasson
• SCO Pringle Fisher
• SCO Charles Fleming
• SCO Iain Fullarton
• SCO David Gilbert-Smith
• SCO NZL Colin Gilray
• SCO Phil Godman
• SCO Fraser Gore
• SCO James Gowans
• SCO Donald Grant
• SCO John Hart
• SCO Gavin Hastings (3 World Cups – 1987, 1991, 1995)
• SCO Sandy Hinshelwood
• SCO Simon Holmes
• SCO William Holms
• SCO John Hunter
• SCO AUS Doug Keller
• SCO Ian Kilgour
• SCO Walter Kerr
• SCO Iain Laughland
• SCO Alan Lawson
• SCO Derrick Lee
• SCO Kenny Logan (3 World Cups 95, 99, 03)
• SCO John MacDonald
• SCO Gregor MacGregor
• SCO Andrew MacKinnon
• SCO Bill Maclagan 1st British Lion Captain 1891 (South Africa)
• SCO David MacMyn (captain of British Lions, Argentina 1927)
• SCO John Marshall
• SCO Alastair McHarg – one of the many stalwarts of the club
• SCO Ernie Michie
• SCO Iain Morrison (1 World Cup – 1995)
• SCO Hugh Monteith
• SCO Alec Elliot Murray
• SCO Hugh Orr
• SCO Douglas Schulze
• SCO Jim Shackleton
• SCO Ian Smith – joint-record Scotland try scorer with 24 tries
• SCO Arthur Smith
• SCO Ken Spence
• SCO Ronald Stevenson
• SCO Ian Swan
• SCO Malcolm Swan
• SCO Frans ten Bos
• SCO David Thom
• SCO Bruce Thomson
• SCO Rob Wainwright (1 World Cup – 1995)
• SCO Leonard West
• SCO Derek White (1 World Cup – 1991)
• SCO Robert Whitworth
• SCO Kenneth Wilson
• SCO Ron Wilson

Wales internationalists

The following former London Scottish players have represented Wales at full international level.

• WAL Tomas Francis

England internationalists

The following former London Scottish players have represented England at full international level.

• ENG Elliot Daly

Ireland internationalists

The following former London Scottish players have represented Ireland at full international level.

• Ireland Kieran Treadwell

Other nationalities

• RSA SCO John Allan
• CAN Kyle Baillie
• NZL SCO Colin Gilray
• TON David Halaifonua
• BAH George Hunter
• USA Paul Lasike
• USA Will Magie
• NZL Rusty Page
• ITA Dave Sisi
• GEO Nodar Tcheishvili
• USA Mike Te'o
• USA Andrew Turner
• NAM Tjiuee Uanivi
• USA Dino Waldren

SRU presidents

Former London Scottish players have been President of the SRU:

• 1894–96 Bill Maclagan
• 1900–01 Robert MacMillan

Bibliography

• Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 )
• Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 )
• Godwin, Terry Complete Who's Who of International Rugby (Cassell, 1987, )
• Massie, Allan A Portrait of Scottish Rugby (Polygon, Edinburgh; )

References

References

1. Bath, 1997, pp86,87
2. http://pubshistory.com/LondonPubs/StAnnsBlackfriars/QueensHead.shtm {{Dead link. (February 2022)
3. Dick Tyson, ''London's Oldest Rugby Clubs'', p96 (JJG Publishing), 2008
4. "London Scottish by Mick Imlah".
5. (26 May 2014). "Greene King IPA Championship Dream XV".
6. (2020-02-28). "RFU funding cut update".
7. (2021-02-02). "London Scottish decline DCMS loans to play 1st XV".
8. (2020-07-02). "London Scottish to leave Richmond Athletic Ground after 127 years".
9. (2021-05-12). "London Scottish to remain at the RAG".
10. (7 June 2019). "Melrose Sevens".
11. (7 June 2019). "Hawick Sevens".
12. (7 June 2019). "Kelso Sevens".
13. (7 June 2019). "Ross Sutherland Sevens".
14. (7 June 2019). "Glasgow Academicals Sevens".
15. (10 June 2019). "Edinburgh Wanderers / Haig Trophy Sevens".
16. (7 June 2019). "Stirling Sevens".
17. "How to find us".
18. "National 3 South 08/09".
19. "Squad". London Scottish.
20. "London Scottish squad for season 2025/2026".
21. "A Brief History". London Scottish FC.