Edinburgh Wanderers was a nineteenth-century and twentieth-century Edinburgh-based rugby union club.
Formation
The rugby club was formed in 1868. The club was initially known as St. Andrew's Wanderers, as it was formed by St. Andrew's University graduates based in Edinburgh.
Early history
The club quickly became known as Edinburgh Wanderers - and the side established itself as one of the best in Scotland. In the world's first provincial match - between Glasgow District and Edinburgh District - in 1872, the side was already known as Edinburgh Wanderers and provided 3 players to the first Edinburgh District side:- A. Ross; J. Forsyth and A. R. Stewart The club would have been the ninth founding club of the Scottish Rugby Union had the club secretary made it to the inauguration meeting of the union in 1872. Instead it initially joined the English Rugby Union in that same year. However a year later as the Scottish Rugby Union grew, the Wanderers resigned from the English union to join the SRU. The Wanderers team of 1876-77 in noted as one of the best in its history. In 1937 Wanderers provided both captains, Ross Logan and Idwal Rees, in the Scotland v Wales fixture that year. This remains the only time in the history of rugby that opposing international captains were, at the same time, teammates at club level.
The following former Edinburgh Wanderers players have represented the British and Irish Lions.
Scotland internationalists
The following former Edinburgh Wanderers players have represented Scotland at full international level.
Notable non-Scottish players
The following is a list of notable non-Scottish international representative former Edinburgh Wanderers players:
Edinburgh District">Edinburgh District (rugby union)">Edinburgh District players
The following former Edinburgh Wanderers players have represented Edinburgh District at provincial level.
Professional players
Professionalism began in rugby union in 1995 - and in Scotland it came a year later in 1996. Edinburgh Wanderers ended with its merger with Murrayfield Rugby Football Club in 1997. These players went on from the Wanderers to professional teams:
