London Scottish F.C.


London Scottish Football Club is a rugby union club in England. The club is a member of both the Rugby Football Union and the Scottish Rugby Union. The club shares the Athletic Ground with Richmond. The ground-share is scheduled to last until the end of the 2020–21 season, after which Scottish will share Molesey Road in Hersham with Esher for at least two seasons.

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, 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. 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.

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, Saracens and Newcastle Falcons. That season's squad included Scottish international stars Ronnie Eriksson, Simon Holmes and Derrick Lee, Australians 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 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 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 17–20 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 2016/2017 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 (2020–)

Following a reduction in funding from the RFU. Scottish will drop to a semi-professional model for the 2020–21 season with players and coaches being employed part-time.

Sevens

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

Captains and league position (since 1999–2000)

SeasonDivisionCaptainPosition
1999–00Non League Ewan KearneyWinners of Merit table
2000–01Herts/Middlesex 1Damian LilleyRunners up
2001–02London 4 NWSteven WicharyChampions
2002–03London 3 NWMagnus MacdonaldChampions
2003–04London 2 NorthDavid WattChampions
2004–05London 1Karl Hensley4th
2005–06London 1Karl Hensley3rd
2006–07London 1Alex AlesbrookChampions
2007–08National Division Three SouthAlex Alesbrook4th National
2008–09National Division Three SouthGary TruemanChampions
2009–10National League OneGary Trueman2nd
2010–11National League OneIan McInroyChampions
2011–12The ChampionshipLewis Calder9th
2012–13The ChampionshipLewis Calder8th

Head coach and management (since 1999–2000)

SeasonDivisionHead CoachManager
1999–00Non LeagueIain MorrisonColin McIntyre
2000–01Herts/Middlesex 1Brett CooksonColin McIntyre
2001–02London 4 NWKevin PowderlyColin Mcintyre
2002–03London 3 NWKevin PowderlyColin McIntyre
2003–04London 2 NorthRick ScottColin McIntyre
2004–05London 1Rowly WilliamsColin McIntyre
2005–06London 1Rowly WilliamsColin McIntyre
2006–07London 1Terry O'ConnorColin McIntyre
2007–08National Division Three SouthTerry O'ConnorColin McIntyre
2008–09National Division Three SouthBrett TaylorColin McIntyre
2009–10National League OneBrett TaylorColin McIntyre
2010–11National League OneSimon AmorColin McIntyre
2011–12The ChampionshipSimon AmorRoss Macgregor
2012–13The ChampionshipSimon AmorRoss Macgregor
2013–14The ChampionshipSimon AmorLaurence Bruggemann

Overall league statistics

Club honours

London Scottish
London Scottish Lions

Current squad

The London Scottish squad for the 2020–21 season is:

Current staff

First team
Commercial
The following players have represented both London Scottish and the Scotland national team. London Scottish have produced more than 220 Scottish international players, more than any other club.