London Scottish F.C.

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For other uses of "London Scottish", see London Scottish (disambiguation).
London Scottish
London Scottish Logo.png
Full name London Scottish Football Club
Nickname(s) The Exiles, Scottish
Founded 1878; 146 years ago (1878)
Location Richmond
Ground(s) Athletic Ground, Richmond (Capacity: 4,500)
President Rod Lynch
League(s) RFU Championship
2014–15 3rd (losing semi-finalist)
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
londonscottish.com

London Scottish Football Club are a rugby union club in England. They are a member of both the Rugby Football Union and the Scottish Rugby Union. The club shares the Athletic Ground with Richmond.

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.[1] 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[2] in MacKay's Tavern, London, and initially played on Blackheath Common,[1] and later at Richmond Athletic Ground in Surrey.[2]

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).[1] 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.[1] London Scottish had a very successful first season, and having played fifteen matches they only lost four (against already well established sides, Flamingoes, Guy's Hospital, Queen's House and Wasps).[1]

Early history

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. London Scottish was the first of the "Exiles" rugby clubs to be founded, and also the last of the main three to go "open" in 1996.[2]

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

Professional era (1996–present)

The club 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 1998–1999 season, Scottish made their one and only appearance in the English Premiership. Under coach John Steele, and despite their limited resource, the team finished in 12th place out of 14 teams, which would have saved them from relegation, had they not fallen into administration at the season's end. Notable games that season included victories over: Bath (13–11), Saracens (24–7), and Newcastle Falcons (27–17). That season 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 1999 season, Tiarks was 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 a nominal merger with London Irish took place.

The original amateur club rejoined the RFU leagues at the bottom of the pyramid after effectively being relegated 9 divisions by the RFU. The club has since progressed back up through 7 divisions in 10 seasons to RFU Championship for the 2011–2012 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 17–20 win away at Cornish Pirates. Scottish were still mathematically challenging for a place in the top four of the Championship until as late as March, until they were beaten by Leeds Carnegie, and they ended the season with a mid-table finish and safe from relegation.

The Scottish again finished mid-table in the Championship for the 2013––14 season. The team had four players named to the Championship Best XV — American international Eric Fry, Tomas Francis, Mark Bright, and Championship top try-scorer Miles Mantella.[3]

Sevens

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

Captains and league position (since 1999–00 season)

Season Division Captain Position
1999/2000 Non League (London Senior Clubs) Ewan Kearney Winners of Merit table
2000/2001 Herts/Middlesex 1 Damian Lilley Runners up
2001/2002 London 4 NW Steven Wichary Champions
2002/2003 London 3 NW Magnus Macdonald Champions
2003/2004 London 2 North David Watt Champions
2004/2005 London 1 Karl Hensley 4th
2005/2006 London 1 Karl Hensley 3rd
2006/2007 London 1 Alex Alesbrook Champions
2007/2008 National Division Three South Alex Alesbrook 4th National
2008/2009 National Division Three South Gary Trueman Champions
2009/2010 National League One Gary Trueman 2nd
2010/2011 National League One Ian McInroy Champions
2011/2012 The Championship Lewis Calder 9th
2012/2013 The Championship Lewis Calder 8th

Head coach and management (since 1999–00 season)

Season Division Head Coach Manager
1999/2000 Non League Iain Morrison Colin McIntyre
2000/2001 Herts/Middlesex 1 Brett Cookson Colin McIntyre
2001/2002 London 4 NW Kevin Powderly Colin Mcintyre
2002/2003 London 3 NW Kevin Powderly Colin McIntyre
2003/2004 London 2 North Rick Scott Colin McIntyre
2004/2005 London 1 Rowly Williams Colin McIntyre
2005/2006 London 1 Rowly Williams Colin McIntyre
2006/2007 London 1 Terry O'Connor Colin McIntyre
2007/2008 National Division Three South Terry O'Connor Colin McIntyre
2008/2009 National Division Three South Brett Taylor Colin McIntyre
2009/2010 National League One Brett Taylor Colin McIntyre
2010/2011 National League One Simon Amor Colin McIntyre
2011/2012 The Championship Simon Amor Ross Macgregor
2012/2013 The Championship Simon Amor Ross Macgregor
2013/2014 The Championship Simon Amor Laurence Bruggemann

Overall league statistics

Season Division Played Won Draw Lost Points
For		 Points
Against		 Points
Difference		 Points Position
1999/2000 Non League 26 19 1 6 775 341 434 1st
2000/2001 Herts/Middlesex 1 18 17 0 1 554 118 436 34 2nd
2001/2002 London 4 NW 18 14 0 4 533 214 319 28 1st
2002/2003 London 3 NW 18 16 0 2 560 199 361 32 1st
2003/2004 London 2 North 22 20 1 1 752 277 475 41 1st
2004/2005 London 1 22 15 0 7 676 343 333 30 4th
2005/2006 London 1 22 16 1 5 840 324 516 33 3rd
2006/2007 London 1 22 20 0 2 997 235 762 40 1st
2007/2008 National Division Three South 26 17 0 9 633 410 223 83 4th
2008/2009 National Division Three South 26 25 1 0 1092 328 764 120 1st
2009/2010 National League One 30 22 1 7 938 569 369 108 2nd
2010/2011 National League One 30 27 0 3 958 516 442 132 1st
2011/2012 The Championship 22 6 0 16 422 543 −121 34 9th
2012/2013 The Championship 22 10 0 12 456 610 −154 45 8th

Club honours

Current standings

2015–16 RFU Championship Table watch · edit · discuss
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Loss bonus Points
1 Bristol Rugby (CH) 22 20 0 2 718 397 321 14 1 95
2 Doncaster Knights (RU) 22 15 2 5 588 470 118 10 5 79
3 Yorkshire Carnegie (SF) 22 14 0 8 655 466 189 15 7 78
4 Bedford Blues (SF) 22 12 0 10 623 599 24 10 6 64
5 London Welsh 22 11 1 10 442 528 –86 9 3 58
6 Jersey 22 11 1 10 465 466 –1 5 6 57
7 Nottingham Rugby 22 10 0 12 494 483 11 9 7 56
8 London Scottish 22 10 0 12 463 453 10 2 7 49
9 Cornish Pirates 22 8 1 13 530 570 –40 8 7 49
10 Rotherham Titans 22 8 0 14 454 621 –167 3 3 38
11 Ealing Trailfinders 22 6 1 15 523 605 –82 5 6 37
12 Moseley (R) 22 4 0 18 416 715 –-299 6 4 26
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Difference between points for and against
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  5. Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background are promotion play-off places. Pink background is the relegation place.
Updated: 13 May 2016
Source: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Current squad

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For player movements leading up to the 2016–17 season, see List of 2016–17 RFU Championship transfers § London Scottish.

2015-16 Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union
David Cherry Hooker Scotland Scotland
Adam Kwasnicki Hooker England England
Tyrone Moran Hooker Ireland Ireland
Jack Cosgrove (loan) Prop Scotland Scotland
Geoff Cross (loan) Prop Scotland Scotland
James Gibbons (D/R) Prop England England
James Hallam Prop England England
Jimmy Litchfield Prop England England
Max Maidment Prop England England
Kurt Schonert Prop South Africa South Africa
Dave Young Prop Scotland Scotland
Rory Bartle Lock Wales Wales
Andrew Davidson (loan) Lock Scotland Scotland
Neale Patrick Lock Scotland Scotland
Josh Thomas-Brown Lock Scotland Scotland
Mark Bright Flanker England England
Alex Brown Flanker England England
Freddie Clark Flanker England England
Chris Walker Flanker New Zealand New Zealand
Chevvy Pennycook Number 8 England England
Player Position Union
Ben Calder Scrum-half Wales Wales
Matt Heeks Scrum-half Scotland Scotland
George Horne (loan) Scrum-half Scotland Scotland
George Jackson Scrum-half England England
Lee Millar Fly-half Scotland Scotland
Dan Newton Fly-half Wales Wales
Harry Sheppard (D/R) Fly-half England England
Alec Coombes Centre Scotland Scotland
Robbie Fergusson (loan) Centre Scotland Scotland
Oli Grove Centre Scotland Scotland
Jason Harries Centre Wales Wales
Craig Jackson Centre Scotland Scotland
Drew Locke Centre England England
Rory Hughes (loan) Wing Scotland Scotland
Harry Lightfoot-Brown Wing England England
Miles Mantella Wing England England
Andrew Turner Wing England England
Matt Williams Wing England England
Pete Lydon Fullback Ireland Ireland
Russell Weir Fullback Scotland Scotland

Staff

First team

  • Director of Rugby –
  • Team Manager – Laurence Bruggemann
  • Assistant Team Manager – Doug Cowie
  • Forwards Coach – James Buckland

Commercial

  • Chief Executive Officer – Kenny Baillie
  • Finance Director – Ian Smellie

Scotland national team players

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See also: Category:London Scottish F.C. players

The following list of players have represented both London Scottish and the Scotland international team. London Scottish have produced more than 220 Scottish international players, which is more than any other club.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Dick Tyson, London's Oldest Rugby Clubs, p96 (JJG Publishing), 2008
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bath, 1997, pp86,87
  3. ↑ "Greene King IPA Championship Dream XV", RFU.com, 26 May 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  4. ↑ http://www.hampshirerugby.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=393&Itemid=199
  5. ↑ http://www.hampshirerugby.co.uk/national-3-south-0809-mainmenu-341.html?task=view
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

((reflist|30em

External links

Bibliography

  • Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1-86200-013-1)
  • Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ISBN 1-905326-24-6)
  • Godwin, Terry Complete Who's Who of International Rugby (Cassell, 1987, ISBN 0-7137-1838-2)
  • Massie, Allan A Portrait of Scottish Rugby (Polygon, Edinburgh; ISBN 0-904919-84-6)
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