Border League - History

History

By tradition, the two main strongholds of Scottish rugby have been the cluster of towns that flank the River Tweed in the Borders, and the private schools of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Although this situation has changed somewhat, the Borders still exert a disproportionate influence upon the Scottish game, and have made a major contribution to world rugby in the form of rugby sevens.

Between them the two camps have directly or indirectly provided the vast majority of Scotland's international players, but their different traditions have produced an enmity based as much on class as geography.

That tension was evident even in the late Victorian period, when rugby's popularity was growing in both areas. In the Borders where clubs such as Hawick, Gala and Jed Forest were largely working class institutions, there was a resentment of the haughty control exerted by representatives of city schools on the Scottish Football Union (as the SRU was known then).

On more than one occasion, the mutual distrust almost led to the creation of a breakaway group that would have mirrored developments in England, where the rebel Northern League produced the game of rugby league.

The Border sides, however, remained in the Scottish rugby union fold. Yet their desire for more meaningful rugby at a time when the SRU viewed that concept with disdain, was to produce in the 1901–2 season, the Border League, the championship which is now the game's oldest and most established competitive club league.

The League's original members were Gala, Hawick, Langholm, Melrose and Jed Forest. In 1912, Selkirk and Kelso joined to bring the competition up to seven teams, a number which did not change until 1996, when Peebles after years of lobbying, was admitted into the competition.

Throughout its history, the League has been contested on a home and away basis. surviving even the introduction of National Leagues in 1973. Then with a fine sense of irony, the Border clubs opposed the arrival of the national championship, fearful of the effect it would have on their own competition.

By the end of the 1996–7 season, Hawick's 43 Border titles – outright or shared – made them easily the most successful side. Melrose had won 14, Jed Forest six, Kelso five, Selkirk three and Langholm one. Recent innovations have included play-offs, when the League produces a tie, and a points for tries system.