History of Melrose Rugby Football Club

Melrose Football Club, winners of the Ladies' Cup at Melrose, April 1883.

The Melrose Club was founded in 1877, and was elected to full membership of the Scottish Rugby Union in 1880. In the early years the club's achievements were fairly modest. Their first Border League success came in 1910-11 and their second in 1938-39. Since the Second World War, however, Melrose have remained among Scotland's leading clubs. The unofficial championship was won in 1951-52, 1962-63 and 1966-67 and the Border League won five times between the war and 1971.

League rugby was introduced to Scotland in 1973 at a difficult time for Melrose and in the early years of the competition the club often struggled in the relegation area of the 1st Division. Twice they were relegated but on both occasions came straight back as Division 2 Champions. The 1980s saw a steady improvement, with Melrose finishing third in 1987-88 and winning the championship in 1989-90. This victory was followed by the most consistently successful period in the club's history with successful championship wins in 1992, 1993, 1995 and five successful Border League Championships.

Greenyards, home of Melrose Rugby Football Club.

The inaugural Tennents Premiership was also won in 1996 following a points differential win over Stirling County, and again in 1997. In 1997 Melrose also won the SRU Tennants national Cup - the first team to win this trophy and the Border League Championship, as well as the Melrose Sevens Cup - all in all the most successful season ever for the Club.

Melrose have provided 22 internationalists. Craig Chalmers is the most capped with 57 caps, followed by Keith Robertson, who gained 44 caps. Other caps include Jim Telfer, who had a tremendous influence over the club's fortunes as a player and coach, and is now Director of Rugby and coach for Scotland.

The Melrose Club's most notable contribution to the game was the introduction of seven-a-side rugby. In 1883, to raise funds for the club, the first tournament was played - the idea being credited to Ned Haig, a player at the time. Sevens are now played all over the world but every year on the second Saturday of April the World's Premier Club Sevens takes place at Greenyards.