Scottish League Championship


The Scottish League Championship is the domestic rugby union league system within Scotland. Operated by the Scottish Rugby Union, the championship was founded in 1973 as the first formalised national league system within any home nations country.
The new six division championship replaced the haphazard Scottish Unofficial Championship that had been in operation until that time. The new top division is the Scottish Premiership.
Traditionally the championship has been dominated by teams from the Borders region, the sport's hotbed of popularity in Scotland. This is illustrated by the most successful clubs in the championships history, with Hawick RFC possessing 13 titles and Melrose RFC currently holding eight titles.

History

For the history of the League championship before the 1973-74 season see:
The Scottish Rugby Union created a formal six division championship from the 1973–74 season, the first within any home nations country. The union's full member clubs were allocated into the new divisions, an arrangement that suited some of the 'open' clubs but many of the older former pupils clubs found it difficult to compete successfully and were forced into going 'open' themselves in an attempt to attract the better players. The new open clubs retained their FP or Academical names and continued to play on school owned grounds whilst those who persisted with their founding membership rules declined or disappeared altogether. The Championship's impact on the national team was quickly apparent; with fewer players being selected from English clubs to represent Scotland. For the first time since the First World War, the domestic game was strong enough to produce an adequate number of players of genuine international class.
The early decades of Championship rugby were dominated by Hawick who were crowned champions for 10 of the first 14 seasons. Heriot’s FP became the first 'Former Pupil' and 'City' club to win the Championship in 1979, they had already attracted "outsiders"; their leading try-scorer was Bill Gammell, a Fettesian already capped by the Scotland national rugby union team while playing for Edinburgh Wanderers. The first twenty years of Championship rugby saw large crowds and continued success, this period is largely considered the peak of domestic rugby union within Scotland to date. The early dominance of clubs in the Scottish Borders has faded in recent years with the rise of clubs from the Central Belt; especially Glasgow Hawks and Ayr RFC.
During the Championships forty-year history the Scottish Rugby Union and its member clubs have re-organised the competition several times, usually revolving around the number of participants in certain divisions. A complementary knock-out cup competition was introduced from 1995 with Border clubs again dominating the competition, starting with Hawick defeating Watsonians in the inaugural final.

Championship and Cup Winners

SeasonChampionship WinnersCup Winners
1973–74Hawick
1974–75Hawick
1975–76Hawick
1976–77Hawick
1977–78Hawick
1978–79Heriot's
1979–80Gala
1980–81Gala
1981–82Hawick
1982–83Gala
1983–84Hawick
1984–85Hawick
1985–86Hawick
1986–87Hawick
1987–88Kelso
1988–89Kelso
1989–90Melrose
1990–91Boroughmuir
1991–92Melrose
1992–93Melrose
1993–94Melrose
1994–95Stirling County
1995–96MelroseHawick
1996–97MelroseMelrose
1997–98WatsoniansGlasgow Hawks
1998–99Heriot'sGala
1999–00Heriot'sBoroughmuir
2000–01HawickBoroughmuir
2001–02HawickHawick
2002–03BoroughmuirHeriot's
2003–04Glasgow HawksGlasgow Hawks
2004–05Glasgow HawksBoroughmuir
2005–06Glasgow HawksWatsonians
2006–07CurrieGlasgow Hawks
2007–08BoroughmuirMelrose
2008–09AyrHeriot's
2009–10CurrieAyr
2010–11MelroseAyr
2011–12MelroseGala
2012–13AyrAyr
2013–14MelroseHeriot's
2014–15Heriot'sBoroughmuir
2015–16Heriot'sHeriot's
2016–17AyrMelrose
2017–18MelroseMelrose
2018–19Ayr

Official Scottish League Championship Wins by Club

Certain leagues are not included in the system:
In addition, competitive rugby at universities, and rugby for 2nd and 3rd XVs, is organised separately, and in the case of 2nd and 3rd XVs on something of an ad-hoc basis. Note that the larger universities run their first teams in both the Scottish Championship, and in the university leagues.
See University Leagues in Scotland and 2nd XV Leagues in Scotland for further details.