The Edinburgh Academy v Merchiston Castle School

(The world's oldest continuous rugby fixture) Raeburn Place, Edinburgh - Saturday 1st November

On Saturday 1 November the rugby teams of these two great Edinburgh schools met again in their sesquicentenary (150 th) anniversary match. The world’s oldest continuous rugby fixture between two teams of any status, school or club, remains as eagerly anticipated and as keenly contested as it was 150 years ago.

On 11 December 1858 the Academy and Merchiston first played each other at football under the rugby rules. The game was played at Raeburn Place – at that time the Academy cricket ground - and the 20 Merchiston players and their supporters came to  Raeburn Place by omnibus.  

The two schools represent the finest in Scottish schools rugby with the Academy's heritage of over 100 internationalists and Merchiston Castle's outstanding record in both Scottish and British schools rugby in recent years. The tradition of excellence is maintained to the very highest echelons of Scottish rugby where the current international captain is Mike Blair, former pupil at the Academy, and the national coach is Frank Hadden, who was for fifteen years rugby coach at Merchiston. The game promises to be an outstanding display of rugby and a large crowd is expected at Raeburn Place, the venue not only for the very first match between the two schools but also for the first ever rugby international match.

The evening before the game there will be a celebratory dinner at Murrayfield where just over 900 previous participants and their guests from both schools will gather to swap tales and memories. John Beattie will chair the dinner and the toast of ‘rugby football’ will be proposed by former British Lion Fran Cotton. Other speakers will include Iain McLauchlan, Roger Baird and Jeremy Richardson.

Tom Macdonald, the Academy captain, spoke about feeling part of a very special tradition. “My great, great, great grandfather was one of the founders of the Accies football club 150 years ago. I am sure that he would be really proud to see the match against Merchiston still going strong after all this time. It is certainly a great honour for me to take part on Saturday.”

David Cherry, the Merchiston 1 st XV Captain, said: “ I've enjoyed playing rugby at Merchiston for seven years, with a highlight being playing at Murrayfield last year when we won the Schools Cup.  However, this game against Edinburgh Academy is such a famous, historic game, and that is very special.  I'm excited about playing in a game that over the years so many Scottish International players have also played in and all the team is looking forward to another great day in Merchiston rugby."

Synopsis of the first game….

The game started at 11.30pm and was to last for two and a half hours, with no break. It was a typical December day, with frequent rain showers, and in a short time the players were the 'colour of mother earth'. Up until 12.30pm no side had gained any advantage, but then Lyall (the Academy captain) made a rush and ran into touch right behind the Merchiston goal. Merchiston said the rules prohibited running into touch - the Academy said that only related to the side touch - and Merchiston were 'obliged to yield' on that point. Back then, these 'legal problems’ were settled amongst the players – there was no referee to adjudicate. In the end all the arguing was in vain, as the ball was so wet and slippery that the try for a goal was missed!

A little after 1pm Merchiston kicked a goal, but it didn't count because the ball was handed to the player 'off his side'. Then, just before 2pm the Academy had another try at goal but this one was missed as well. Soon after that time was called without a goal being scored by either side.