Berwick Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team that was founded in 1926, and reformed in 1968. The team is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, on the English side of the border with Scotland. They are affiliated to both the English Rugby Football Union and the Scottish Rugby Union. They play in the Scottish Rugby Union Scottish National League Division Two.
| Full name | Berwick Rugby Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Northumberland RFU, Scottish RU | ||
| Founded | 1926 | ||
| Location | Berwick-upon-Tweed, England | ||
| Ground(s) | Scremerston (Capacity: 10,000) | ||
| Chairman | Board of Members | ||
| League(s) | Scottish National League Division Two | ||
| 2021–22 | Scottish National League Division Three, 2nd of 12 | ||
| |||
| Official website | |||
| www | |||
Berwick play their home games at Scremerston.
History
editBerwick Rugby club was formed in the SRU in 1926 and played in the South District Union. Its playing standard improved until the early 1930s and although it survived annual difficulties of finding players and pitches it could not survive the outbreak of the Second World War which robbed it of both. When the club was reborn in 1968 it had three main aims - to strive for as high a standard of rugby as possible for the club and its individual members, to create a good physical environment for rugby, and to be part of the sporting and social fabric of Berwick. Pursuit of the first aim has taken the Club to the BT Scottish Premiership (Division 2). In 2004 it won the National Shield and in 2006 reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup. To date, the highest individual honours are headed by the 17 full Scottish caps won by Craig Smith and the thirty three by Gavin Kerr. Both were in the 2006 Six Nations Squad. Kerr was a member of the 2003 World Cup Squad and the Six Nations Squads of 2004 and 2005. Mark Lee captained the Scottish VII in 2002 Commonwealth Games and played with the British Army in 2005. Andrew Skeen played for the Scotland VII in the 2006 IRB Tournament. Current Berwick players have won many age-group, School and Student international and regional honours and the Club boasts a full international referee in Iain Ramage. In 2001 the club was invited to join the Border League, becoming only the second English Club in rugby's oldest league. The club has sides in the Border League, the new cross-Border League, the Border Semi-Junior League and age-group competitions from minis to Colts on both sides of the Border. The club has an increasingly skilled Ladies section which won promotion in 1999 and 2000 and was runner-up in the National Bowl in 2004.
London Scottish is another example of a rugby club in both the English and Scottish rugby unions.
Berwick Sevens
editThe rugby club runs the Berwick Sevens tournament. This takes place annually in April and the competition is part of the Kings of the Sevens tournament.
It has been won by the hosts only the once, in 1986.[1]
Current holders of the trophy (2019) are Watsonians.[2]
Notable players
editNotable players for Berwick RFC include
Craig Smith capped for Scotland- Gavin Kerr capped for Scotland
- James King currently playing for Edinburgh Rugby
- Andrew Skeen capped and captained for Scotland Sevens team
Mark Lee capped and captained for the Army at XV and 7's and Scotland Sevens team- Jason Girdwood
Honours
edit- Berwick Sevens
- Champions (1): 1986
- Hawick Linden Sevens
- Champions (1): 2012
- Northumberland Senior Cup: 1997
- Northumberland Senior Plate: 2003
Scottish Shield winners: 2004, 2019.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Berwick - Kings of the 7s".
- ^ Kings of the 7s (21 April 2019). "Berwick 7s Final: Boroughmuir 17-24 Watsonians".
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