1998–99 Glasgow Warriors season
| Ground(s) |
Hughenden Stadium Firhill Stadium Rubislaw Playing Fields McDiarmid Park Bridgehaugh Park |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Coach(es) |
 Keith Robertson to January 1999 Richie Dixon from January 1999 |
||
| Captain(s) | Gordon Bulloch | ||
| Most caps |
Stewart Campbell Willie Anderson (13) |
||
| Top scorer | Tommy Hayes (92) | ||
| Most tries | Shaun Longstaff (4) | ||
| League(s) | 1998-99 Scottish Inter-District Championship | ||
| 2nd (Runners Up) | |||
|
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The 1998–99 season is the third in the history of the Glasgow Warriors as a professional side. During this season the young professional side competed as Glasgow Caledonians.
This season saw Glasgow Caledonians compete in the competitions: the Scottish Inter-District Championship and the European Champions Cup, the Heineken Cup - as well as the Welsh Rugby Union's Challenge Cup.
This proved to be one of the most turbulent years in the club's existence. The SRU decided to reduce the number of professional teams in Scotland from 4 to 2. Only Glasgow and Edinburgh now remained standing; with Glasgow taking over the Caledonia district – and Edinburgh taking over the Borders district. The fall-out from this caused many professional players to lose their jobs and created managerial problems at Glasgow.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes there were negotiations on trying to get a suitable league structure in place for the two remaining Scottish professional sides.
The SRU announced on 26 March 1998 that they would be halving the number of teams who compete in Europe.
The move stunned almost everyone in Scottish rugby; including Jim Telfer who had little time to prepare a defence of the four districts. Telfer thought about resigning over the move.
What was even more surprising was the two sides ear-marked for closure. Caledonia Reds were the current Scottish Inter-District Championship holders. Border Reivers were based in Scotland's rugby heartland.
The SRU claimed the move was a rugby decision. The fact that last season's top two sides Caledonia Reds and Glasgow Warriors were being merged into one however made most doubt this.
Some clubs - resentful of the districts in Europe – celebrated the decision and saw it as the death-knell of the Scottish districts. The Hawick president Robert Christie said: "We are strongly in favour of this new development. We want clubs to get back to having a meaningful season." Former Grand Slam winning captain - and part of the 'Gang of Four' arguing against districts - David Sole stated: "This proves yet again that to put the focus on districts was an ill-conceived and ill-planned idea which wasn't thought through".
It soon became clear that finance was at the heart of the decision. The Herald ran this story over the closures: "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the prime reason for the SRU cutting their squad from 120 to 60 is to cut costs and appease the clubs" and "they have slashed the so-called budget by dumping players and they'll save nearly a million quid."
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