Ayr RFC
| Full name | Ayr Rugby Football Club |
|---|---|
| Union | Scottish Rugby Union |
| Founded | 1897 |
| Location | Ayr, Scotland |
| Ground(s) | Millbrae |
| Coach(es) |
 Calum Forrester |
| League(s) | Scottish Premiership |
| 2015–16 | 1st |
| Official website | |
| www |
|
Ayr Rugby Football Club are a rugby union side, currently playing in the Scottish Premiership.
The team are based in Ayr in Scotland, and they play at Millbrae, Alloway.
Millbrae is a rugby ground used by Ayr for both training and practice. It has two full size rugby fields, one overlooked by a grandstand, and a clubhouse, which is used mainly for changing rooms, the function room and the bar. Millbrae is adjacent to the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and can be accessed either by a road from Alloway or via a small gate beside the museum.
Millbrae became Ayr's home in 1964, the club having moved from the original ground at Newton Park to Dam Park, then to the Old Racecourse and King George V playing field before finally taking up residence in Alloway. Newton Park is now the venue of international bowls competitions, Dam Park is an athletics stadium and King George V is given over to soccer, although its claim to fame came from the time of a full Scottish trial was staged there in 1958, every other ground in Scotland being frostbound.
Throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Ayr produced players of international standard. One who played and went on to be capped out of London Scottish was Alistair Boyle. Although supplying players to the Glasgow side (and Glasgow clubs) Ayr had to wait until 1977 for the first home-grown player to gain international honours. Winger David Ashton won his B cap against France and in the following year John Brown was in the B side at full back in the same fixture.
In 1980 Stephen Munro won the first of his ten full caps, against Ireland, the last coming in the Welsh match of the 1984 Grand Slam season. Probably Ayr's finest hour in representative terms came in December 1984 when five players – skipper Alan Brown returning from serious knee injury, half backs George Nicolson and Grant Steel, and wing forwards David Brown and Colin McCallum – lined up for Glasgow against the touring Australians. The three Brown brothers certainly made impact on rugby in Ayr. Alan skippered the team for several seasons, led the club on a Canadian Tour and carried on as coach/player.
Other Ayr players who gained international caps at other clubs were Gordon Strachan, Quintin Dunlop, Derek Stark, Derrick Lee.
Strachan returned to Ayr in the late 1970s, when he captained the club. He went on to coach the team, leading them from the 3rd to 1st division.
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