Border League
| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1901 |
| No. of teams | 10 |
| Countries |
 Scotland England
|
| Most recent champion(s) |
Gala RFC |
The Border League, is the oldest established rugby union league in the World, having been formed in 1901. Currently known as the Booker Border League, after its sponsors, teams from all over the Scottish Borders as well as Berwick RFC from Northumberland compete every year from the competition.
The Borders has always been a stronghold of rugby union, coupled with the competitive rivalry that exists between the local Border towns, derbies are something to behold, with the teams fighting for pride as well as league points.
Although originally the premier tournament for its clubs, the formation of a league system in the 1970s means that Border clubs now play in the Scottish League Championship and the Scottish Cup and, although still prestigious, the Border League is now regarded by many of its members as more of a supplementary competition. The current holders are Gala RFC who beat Selkirk RFC in 2016.
By tradition, the two main strongholds of Scottish rugby have been the cluster of towns that flank the River Tweed in the Borders, and the private schools of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Although this situation has changed somewhat, the Borders still exert a disproportionate influence upon the Scottish game, and have made a major contribution to world rugby in the form of rugby sevens.
Between them the two camps have directly or indirectly provided the vast majority of Scotland's international players, but their different traditions have produced an enmity based as much on class as geography.
That tension was evident even in the late Victorian period, when rugby's popularity was growing in both areas. In the Borders where clubs such as Hawick, Gala and Jed Forest were largely working class institutions, there was a resentment of the haughty control exerted by representatives of city schools on the Scottish Football Union (as the SRU was known then).
On more than one occasion, the mutual distrust almost led to the creation of a breakaway group that would have mirrored developments in England, where the rebel Northern League produced the game of rugby league.
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