Glasgow Academicals
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| Full name | The Glasgow Academical Football Club |
|---|---|
| Union | Scottish Rugby Union |
| Nickname(s) | Glasgow Accies, Accies |
| Founded | 1866 |
| Location | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Region | Glasgow |
| Ground(s) |
New Anniesland formerly Old Anniesland |
| Coach(es) |
 Andy Jackson (Head Coach), Ross Chassels,  Tony Smith |
| Captain(s) |
Stewart Gray / Chris "CJ" Johnstone |
| League(s) | Scottish National League Division Three |
| 2016–17 | Scottish National League Division Three, 3rd |
| Official website | |
| www |
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The Glasgow Academical Football Club is the third oldest rugby football club in Scotland. The club was also a founder member of the Scottish Football Union (the future SRU) in 1873.
In 1997 the decision was made to combine the first XV's of Glasgow Academicals and close rivals Glasgow High Kelvinside (themselves a very new club having been formed when the struggling Glasgow High FP and Kelvinside Academicals clubs combined in 1982), something that was predicted would happen only after "hell freezes over". The combined team was named the Glasgow Hawks. The Hawks won the second division championship and the Scottish Cup in their first year and have since continued in the first division - winning the league in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and the Cup again in 2004 and 2007. In their first year they were regarded as one of the best club sides to have played in Scotland. Accies' stalwart from 1996/97 Glenn Metcalfe together with others such as Derek Stark and Gordon McIlwham were Scottish Internationalists while Mike Beckham and Tommy Hayes played for the Cook Islands.
With the advent of the Hawks, the Glasgow Academicals lost many of their strong first XV but made the decision to continue as a league side for the following year - which under SRU rules meant that they had to rejoin the lowest league of Scottish rugby in Glasgow District division 3. The club raced back up through the leagues - being promoted as league champions five years in succession.
After the 5 straight promotions, Accies challenged for 12 seasons (2004/05 - 2015/16) close to the top and regularly near success in West Regional League Division One before eventually, and long overdue(!), winning the league in their 150th year - 2016 - and giving them promotion to Scottish National League Division Three for 2016/17, after only losing one league game all season. Of the 157 clubs in the National and Regional leagues in 2015-16, only three had a winning % record which bettered Accies. Success came on the 9th April 2016 with a 26-7 win over Allan Glens at the Bearyards.
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Wikipedia