Glasgow Academicals RFC
 |
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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 |
| League(s) | Scottish National League Division Three |
| 2016–17 | current 5th |
| Official website | |
| www |
|
The Glasgow Academical Football Club is the third oldest rugby football club in Scotland. Its history is notable for a number of reasons - including the clubs longevity, its early foundation in the timeline of rugby, and the fact that the club has produced so many internationals. Significantly, the club was also a founder member of the Scottish Football Union (the future SRU) in 1873.
The Glasgow Academical Football Section was founded in 1866 when a number of former pupils of Glasgow Academy, under the chairmanship of the Rector, Mr Morrison, adopted a resolution that an Academical Club should be formed. At a time when the rules of rugby were far from formalised, the new club elected to play on the lines of the Edinburgh Academical Club. The club played their first match in the season 1867–68 but despite formalising their own rule set, disputed matches based on rule interpretation still abounded. The Glasgow Academicals in their history record that in "a match against West of Scotland in 1869 the ball was kicked over the West's goal-line, but over a fence into the adjoining field, whereupon a West of Scotland player went to the fence, but Arthur, for the Academical, got over and touched down. It was taken to be a try, but West of Scotland disputing the touch, a goal was not attempted. As the History of Glasgow Academy so rightly observes, 'The dead ball line now fortunately renders it unnecessary for the players to indulge in obstacle races'."
By 1871 the Club had a membership of almost 200 and by 1889 it was well over 500. The team had established itself as one of the best in Scotland with a record from 1867 to 1882 showing that of 145 matches in sixteen seasons it lost only 11 of them. In eight of these seasons it was undefeated. The Club became the first to send a team across the border into England and in December 1870 the Academicals played Liverpool and Manchester on their home grounds drawing both matches. The club was also the first Scottish Club to play in London when it defeated Blackheath FC in March 1878. Ireland had also been visited in 1872 when the North of Ireland FC was defeated in Belfast.
After the third international match against England, played at Partick in Glasgow in March 1873, a number of clubs decided to form what would become the Scottish Rugby Union. Representatives from a number of clubs met at Glasgow Academy and formed the union, the Academicals being one of the original clubs. The first rules of the Union were drawn up by a committee in which two Academicals, J.W. Arthur and A.Harvey served. Many internationals emanated from the club in the 1870s and early 1880s, however the club's prominence declined from 1883 until the start of the twentieth century and in this time the Club played a less-important part in Scottish rugby.
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Wikipedia