Scottish League Championship

The Scottish League Championship (currently the BT League Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic rugby union league system within Scotland. Operated by the Scottish Rugby Union, the championship was founded in 1973 as the first formalised national league system within any home nations country. The new six division championship replaced the haphazard "unofficial championship" system that had been in operation until that time. The top division is the Scottish Premiership.

Traditionally the championship has been dominated by teams from the Borders region, the sport's hotbed of popularity in Scotland. This is illustrated by the most successful clubs in the championships history, with Hawick RFC possessing 13 titles and Melrose RFC currently holding eight titles.

Numerous forms of football were played in Scotland in the years prior to the introduction of the Rugby rules which were adopted for the boys of Edinburgh Academy in the early 1850s. The game spread to Merchiston and the Royal High School with inter school games beginning in 1858. In 1857 the former pupils of Edinburgh Academy formed the first club in Scotland. The game spread and by the end of the 1860s the Academicals opponents included Edinburgh University, St Andrews University, the Merchistonians, Royal HSFP, West of Scotland FC, Glasgow Academicals, Edinburgh Wanderers and Glasgow University

As inter club games became more commonplace in the mid-1860s the club with the most successful record in club matches was recognised as the Scottish club champion on an unofficial basis. By the 1870s the Scotsman newspaper would declare the champion Scottish club in its annual review of the football season.The championship was always awarded on the basis of the results between the teams in the championship table only which meant that games against clubs from England or further afield were not counted. Up until 1939 the honour was awarded to the club with the fewest defeats, which led to several seasons where the championship was shared. After 1945 it became more commonplace to determine the champion club based on the percentage of games won.

The Edinburgh Academicals won the first five championships by virtue of being undefeated in club games between 1865–66 and 1869–70. The Academicals retained the championship in 1870–71 as a result of having the best record amongst the Scottish clubs despite the loss of two matches. Glasgow Academicals won the inaugural fixture with the Edinburgh Academicals in 1871–72, and, by remaining undefeated in their other fixtures wrested the championship from Edinburgh for the first time.

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