Welsh-Scottish League
| Welsh - Scottish League |
|---|
| Founded |
| 1999 (lasted three seasons) |
| Nations |
 Scotland  Wales
|
| Number of teams |
| 11–12 |
| 1999–00 League Winners |
| Cardiff 1999–00 Welsh-Scottish League season |
| 2000–01 League Winners |
| Swansea 2000–01 Welsh-Scottish League season |
| 2001–02 League Winners |
| Llanelli 2001–02 Welsh-Scottish League season |
| Level on pyramid |
| Level 1 |
| Relegation to |
| WRU Championship (except 2001–02 season) |
| Preceded by |
| 1998–99 Scottish Inter-District Championship 1998–99 Welsh Premier Division |
| Superseded by |
2002–03 Scottish Inter-District Championship 2002–03 Welsh Premier Division 2002–03 Celtic League |
The Welsh-Scottish League was a rugby union league in Scotland and Wales jointly implemented by the Scottish Rugby Union and the Welsh Rugby Union from the 1999–2000 season onwards. It was a precursor to the Celtic League and lasted three seasons, being disbanded after the Celtic League was set up.
When World Rugby decreed an Open Game for Rugby Union in 1995, the Northern Hemisphere nations reacted with varying degrees of speed and enthusiasm to the new professional game.
Wales and the Welsh Rugby Union largely continued as was. They entered teams into the 1995–96 season's European Rugby Champions Cup, the Heineken Cup; alongside teams from Ireland, Italy, Romania and France.
Scotland and the Scottish Rugby Union, however, largely was stunned by the announcement. Scotland did not enter any teams into the 1995–96 season's Heineken Cup.
While Wales continued with the club model and attempted to professionalise their amateur clubs to compete in Europe, in Scotland the debate reached fever pitch.
Scotland had the oldest Districts in rugby union. The Glasgow/Edinburgh provincial derby was the oldest Inter-District derby in the world.Glasgow District and Edinburgh District were founded in 1872 (Hence Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby play for the 1872 Cup to commemorate this). The other districts North and Midlands and South were formed later, and they all played in the Scottish Inter-District Championship from 1953 onwards.
Unlike Ireland, whose provincial teams Leinster, Connacht, Munster and Ulster were members of the IRFU and had their own grounds; in Scotland the districts were not members of the Scottish Rugby Union and played in various club grounds in their districts. This meant that Ireland quickly embraced their districts on professionalism. In Scotland this debate had to be completed; and the members of the Scottish Rugby Union would decide on the way forward. The clubs were the members.
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