The first game played by the FP Club was in 1867 against the Academicals (Accies),
but the Club was not formed until the next year when it played its games at
Holyrood. At that time the Club was open, but
unfortunately the Rector of the School in 1870 insisted that only FP's would
be allowed to play.
In
the early years, the Club produced many internationalists, including the
honour of having Angus Buchanan in the first international against the Auld
Enemy (27th March 1871 at Raeburn Place). He scored the first
ever international try in the victory over England.
When the Club moved to Grange Loan it entered one of its purple patches
(1881 to 1884), under the Captaincy of Nat Watt. The team was
known as Nat's Lambs, a nickname which did not reflect their style of play
as in 1883-84 they lost
only one game and were recognised as the Scottish Champions.
The turn of the Century was dominated by the career of
Mark Morrison who played for Scotland 23 times,
captaining them to a triple crown in 1901 and then captaining the Lions on
their tour of South Africa. This outstanding sporting
record led to Mark being posthumously inducted into the SRU Hall of Fame,
and also in 2002 into the Scottish Sporting Hall of fame.
In
common with other Clubs, there was no play during the First World War.
Thanks to the efforts of J. Hume and 'Podger' Laing who played for Scotland
before and after the War, the Club was revived with games against
Stewartonians and Heriotonians. The War Memorial was the
purchase of Jock's Lodge for £1000, so the Club moved on to its eighth
ground.
The second purple patch was in the 1930's under the Captaincy of W.D. Emslie,
an international stand off, when crowds of 2000 were experienced.
A three season spell of fast open rugby culminated in
1933-34 when the team
shared the unofficial championship with Hillhead. In 1935
Peter Tait had mixed emotions when he received two postcards in one week,
one selecting him for the Club seconds and the other for Scotland versus
England !
Following instructions from the SRU, no official games were played during
the Second World War. The Club still managed to play over
100, using players on home leave supplemented by School boys.
Normal play was resumed in 1946-47 before the Club had another few
successful seasons, particularly in
1951-52 under the
Captaincy of Alec Harper when they were runners-up in the unofficial
championship. Two now famous characters, Tom McGlashan and Jimmy
Dignall played often and well during this period, Jim eventually passing P.W.
Tait's record number of games.
In
1972, after an expensive visit to the courts, the Club returned to its
original open status. Life continued as normal with the curate's
egg, the occasional good seasons including Pringle Fisher in
1962-63, Eric Ireland
in 1963-64 and Gerry
McCosh in
1976-77.
Two City Council decisions adversely affected the Club.
Firstly the decision to build the new school not beside Jock's Lodge but at
Barnton, and subsequently the withdrawal of the City's annual grant to
Jock's Lodge. These two decisions ultimately resulted in
the sale of Jock's Lodge, and the move to Barnton where the money was used
to build a pavilion, all weather playing surface and a bowling rink.
When the new Scottish League structure was implemented in 1975, the Club was
placed in the First Division, but after a protest from Boroughmuir were
relegated without playing a game. Life in the leagues was
basically a downward spiral with few exceptions. Promotions
included Robin Ford's 1978-79 team to the Second Division, Roy Ross's
1981-82 team to
the First Division, and Alan Wardrop's 1989-90 to the Second Division after
a sharp decline in the 1980's. The decline was due
in no small part to the erosion of talented School pupils to senior clubs to
enhance their playing careers. Several were successful in
gaining international honours.
On
the 9th March 2002 B.J. Scott played his 400th first team game, still a
little short of Hugh MacKenzie's estimated 750 games in all teams and garbs
for the black and whites.
2003-04 found the team in the third Division of the National Leagues, and
struggling to survive. An approach from Corstorphine was
welcomed as many Club members concurred that there were too many clubs
chasing a shrinking pool of players. A strong club in the west
of the City seemed to be a logical solution. As a result, the
highly mobile Royal High School FP Rugby Football Club, founded in 1867, and
having played at nine grounds in its 134 years,
returned to Union Park in Corstorphine as
RHC (Royal High Corstorphine), the
ground where in 1912 they had installed a bath in the pavilion for the
princely sum of £5.10s.
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This most important category is prefaced by an introduction, and includes a
full list and
photographs of all
international players.
The club has produced 26 international
players who have been capped on 210 occasions by Scotland. Those players capped
in the 19th century and in the pre 1914 – 1918 period had only a few
opportunities to play for their country in comparison with opportunities
open to players in the recent past. .This difference in the number of
matches makes Mark Morrison's 23 caps all the more amazing.
A large percentage of the total High
School caps were won by three players; Mark Morrison with 23, J. Pringle
Fisher with 20 and Ivan Tukalo with 37. It must be remembered
that J. Hume and A. D. Laing’s total of 7 each were won before and after the
1914-1918 War.
The Club has produced 4 Scottish captains.
W.R.Gibson on one occasion, Mark C. Morrison 15 times, J Hume 3 times
and J. Pringle Fisher with 9. As always Mark Morrison was
the most successful. He was the first Scottish captain to win three matches
against England and remains the only one to win three Calcutta Cups.
His record of nine victories, two Triple Crowns and three championships over
five seasons remains a record that none of his successors have come close to
matching. Pringle Fisher did however captain Scotland on nine
occasions and also played in their sole
'success' against the All Blacks - the 0-0 draw in 1964.
Six of his caps were from he Club, while the balance were from London
Scottish.
There is also a group of players, listed
,who played for a Scottish XV in games that the S.R.U. did not award caps.
W. A. Gunn, J. Hume, South Africa 1912
J. Hume France 1912, 1920, 1921
W. A. Ferguson Waratahs 1927
A.V. Orr Argentine 1969
B. Laidlaw Argentine 1969
The Australian R.U. retrospectively
declared the Waratahs Tour an Australian Tour and awarded caps to all who
played against the Home Counties. Perhaps the S.R.U. could
make a similar magnanimous gesture!
It is also possible to argue that the
group of High Scholars who were international reserves would have become
capped players under the current laws which allows substitutes. That would
have meant in recent times G. Gramhamslaw and J. Blake may have become
capped players.
There are two interesting stories
concerning High School internationalists which feature in Sandy Thorburn's
History. In the 1880-81 season the by-passing of A.G
(Gordon)
Petrie as captain of the Scottish XV led to a spell of furious disagreement
between the Clubs and the Union, followed by an uneasy truce. Until finally
at the A.G. M. there was a complete sweep of Union Office-Bearers and Petrie
found himself elected President. Petrie played
on eight consecutive occasions against England.
Angus Buchanan was a member of the first
Scottish XV, and is credited with scoring the first try in an international
game - against England at Raeburn Place on the 27th March 1871.
J.P.Veitch was selected to play for
Scotland against Ireland in the 1886 season but decided to give up his cap
so he could tour with the club and play against Halifax on the 20th February
1886. He was selected for the next game against England!
Other players to be capped only by clubs other than RHSFP RFC
included Colin Telfer (Hawick) and Gordon Hunter (Selkirk).
The latest to join this category is Ben Cairns (leaving year 2003) whose
debut was in Scotland's victory over Argentina in Buenos Aires on 14th June
2008.
With the exception of A Buchanan, these players were all
enrolled at the Royal High School and appeared in the FP XV.
On several occasions, all in the 19th Century, their were three High School
FP players in the same international side. Click
Photographs to see
images of the Internationalists.
The Royal High
School Club
