Rugby
The main winter activity at The Glasgow Academy is Rugby. We play two terms of competitive fixtures against other schools across the country. These range from Prep 6 through to our Senior 1st XV.
We also play in the Scottish Rugby Conference system, winning our section in its inaugural year, and in the Under 16 and Under U18 Scottish Cups, again run by Scottish Rugby.
As an activity rugby develops many personal qualities that boys will use throughout their school life and hopefully beyond. They become part of a whole-school team culture whereby they must have a selfless attitude, will be required to show levels of discipline, will need to show resilience, will have to show humility both in victory and defeat and have a work ethic that benefits themselves and others.
On a Saturday morning at New Anniesland you will see the heartbeat of what The Glasgow Academy is about – team work, endeavour and enjoyment.
One of the oldest clubs in Scotland, Glasgow Academicals were the first rugby football team to play in England, in 1870. International rugby was born when the first Club captain, JW Arthur, signed the challenge letter to the Clubs of England to play Scotland under 20-a-side rules. There were six Glasgow Academicals in that first Scottish team in 1871 – a team that defeated England in the first ever rugby international. The match was played in Edinburgh and Glasgow Academical Willie Cross converted the first goal ever recorded in International rugby football.
In 1873 the Glasgow Academicals hosted a meeting in the Glasgow Academy that gave birth to the Scottish Football Union (later renamed the Scottish Rugby Union). Numerous Glasgow Academy pupils have played rugby for Scotland and gone on to represent Scotland in adult life too.
For the first time since 1871, JW Arthur’s turquoise Scotland cap, on loan from Glasgow Academicals, was reunited with Arthur Guillemard’s England Cap on display at the World Rugby Museum in Twickenham in 2011.
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