Welcome to Raeburn Place

'The cradle of rugby football in Scotland'

In moderns times I suppose popular opinion regards Murrayfield as the home of Scottish rugby, but Raeburn Place, which has been the playing field of The Edinburgh Academy and The Edinburgh Academical Football Club since 1854 and 1857 respectively, was the birthplace of the game in Scotland and has aptly been described as ‘the cradle of rugby football in Scotland’.

The ground is redolent of rugby history. Its place in the annals of the game is unique.

It was at Raeburn Place that the first rugby international, and incidentally the first under either code, was played between Scotland and England in 1871, and in view of the results in recent encounters with the ‘Auld Enemy’ it is perhaps permissible to mention that Scotland won that day! The first Calcutta Cup match was played at Raeburn Place in 1879. In more recent times the Club played host to the first Women’s Rugby World Cup Final in 1994 and in 2004 eight of the U21 World Cup group games. The Club continues to set the benchmark for rugby development in Edinburgh with their Broughton-Accies-Trinity (Edinburgh BATs Rugby) initiative, a tie up between ‘Accies’ and nearby clubs Brougton RFC and Trinity Academicals RFC with the aim of developing youth rugby at both school and club level throughout North Edinburgh.

Accies is the oldest rugby club in Scotland and the second oldest in the world behind Dublin University Football Club (founded 1854). The Club boasts more capped players for Scotland than any other Scottish club including such greats as G P S MacPherson (captain of the 1925 Grand Slam team), Douglas Elliott, Brian Neil, Rodger Arneil, David Sole (captain of the 1990 Grand Slam team), Rob Wainwright, Scott Murray and more recently, Mike Blair, Stuart Moffat, Tom Philip, Donnie McFadyen, David Callam and Phil Godman. Indeed, Philip was the 100th player from The Edinburgh Academy to play international rugby.

For futher information on the history of the game in Scotland - and the role Raeburn Place and the Club has played in it - why not read the excellent articles produced by the Scottish Rugby Union?

From Raeburn Place to Murrayfield - a Past with a Future

The Calcutta Cup

Rugby Union, the Game comes to Scotland 

We hope you enjoy your visit to Raeburn Place and that you, like so many of us, come here as a ‘worshipper at the shrine’. Let your thoughts wander over the historic past you never knew, and relish the good times ahead!

‘The Academicals had progressed a stage further to form a senior club which at once managed to arrange two fixtures. Their first match against an Edinburgh University team was an extraordinary affair since it was played on four Saturdays starting on 26 December 1857 and finishing on 16 January 1858. There was no university club at this time and this team would be a group of students on vacation in the city. Nevertheless, this encounter would appear to be the earliest recorded senior game in Scotland.

It was the best of seven goals with 25 players on each side ... On the first day the students scored one goal; there followed two scoreless days but on the fourth Saturday, with the teams increased to 30, the Academicals between 2pm and 3.30pm had kicked the four goals required to win.’