The birth of rugby in Edinburgh: how the handling code captivated the city and led to the first international in 1871.

Edinburgh is right at the heart of rugby history, with the world’s first rugby international played at Raeburn Place in 1871, between Scotland and England. Rugby was the dominant code of football for the city’s schools from the 1850s onwards and Andy Mitchell will detail the series of events that led to the carrying game gaining the upper hand, explaining why young men in Scotland’s capital played rugby football almost exclusively until association football finally made a breakthrough in the 1870s. The pioneers created a legacy that remains with us today as rugby continues to be a thriving sport at school, club and international levels.

Speaker

Andy Mitchell

Andy Mitchell is a Scottish sports historian who runs a dedicated sports history website and has written several books including a Who’s Who of Scotland footballers and the story of the first international match. He was brought up in Edinburgh and when he went to his first football match in 1970 – an Edinburgh derby, no less – he was immediately hooked on the game despite attending a rugby-playing school. He was fortunate enough to have spent most of his career in the media working in football, as Head of Communications at the Scottish Football Association and as a freelance media officer for UEFA. Now retired, he lives in Portobello and is researching sports history as vigorously as ever.