A Breif History

On Thursday 11 September 1980 nine men met at the Rosemount Golf Hotel in Blairgowrie to form a Rugby Club. There was no club in the town, but rugby was being taught at the local High School by Ian Goodfellow.

Jim Watson agreed to be the initial chairman with Willy Hunter as Coach/Trainer, Mike Stevenson as Secretary, Stuart Robb as Treasurer and Niall Campbell as Match Secretary. Sandy Chisholm, Bill Craythorne, Dave McKechnie and Bill McGregor formed the Fund Raising Committee.

Some twenty-six potential players had trained earlier that evening at the school pitch and from this early assistance a long standing link with the High School was born. Lex Dunlop the High School Rector agreed to be President and to allow the Club to use the pitch and changing rooms for training and games.

In its first year the club joined the SRU via its membership of the Midlands Union, had twenty-six registered players and played fifteen games, which was good considering the club was formed after the fixtures for the leagues were set. A record five wins, one draw and nine losses was seen as a reasonable start.

After many meetings had taken place a proposal was accepted by the J J Coupar Trust to build a pitch at the J J Coupar Parks with a pitch being laid out in the summer of 1984. By this time many stalwarts had joined the initial enthusiasts and Bernard Walton, Charlie Ambrose, Tim Edwards and Bruce MacLeod led a strong group who worked tirelessly to develop the ground. The pitch was opened on Sunday 1 September 1985 with a North Midlands Select playing the 1st XV.

A residential 'hut' was dismantled in Dunkeld and erected as an implement shed in 1986. Some £25,000 was raised by fundraising and loans and some purpose built changing rooms were opened on 1 Sptember 1987 with an evening match against a Co-Optimist Rugby Club select. The Club had great help from local businesses and supporters, but President Bernard Walton was the driving force behind the development over these formative years.

The Club continued to have an International interest with tours to Wales, France and Ireland with recent tours to Denmark in 2000 and Northern Ireland in 2007.

In 1991 a group of enthusiastic parents met in the Rosemount Golf Hotel and the Blairgowrie Youth Rugby Club was formed attracting over forty young players at Mini and Midi level. The youth section has had a number of successes over the years including hosting the Royal National Mod Mini Rugby tournament at Blairgowrie in 1996 and winning the Gordon Petri trophy at Crieff in 1997. Blairgowrie under eighteens have also had success winning the prestigious Algo 10'Ss trophy in 2002 and 2003. In 2003 they scored two hundred and forty-four points during the whole tournament, a record that will be difficult to beat.
A number of young local players have also gone on to play for other clubs at Premier League and National League level and have also represented the club at Regional and National levels namely the Lamont brothers (Sean and Rory), the Coupar brothers (Mathew and Patrick) and more recently David Rattray.

In 2001 the Club Committee raised over £25,000 which was used to refurbish the clubhouse under the auspices of the then president Nigel Harding, Treasurer Duncan MacRae and long serving committee member and player Ralph Donaldson who has probably been one of the most significant contributors to the Club's survival over the years. The newly furbished club was officially opened by Sir William Macpherson of Clunie, a long standing supporter of the Club, following a match against Watsonians Rugby Club led by former British Lion and Scottish Internationalist Scott Hastings.

The Senior Club won Caledonia League Division 2 (Midlands) 2007/2008 and is keen to take promotion to the next league.

Our junior section, which includes micro, midi and mini rugby, is now well established with regular training and games . There is now an U16/U17 side to encourage the youth to develop through all youth stages and progress into the senior team. The club also coaches all Blairgowrie High School rugby teams.