In Scotland, the sport of Australian rules football is a minor, relatively unknown sport, currently played at amateur level by men and women teams from five clubs spread across the regions of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife and West Lothian. The Haggis Cup, a major invitational tournament hosted in Scotland, has been run annually since 2004. Unlike the sport in England, in Scotland, the main format is nine-a-side footy played on rugby union fields.
The sport has a long history in Scotland but with extended periods of inactivity. Scottish involvement had a big influence on the sport's development in its earliest days, coordinating the first competition and trophy, the Caledonian Challenge Cup in 1861, establishing Australian rules football in Queensland in 1866 and one of the game's earliest and most successful clubs, the Essendon Football Club in 1872. The game was first established in Edinburgh in 1888 by students from Edinburgh University.
Edinburgh has hosted the EU Cup, including the 2012 tournament and most recently in 2022. The national men's team best result is 5th in 2009, the women's team's has achieved 3rd in both 2014 and 2022. In all other international tournaments including the AFL Europe Championship and Australian Football International Cup, Scotland competes as part of the combined Great Britain men's or women's side.
Scottish players have featured in the Australian Football League as early as 1897, its first year of competition.
Scots were playing forms of football during the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s contributing to the early mix of rules played that eventually morphed into Australian rules.[1] Scots living in Melbourne and Victoria in the mid-19th century were greatly involved in the formation of the rules of the game, as well as the formation of a number of early clubs.
The first competition and trophy in 1861 was the instigation of the Royal Caledonian Society and known as the Caledonian Challenge Cup.[2] Among the members was George Frederick Bowen who born in Sydney to Scottish immigrants who founded the Carlton Football Club.[3]
David Watterston of Balgone Barns, Haddingtonshire learned the game upon migrating to Melbourne, but importantly was founder of the Brisbane Football Club which commenced Australian rules football in Queensland in 1866 the second British colony to take up the sport.
One club formed by Scots was the Essendon Football Club (participating in the elite Australian Football League) formed in 1872[4] which was founded by Robert McCracken, born in Ayrshire who emigrated at the age of 28.[5] The now-defunct Glasgow Redbacks wore black jumpers with a red diagonal stripe across the front, the same as worn by Essendon Football Club said to recognise the Scottish roots of Essendon.
As early as April 1888 students at Edinburgh University (mostly Australian) had formed a team. The team contested a match in England against London University on 14 April 1888. Reports in July 1889 from Australia appear to indicate that the sport continued for a time in Edinburgh, but that the Edinburgh team "wiped out every competing team".[6] Records of any team beyond this appear not to have survived.
There are rumours of a competition near the River Clyde during the early 20th Century, referred to in Geoffrey Blainey's A Game of Our Own, where a number of expatriate Australians were based in Scotland either as Ship Workers or Soldiers. Had this league existed, and there is no proof it ever did, then it had died out around the time of the First World War.
During the 1990s the Caledonian Sharks were set up by John Boland, with the travelling restraints at the time club games lessened over the years until a period of inactivity until being adopted and rebranded as the Glasgow Sharks by Andrew Butler in 2003. The Edinburgh Puffins and modern SARFL came about through the work of Andrew Butler and Richard Prentice, former players with BARFL side, North London Lions. Butler and Prentice began plans for the SARFL in the winter of 2003. Intra city friendlies began in early 2003 and a combined rules match against Edinburgh Gaelic side Dunedin Connolleys. The Puffins made their debut in the 2003 Northern Cup tournament staged in St Helens. The side remained unbeaten against the then St Helens Miners and Wandsworth Demons. Later in 2003, the Puffins staged a home and away series against Oxford University winning both hard-fought games. The inaugural SARFL season was held in 2004 with a league consisting of two sides in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow. The Puffins name, originally conceived by inaugural Edinburgh Puffins coach Gavin England was subsequently conferred upon the Scottish national team. Later in 2010 the Scottish Puffins were rebranded as the Scottish Clansmen.
In 2006, Glasgow and Edinburgh considered competing in the BARFL Regional competition, though travel problems saw them continue an expanded SARFL local competition with the Glasgow Redbacks and Middlesbrough Hawks from northern England joining the league. The Hawks left the league in 2007 to join the northern division of Aussie Rules UK, and the Scottish league had difficulty in operating on more than a social match level in 2008.
The league was relaunched in 2009, with the Glasgow and Edinburgh playing bases consolidated to one club in each city. They were joined by a new club in Aberdeen, named the "Aberdingoes".
| Competition | Region | First season | Scottish Teams | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scottish Australian Rules Football League (SARFL) | Glasgow, Edinburgh, Kirkaldy & Broxburn | 2004 | 5 | Scottish AFL |
| Haggis Cup | Invitational | 2004 | ||
The following teams are active in Scotland:
| Colours | Club | Founded | Years active | Home ground | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003- | 2003- | Official website | ||||
| 2015 | 2015- | Official website | ||||
| 2003 | 2003- | Official website | ||||
| 2013 | 2013- | Facebook page | ||||
| 2013 | 2018- | Official website (based in Newcastle but participates in Scottish leagues) | ||||
| 2016 | 2016- | Facebook page |
| Club | Founded | Years active | Home ground | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen Eagles | 2009 | 2009–2013 | (known as the Dingoes until 2011) | ||
| Falkirk Silverbacks | 2015 | 2015–2016 |
The Haggis Cup is a major regional tournament hosted in Scotland involving teams from Scotland with invitational teams from the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe that has been run annually since 2004.
| Year | Date | Men's winners | Women's winners | Host venue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Glasgow Sharks | ||||
| 2005 | Glasgow Sharks | ||||
| 2006 | Dublin Demons | ||||
| 2007 | 5 May | Edinburgh Bloods | Glasgow | ||
| 2008 | 12 April | Edinburgh Bloods | Glasgow | ||
| 2009 | 23 May | Aberdingoes | Glasgow | ||
| 2010 | 10 April | Dublin Demons | Cartha Queens Park RFC, Glasgow | ||
| 2011 | 9 April | Glasgow Sharks | Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow | ||
| 2012 | 21 April | Edinburgh Bloods | Dublin Angels | Peffermill fields, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh | |
| 2013 | Edinburgh Bloods | ||||
| 2014 | 12 April | Glasgow Sharks | Tyne Tees Tigers | GHA Rugby Club, Giffnock, Glasgow | |
| 2015 | 11 April | Huddersfield Rams[8] | Peffermill fields, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh | ||
| 2016 | Wimbledon Hawks | Saltires | Peffermill fields, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh | ||
| 2017 | Nottingham Scorpions | University of Birmingham | West of Scotland F.C., Milngavie, Glasgow | ||
| 2018 | 14 April | Wandsworth Demons | West of Scotland F.C., Milngavie, Glasgow | ||
| 2019 | 2 March | Manchester Mosquitoes | Edinburgh | ||
| 2020 | Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic | ||||
| 2021 | Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic | ||||
| 2022 | 2 April | Edinburgh Bloods | Peffermill fields, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh | ||
| 2023 | 15 April | South Dublin Swans | Edinburgh Bloods[9] | Lenzie Rugby Club, Glasgow |
| Scotland | |
| Badge: | Flag of Scotland.svg |
| Nickname: | Clansmen |
| Union: | AFL Europe |
| Rank: | Not ranked |
| Rank Date: | October 2022[10] |
| Ic Apps: | 0 |
The Scottish national team, The Clansmen, compete in 1–3 events per calendar year. These events are typically the Tri-Nations Championship, the AFL Europe Euro Cup and an additional challenge match or friendly tournament across the European continent.
Euro Cup Participation
Formally known as the EU Cup, for which Scotland participated the inaugural event in London 2005, again in Prague 2008 and also in Zagreb 2009. Since becoming the Euro Cup in 2010 Scotland has participated in a further 6 of the 8 AFL Europe Euro Cup competitions to date, these were; Milan 2010; Belfast 2011; Edinburgh 2012; London 2014; Lisbon 2016 and; Bordeaux 2017.
The Scottish Clansmens strongest Euro Cup performance was in Belfast 2011, winning their group with wins over Spain and Finland and finishing 6th over all in the tournament.
Scotland in Euro Cup
Edinburgh 2012
Pool Stage:
Scotland progress to the Bowl Semi-Finals
Bordeaux 2017
Pool Stage:
Scotland progress to the Plate Quarter-Finals
Scotland progress to the Plate Semi-Finals
Scotland progress to the Plate Final
ESPN (UK) and British Eurosport are the current holders of the British rights to the Australian Football League (AFL). ESPN shows three live games each round of the season including the playoffs and the AFL Grand Final. Eurosport shows one game a week but the coverage is delayed.
| Currently on an AFL senior list |
| Player | Club/s | AFL Years* | AFL Matches* | AFL Goals* | Connections to Scotland, References | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| , | 2020- | 32 | 5 | Father[11] | ||
| 2018- | 47 | 28 | Parent[12] | |||
| 2018-2021 | 6 | 4 | Parent | |||
| 2015-2016 | 6 | 0 | Parent[13] | |||
| 2017- | 84 | 115 | Parent | |||
| , | 2013- | 120 | 2 | Parent | ||
| , | 2012- | 135 | 16 | Father | ||
| 2011- | 225 | 67 | Parent | |||
| ,, | 2008-2017 | 123 | 95 | Father[14] | ||
| 2008-2016 | 101 | 33 | Father | |||
| 1984-1995 | 150 | 63 | Born and raised in Glasgow, father[15] | |||
| ,, | 1977-1988 | 188 | 287 | Born in Glasgow | ||
| 1967-1968 | 10 | 0 | Born[16] | |||
| 1942-1951 | 140 | 98 | Father[17] | |||
| 1932-1933 | 16 | 11 | Born Rutherglen[18] | |||
| , | 1911-1927 | 198 | 167 | Mother[19] | ||
| 1910-1918 | 124 | 23 | Father[20] | |||
| , | 1910-1912 | 31 | 0 | Born Edinburgh[21] | ||
| 1910 | 11 | 6 | Parents | |||
| 1906-17 | 1 | 0 | Father[22] | |||
| 1903 | 1 | 0 | Father[23] | |||
| 1902 | 2 | 0 | Parents [24] | |||
| 1901-1903 | 14 | 0 | Born[25] | |||
| 1898-1899 | 5 | 1 | Father[26] | |||
| 1897 | 5 | 2 | Born Glasgow[27] | |||
| 1897-1906 | 108 | 0 | Parents[28] |
| Currently on an AFLW senior list |
| Player | Club/s | AFLW Years* | AFLW Matches* | AFLW Goals* | Connections to Scotland, References | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fremantle, Port Adelaide | 2020- | 24 | 0 | Parent | ||
| Western Bulldogs | 2017- | 31 | 21 | Parent |
