raziel_eire
Academy Player
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2005
- Messages
- 252
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Hi, I'm looking for some information or history on a part of the Scottish game that is fairly new to me and in particular the old district sides an championship...
It's a bit of a random query this, but I've been taking a bit of trip down memory lane remembering the start of the Magners/Rabo (in addition to reading more on random invitational sides), and in particular The Borders/Border Reivers team from Scotland took my interest.
Whilst they are long defunct as a professional entity I understand that there is a long history and recent revivals of its equivalent invitational team "South of Scotland" (in 2009 vs Northumberland and 2011 vs the Barbarians).
Whilst digging around and reading up on "The South" I came across a team and aspect of the Scottish game I'd never encountered before and that's the Inter-District Championship and the district team the Caledonia Reds (or North-Midlands/North & Midlands/Caledonia name variants).
Basically I'm interested in hearing as much information as anyone has or can remember regarding the Caledonia Reds team that actually played in the Heineken Cup for 2x seasons in addition to its modern equivalent which I understand (I may be wrong) still exists as an age grade district team that still plays games against the other 3 districts (Borders/Glasgow/Edinburgh).
Does anyone have any images of the team playing from back in the mid-90's? What about nowadays, how competitive are their age grade sides and what kit do they play in (I'm guessing red) and are there any images of it?
What was that old Inter-District Championship like, when did it end at a senior level and from an amateur perspective and growing the Scottish game, could it have a future?
Also, what affiliation do the Glasgow and Edinburgh age grade district sides have with the full professional teams of the same name? Is it a case of the Glasgow side is a Glasgow Warriors U-18 team for example or is it more regionalised than that and is not officially connected to the pro team (but would still feed its players into it)?
In terms of the Borders age grade district side, is it effectively the same as the South of Scotland team but under age grade restrictions? (do they use the same kit/colours, etc?)
As I say, its a bit of a random question/query but something that I've become interested in but can't satisfy that interest from googling the web, so anyone with local/regional or contextual knowledge of the teams/kits/competition and their histories that could share it with me would be greatly appreciated!
I remember talk a good few years back that after the Borders were disbanded that a team could be based out of Aberdeen in the future and that the Scottish Union saw a future for 3 pro teams from Scotland, but whilst that idea seemed to die away, I had no idea until recently that historically (but not that long ago) there was a competitive team based on the same idea, and its just got me interested to see what remains of these old teams in terms of regional fanbase and connections to their modern age grade equivalents.
Cheers if anyone has any info...
Thanks,
It's a bit of a random query this, but I've been taking a bit of trip down memory lane remembering the start of the Magners/Rabo (in addition to reading more on random invitational sides), and in particular The Borders/Border Reivers team from Scotland took my interest.
Whilst they are long defunct as a professional entity I understand that there is a long history and recent revivals of its equivalent invitational team "South of Scotland" (in 2009 vs Northumberland and 2011 vs the Barbarians).
Whilst digging around and reading up on "The South" I came across a team and aspect of the Scottish game I'd never encountered before and that's the Inter-District Championship and the district team the Caledonia Reds (or North-Midlands/North & Midlands/Caledonia name variants).
Basically I'm interested in hearing as much information as anyone has or can remember regarding the Caledonia Reds team that actually played in the Heineken Cup for 2x seasons in addition to its modern equivalent which I understand (I may be wrong) still exists as an age grade district team that still plays games against the other 3 districts (Borders/Glasgow/Edinburgh).
Does anyone have any images of the team playing from back in the mid-90's? What about nowadays, how competitive are their age grade sides and what kit do they play in (I'm guessing red) and are there any images of it?
What was that old Inter-District Championship like, when did it end at a senior level and from an amateur perspective and growing the Scottish game, could it have a future?
Also, what affiliation do the Glasgow and Edinburgh age grade district sides have with the full professional teams of the same name? Is it a case of the Glasgow side is a Glasgow Warriors U-18 team for example or is it more regionalised than that and is not officially connected to the pro team (but would still feed its players into it)?
In terms of the Borders age grade district side, is it effectively the same as the South of Scotland team but under age grade restrictions? (do they use the same kit/colours, etc?)
As I say, its a bit of a random question/query but something that I've become interested in but can't satisfy that interest from googling the web, so anyone with local/regional or contextual knowledge of the teams/kits/competition and their histories that could share it with me would be greatly appreciated!
I remember talk a good few years back that after the Borders were disbanded that a team could be based out of Aberdeen in the future and that the Scottish Union saw a future for 3 pro teams from Scotland, but whilst that idea seemed to die away, I had no idea until recently that historically (but not that long ago) there was a competitive team based on the same idea, and its just got me interested to see what remains of these old teams in terms of regional fanbase and connections to their modern age grade equivalents.
Cheers if anyone has any info...
Thanks,
