TheInverleith Sports Ground is arugby union stadium inInverleith,Edinburgh, Scotland which is the home ground of amateur clubStewart's Melville RFC and was the home ground of theScotland national rugby union team between 1899 and 1925.
Land atInverleith, at that time on the undeveloped northern fringe ofEdinburgh, was purchased in 1897 by theScottish Rugby Union (then the Scottish Football Union), which had previously played international matches atRaeburn Place about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) further south towards the city centre; that was primarily acricket venue (although it is still used for rugby today as the home ofEdinburgh Accies). Thus the organisation became the first of the 'Home Unions' to have its own ground.[1] The first match at the new ground was played on 18 February 1899 when Scotland were defeated 9–3 byIreland in the1899 Home Nations Championship.[1]
International rugby was played at Inverleith until the early 1920s, including the first matches played at home by Scotland againstNew Zealand in1905 andFrance in1910. Having assessed the condition of the stadium followingWorld War I (when only minimal maintenance was carried out) and the poor potential for expansion to cope with larger crowds as the sport's popularity grew, the SRU decided to move to a new site and transferred operations toMurrayfield Stadium on the west side of the city.[1][2] The last international at the old ground was a victory over France in the1925 Five Nations Championship;[3] the subsequent win overEngland two months later that clinched the title and a firstGrand Slam was the first match at the new ground.[4][5]
Some further unofficial Scotland matches were played at Inverleith duringWorld War II when Murrayfield was requisitioned for military use.[6] TheScotland women's national rugby union team hosted matches there occasionally in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Club rugby was initially played at Inverleith byStewart's College FP, the forerunner to the currentStewart's Melville RFC who still play there[7] operating out of the 1990s clubhouse adjacent to the original grandstand[8] – the owners,Stewart's Melville College, have their fields for other sports (such as Hockey and Cricket, as well as an impressive number of rugby pitches) in the surrounding area (they were formed by a merger ofDaniel Stewart's College and Melville College, whose own sports grounds at Ferryfield, sold off for housing when the institutions merged, were immediately to the north).
The stadium is located onFerry Road (A902);[9]Edinburgh Academy's junior school is located a short distance to the east – much closer than Stewart's Melville College itself;Goldenacre, the home of another rival school clubHeriot's, is around 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) further east. The site is within the Inverleithconservation area.[10] Local amateur rugby clubInverleith RFC do not play at the old stadium itself but on the Arboretum Road playing fields immediately to the east.[11]
55°58′11″N3°13′12″W / 55.9698°N 3.2201°W /55.9698; -3.2201
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