Today I gave the second of my talks on early sport in Scotland's capital, with The Birth of Rugby in Edinburgh.
   It covers the origins of the handling game, from medieval beginnings through the haphazard games of the early 19th century, to the rapid developments that kicked off in the 1850s.
   Rugby football arrived in Edinburgh in 1854 almost by accident, and by the end of the decade it had been adopted by the major schools because of the influence of Tom Brown's Schooldays and the cult of Muscular Christianity. 
   The event at the City Art Centre was part of the Edinburgh 900 celebration, and attracted a large audience.
   For anyone unable to attend, I have now put the full illustrated talk into a single pdf document, which can be opened by clicking on this link.
   You can also read my first talk, on The Birth of Football in Edinburgh at this link.​

Today I gave a talk on The Birth of Football in Edinburgh, describing the early development of the sport in Scotland's capital up to the formation of the city's first association football clubs in the 1870s.
   It is a fascinating story which ranges from medieval times to developments in the Victorian era, covering not just those pioneers who played football in the 19th century but the social changes that brought the game to a wider audience. The 1850s were crucial, as the Meadows were opened up to the public for sport, while the Saturday half-holiday gave working men the time to play.
   The event at Edinburgh's City Art Centre, part of the Edinburgh 900 celebration, attracted a large audience - all tickets were allocated several months ago.
   For anyone unable to attend, I have now put the full illustrated talk into a single pdf document, which can be opened by clicking on this link. 
   I will be giving another talk next week, on the birth of rugby in Edinburgh, and will also put it online afterwards.

This month sees a significant milestone for the Scotland women's football team, which plays its 400th international since the journey began in 1972.
   Match 400, the Nations League tie against Austria on 30 May, is also significant for several other reasons, not least it being the first Scotland game under new coach Melissa Andreatta, who has just been appointed by the Scottish FA. She joins at a time when the team has lost its last five matches, although it was unbeaten in its previous eleven.
   That night at Hampden the Scottish FA will also be presenting retrospective caps to some of the pioneers of Scottish women's football, players from the 1970s and 1980s who did not receive recognition at the time. This is a continuation of a project which I have been working on: I have been part of a small team of historians, endeavouring to compile a full record of the early Scotland matches and identify the players who took part.
   I wrote before about this project in 2022 and since then there have been a few updates and corrections, even in fairly recent times. For example, a fascinating story by Sarah Crilly led to the discovery of missing appearances which are not recorded in the Scottish FA archive. In fact, the SFA archive leaves a lot to be desired, only going back to 2008 and with a number of errors since then.
   For the first time I am publishing match-by-match records of the Scotland team from 1972 to 1997, together with illustrations and programme covers. During those years, the team was administered by the Scottish Women's FA. The information is still incomplete and it has been a challenging task to get this far, as many records have been lost and most matches had little or no media coverage. In several instances there is a squad list but no known teamline, and even some goalscorers remain unidentified, so this is very much a work in progress. I remain hopeful that further records can be uncovered so that the history can be improved.
   If you think you can contribute to or correct these statistics in any way, please don't hesitate to get in touch through my Contact Form.

Essential records

Click on each of these headings:

An overview of all Scotland women's international matches, 1972-2025. [Excel spreadsheet]

The complete record of Scotland under the Scottish Women's FA, 1972-1997. [pdf]

The complete record of Scotland under the Scottish FA, 1998-2025. [pdf]