Celebrating Characterful Clubhouses with The Famous Grouse

Applications are submitted to Scottish Rugby through the online entry form.  There is strictly one entry per club. Any duplicate entries will not be considered. 

Club applications must be submitted by an authorised representative of the club who must be a to Scottish residents over the age of 18. 

The criteria are based on the application questions, with the strongest responses being those which best meet the application criteria. Scottish Rugby is responsible for considering the applications and determining the fund award. Scottish Rugby reserve the right to apply eligibility criteria, and the granting of any funding awards will be based on any relevant criteria that Scottish Rugby may reasonably apply. 

Applications open on Tuesday 6 October 2026 at 00:01 and close on Tuesday 3 November at 23.59.

Successful clubs will be notified via the email address attached to their application. Clubs will have 10 working days to acknowledge and accept the reward of funding before this will be withdrawn and offered to another club. 

Winners will be announced publicly around Monday 23 November 2026. 

The grant funding will be paid upon submission of proof of spend. This should be in the form of invoices or receipts and submitted to [email protected].

Once submission has been made, payment will be made at the next available monthly payment run. Confirmation of payment date will be made once a claim has been processed.

For the winning club, all improvements must be completed or within reasonable distance of completion by Friday 30 April 2027.

For the two runner-up clubs, all improvements must be completed or within reasonable distance of completion by Friday 5 March 2027.

Grant funding must be spent on improvements to publicly accessible parts of a club’s clubhouse – such a bar, lounge, terrace etc. It may not be spent on areas not commonly used by the public such as changing rooms or team areas. 

To be eligible to receive the grant funding, a club must either:

Own their facility or

Apply on behalf of a public body, such as local authorities, where the public body owns and operates the rugby club facility, and a long-term agreement is in place.

If neither of these criteria are met, a club cannot apply.

Yes, there is a requirement for any clubs receiving funding to take part in publicity once the clubhouse improvements are completed. This could include, but is not limited to, social media campaigns, photography, live events and recorded interviews for both Scottish Rugby and The Famous Grouse. 

Successful clubs will participate in such social media, without charge, and grant both Scottish Rugby and The Famous Grouse the rights to use these photos, recordings, videos and/or films in any media and in any manner as they see fit.

• Eligibility and the granting of any funding awards will be based on any relevant criteria that Scottish Rugby may reasonably apply. See entry form for core eligibility criteria. 

• If at any time you wish to withdraw from the promotion your request should be made in writing to Scottish Rugby at [email protected] who will respond within 5-7 business days. You request must be made prior to the end of the Promotional Period. 

• Any entries received outside the Promotional Period shall not be valid for entry into this promotion. Illegible, incorrect and/or incomplete entries will not be accepted or eligible to be awarded the funding. No responsibility can be accepted for entries which are illegible, incorrect, incomplete, lost due to technical reasons, corrupted, delayed or not received for whatsoever reason. 

• Scottish Rugby reserves the right to withhold funding from any successful application should the work detailed in copy invoices differ from the application details.  

• Clubs that commence work prior to a funding decision being reached do so at their own risk and should not rely on funding being granted.  

• The final amount of any award is at the discretion of Scottish Rugby and may be less than the amount requested in any application.  

• All awards may be subject to additional terms and conditions imposed at the discretion of Scottish Rugby. 

• Successful clubs may not transfer the right to accept their award to another club. 

• Neither Scottish Rugby, nor The Famous Grouse, accepts any liability for any consequences, whether direct or indirect, that may arise from the use of the grant, from any requested repayment of the grant, and/or from any application for the grant being declined.

• Successful clubs must not do anything which could, in the reasonable opinion of The Famous Grouse and Scottish Rugby, bring either party or its brands into disrepute before, during or after this promotion. The Famous Grouse always encourages responsible drinking and encourages entrants to read http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/ for more information. 

• In the event that Scottish Rugby is made aware of any inconsistencies or misrepresentations on an application form which lead to the provision of a grant to a club, Scottish Rugby reserves the right to request that such sums are repaid within timescales determined by Scottish Rugby (whether or not the club has already spent such a grant). In the event that such timescales are not met, Scottish Rugby reserves the right to deduct any sums owed from any future funding offered by Scottish Rugby, including without limitation the Club Sustainability Fund. 

• If the club is not registered for VAT or is not in a position to have the costs zero-rated for VAT purposes (as is sometimes the case for charities approved by HMRC) it is essential that the VAT burden is included in the application costs. 

• All personal data handled as part of the application will be handled in accordance with Scottish Rugby’s privacy notice. By participating in this promotion, all entrants understand the use of their personal data and confirm that they have read Scottish Rugby’s privacy policy.