The Border Reivers

Professional rugby first landed in the Scottish Borders in 1999 when the Scottish Rugby Union set-up their fourth professional rugby team, Scottish Borders Rugby, to compete on the European stage alongside its three other professional clubs: Edinburgh Rugby, Glasgow Rugby and Caledonia Reds. However, after two seasons, Scottish Rugby were suffering financial difficulties and took the decision to create two Scottish teams instead of four. The Caledonia Reds were joined with Glasgow Rugby to become Glasgow Caledonians, and Scottish Borders Rugby and Edinburgh Rugby became the Edinburgh Reivers. Scottish Borders Rugby was resurrected in 2002 and re-branded The Borders, in time to join the second season of the Celtic League. In 2005, all three teams adopted new names. The Borders took the name Border Reivers; Edinburgh became Edinburgh Gunners (but would revert back to Edinburgh Rugby in 2006 when taken into private ownership ) and Glasgow became Glasgow Warriors. In 2007 Scottish Rugby embarked on a wide-ranging review of professional rugby in Scotland. In March 2007, the Scottish Rugby Board decided it was unable to fund its two remaining pro teams (Glasgow Warriors and Border Reivers) at a level that would allow them to compete effectively in the Magners League and European competitions. The Board reluctantly decided to close the Border Reivers and put additional resource into its one remaining pro team – Glasgow Warriors Going into the 2007-08 season there are now two pro teams in Scotland – Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby.