Monday 7 September 2015

The Greenyards Melrose

The Greenyards (Cap up to 15,000) Melrose
 Home Of Melrose Rugby Club
Pictures Taken Monday 7th September 2015
Melrose Rugby Football Club, located and founded in the town of Melrose in the Scottish Borders in 1877, is one of the oldest Rugby union clubs in the world.
The club was formed in 1877 and was elected to full membership of the Scottish Rugby Union in 1880.[2] The club have played at the Greenyards since the club's inception.[2]
Melrose have been Scottish champions on nine occasions (1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2011, 2012 and 2014). Melrose won the Scottish cup in 2008 and were runners up in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013.
Despite the population of Melrose hovering around 3,500 for a number of years the team has been a consistently successful club in the upper echelons of the Scottish game.
Melrose is most famous as the host of the first-ever rugby sevens tournament in 1883, the abbreviated game having been invented by Ned Haig, a local butcher. The first Melrose Sevens was won by Melrose, beating local rivals Gala in the final during extra time. The Melrose Sevens, played on the second Saturday in April every year, remains the most popular Scottish Sevens tournament, regularly attracting crowds in excess of 10,000. In honour of the role of Melrose RFC in the creation of rugby sevens, the club was inducted along with Haig to the IRB Hall of Fame in 2008. Melrose have had some recent success in their home tournament, coming runner-up on a couple of occasions and winning it in 2011. In 2010 they were crowned Kings of the Sevens winning the Kelso, Earlston, Gala and Jedforest sevens and placing respectably in the others.