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The Edinburgh Gunners are one of three professional rugby union teams in Scotland, the Border Reivers and Glasgow Warriors being the other two. They play at Murrayfield Stadium (capacity 67,500, although only the West Stand is open for Gunners matches), and their captain is Chris Paterson.
History
Edinburgh Rugby were created to compete in the Heineken Cup as the SRU did not think that Scottish club sides could compete against the best teams from France and England.
Due to the SRU's high debt, partly as a result of the redevelopment of Murrayfield Stadium, retrenchment was called for. After two seasons, Edinburgh merged with the Border Reivers to form a team to be known as Edinburgh Reivers. From the 2001-02 season, the Reivers label was dropped and the team were simply known as Edinburgh Rugby, nicknamed The Gunners. For the 2005-06 season, the team incorporated the nickname into their official name, becoming the Edinburgh Gunners.
The issue of crowd sizes returned at the 1999 World Cup, by which time a Welsh/Scottish League had been established - essentially the Welsh First Division with the two Scottish sides tacked on.
The Celtic League, begun in the autumn of 2001, has been a more attractive competition for players and public alike.
Edinburgh's best achievement to date has been to make the final of the 2003/4 Celtic Cup and to make it out of the group stages of the 2003/4 Heineken Cup.
In 2006, it was announced that from the end of the 2006/7 season, the Edinburgh Gunners will become a franchise. Finance will come from a private company headed by businessmen Alex and Bob Carruthers. Previously the Scottish Rugby Union had warned that funding problems could force it to scrap one of its Celtic League sides. The SRU will retain a seat on the new company board and will continue to provide funding and support to the new owners in development.
Notable players
- Duncan Hodge
- Nathan Hines - left for Perpignan in 2005
- Brendan Laney - left for Yamaha Jubilo in March 2005
- Scott Murray
- Chris Paterson
- Simon Taylor
- Mike Blair
- Marcus di Rollo
- Ally Hogg
- Hugo Southwell
Coaches
- Todd Blackadder - also a former player
- Frank Hadden - now the Scotland national team coach
See also
Sources
External links
- Edinburgh Gunners video vault on Channel XV
Celtic League teams | Rugby union in Scotland | Scottish rugby union teams | Scottish professional rugby union teams | Sport in Edinburgh
"Edinburgh Gunners"