How to get Scotland Rugby tickets

Way back in 1870, a group of Scots fancied a game of rugby. To be more specific, they fancied a game of rugby against the English. So they wrote a letter of challenge which was published in The Scotsman, and on March 27th, 1871, Scotland and England played in the first ever rugby international match. Scotland won 1-0, because nobody had devised an effective scoring system, and therefore you didn’t get anything for a try!

Seven years later, the Calcutta Cup was created, which is still awarded to the winner of the games between England and Scotland, and in 1882 the Home Nations Championship was born – the precursor to what we now know as the Six Nations Championship.

In 1925, they moved to their home at BT Murrayfield Stadium, now the biggest stadium in Scotland and the fifth biggest in the UK. The post-war era was a mixed bag, but in 1971 they appointed Bill Dickinson as head coach – the first step towards professionalism in what had always been considered an amateur sport. It worked – 104,000 people packed into Murrayfield to watch, in the Five Nations, Scotland beat Wales 12-10 – one of nine wins on the trot at their home stadium.

The best year for Scottish rugby in the modern era was 1990, when they beat England in a Grand Slam decider. There have been lows since then, but now Scottish rugby is back on the up – they’ve held the Calcutta Cup since 2021 and there is more cohesion in their play than there has been for a long time. There are high hopes for Scottish rugby union once again.