North winning by 1 try to nil. The South played Edinburgh District in December 1890 drawing 2 tries a piece. South v North 11 December 1909 match report The South prop Jock Allan was the first married man to play for Scotland in 1934. Rugby union in the Borders Regions Borders Rugby has many long and proud traditions. The Border League was the first rugby union league to be set up anywhere in the world, and the South team used to regularly compete against touring sides from the Southern Hemisphere. Many Borders clubs have helped train and nurture many of Scotland's current internationals. Touring sides As many of the Border sides, most notably Melrose, Gala, Hawick, Selkirk and Jed Forest, produced many international players and even Lions, the South proved worthy competition for the touring sides from the Southern Hemisphere. The South twice drew with South African touring sides (1931–32 and 1969–70) and twice beat Australian touring teams (1966–67 and 1984–85). Attendances at 'South' games often numbered well into the thousands (and a crowd of 10,000 attended the Rest of Scottish Districts versus All Blacks (New Zealand) match in 1972 at Hawick) and before the onset of professionalism, The South would often play touring national sides, such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa before they played the national side Scottish Inter-District Championship The Scottish Inter-District Championship began in season 1953–54. The South competed in the annual Scottish Inter-District Championship, playing against the district teams of Glasgow District, Edinburgh District, North and Midlands and sometimes Anglo-Scots. The district championship was played in the autumn and provided a level of representative rugby above club competition but below the full Scottish national team. The best performing players were then picked for a large Scotland squad which would form around New Year, ready for the 5 Nations Championship. Often there was a "Red vs Blues" game at Murrayfield to decide the smaller squad. South v Glasgow 15 October 1968 match preview South v Glasgow 15 October 1968 match report South v Glasgow October 1973 preview South v Glasgow October 1974 preview South v Glasgow 23 October 1974 match preview Sevens tournament The district used to run a Sevens tournament in April. Effect of professionalism With the advent of professionalism after 1995, the Scottish Rugby Union realised that not even the best semi-professional Scottish club teams could compete in the new Professional Era in