London Scottish Football Club is a rugby union club in England. The club is a member of both the Rugby Football Union and the Scottish Rugby Union. The club is currently playing in the RFU Championship. The club share the Athletic Ground with Richmond. History Founding (1878) In early 1878, three Scottish members of a team called St. Andrew's Rovers FC decided to break away to form their own club for Scots. These men, George Grant, Neil Macglashan and Robert Arnot attracted a number of responses to a circular they sent out. The London Scottish Regiment in particular were very warm to the idea. Very soon after, on 10 April 1878, London Scottish FC was founded in The Queen's Head, in Water Lane, Blackfriars, London (universally known as MacKay's Tavern, frequently mis-recorded, as Ned Mackay the jovial Scottish landlord ran the pub), initially played on Blackheath Common, and later at Richmond Athletic Ground in Surrey. They had a sizable fixture list and played some of the leading clubs of the time immediately, such as Ravenscourt Park Football Club and Queen's House Football Club (the latter being the only London team to have never lost to London Scottish). They also played St Andrew's Rovers that season. St Andrew's, who had lost the core of their best players lost twice to London Scottish and folded at the end of the season. London Scottish had a very successful first season, and having played 15 matches they only lost four (against already well established sides, Flamingoes, Guy's Hospital, Queen's House and Wasps). In 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War all sixty members of the four London Scottish teams who played in their last matches in April enlisted. Fifteen survived, and one played Rugby again. They are commemorated in Mick Imlah's poem "London Scottish". Early history London Scottish was the first of the "Exiles" rugby clubs to be founded, and the last of the main three – after London Irish and London Welsh – to go "open" in 1996. London Scottish made the John Player Cup Final in 1974, where they lost 26–6 against defending champions Coventry. The club regularly featured at the Middlesex Sevens tournament, winning the trophy in 1937, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965 and 1991. They have won the Melrose Sevens three times, in 1962, 1965 and 2019. Professional era (1996–2020) Scottish turned professional in 1996. Tony Tiarks bought