Caledonia Reds

Rugby team
teamname = Caledonia Reds


fullname = Caledonia Reds
nickname = Reds
shortname =
founded = 1995 (Merged 1998)
ground =
capacity =
location = Aberdeen and Perth
country

chairman =
coach =
league =
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Caledonia Reds were a Scottish Rugby union region who participated in the precursor to the Celtic League. They played their games in Aberdeen and Perth, and represented North and Central Scotland, previously known as the North & Midlands District, which covers the territory North of the Firth of Forth, before their merger into what is today known as the Glasgow Warriors. Current Scottish national coach Frank Hadden once held the assistant coaching position with the Caledonia Reds. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/feb/21/sixnations2006.rugbyunion4 Rugby union: Frank Hadden interview | Sport | The Guardian ] ]

Formation

In 1995 with the arrival of professionalism in rugby union, the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) realised their existing clubs would not be able to compete in the modern era and so they decided to create four new franchises based largely on the existing regions of the game. Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Borders. The fourth was created as the Caledonia Reds.

The Reds proved to be one of the weakest regions demographically, because of its scattered population and the lack of popularity in what was predominantly football-supporting country. It also suffered from being based in Perth and Aberdeen, more than fifty miles apart which denied the club a central heartland.

They underperformed in the Heineken Cup finishing bottom of their group both years they entered.

Decline and Merger

By 1998 the SRU has become laden with debt due to the expensive redevelopment of the national stadium at Murrayfield. It was decided it was uneconomical to continue to provide financial support to four separate clubs, and the choice was made to merge the four regions into two superclubs. Edinburgh and the Borders were merged to create the Edinburgh Reivers while Caledonia Reds and Glasgow were merged to create the Glasgow Caledonian Reds.

Despite being a merger between the two team, they were based solely in Glasgow. The club later dropped the Caledonian element and became simply 'Glasgow Rugby' with this eventually being changed to Glasgow Warriors.

Revival?

The effects of the merger were disappointing as the two superclubs underperformed against Welsh and Irish sides, and the expected boost in attendances from the merger did not immediately materialise. The Edinburgh and Glasgow clubs dropped their merged identities and reverted to their previous names, while in 2002 the Border Reivers were revived before folding again in 2007.

It has long been the ambition of the SRU to re-expand to four teams again, which would give Scotland equal representation with the Irish and Welsh. When the club was originally merged with Glasgow in 1998, the SRU claimed that they would be revived in some form when more funds were available. This remains unlikely until the SRU finds itself on firmer financial footing. In recent years the SRU has shown more interest in expanding into England, and making London Scottish its third member of the Celtic League than restarting one of the existing regions in Scotland, particularly in the north where the roots are not deep.

In spite of this there is a small but vocal group of rugby supporters of the former Caledonia region who still lobby for a return of the team, with some calling for them to play their matches at Pittodrie the stadium of Aberdeen F.C..

Notes and references