Inverleith Sports Ground
The Inverleith Sports Ground is a rugby union stadium in Inverleith, Edinburgh, Scotland which is the home ground of amateur club Stewart's Melville RFC and was the home ground of the Scotland national rugby union team between 1899 and 1925.
History
Land at Inverleith, at that time on the undeveloped northern fringe of Edinburgh, was purchased in 1897 by the Scottish Rugby Union, which had previously played international matches at Raeburn Place about further south towards the city centre; that was primarily a cricket venue. Thus the organisation became the first of the 'Home Unions' to have its own ground. The first match at the new ground was played on 18 February 1899 when Scotland were defeated 9–3 by Ireland in the 1899 Home Nations Championship.International rugby was played at Inverleith until the early 1920s, including the first matches played at home by Scotland against New Zealand in 1905 and France in 1910. Having assessed the condition of the stadium following World War I and the poor potential for expansion to cope with larger crowds as the sport's popularity grew, the SRU decided to move to a new site and transferred operations to Murrayfield Stadium on the west side of the city. The last international at the old ground was a victory over France in the 1925 Five Nations Championship; the subsequent win over England two months later that clinched the title and a first Grand Slam was the first match at the new ground.
Some further unofficial Scotland matches were played at Inverleith during World War II when Murrayfield was requisitioned for military use. The Scotland women's national rugby union team hosted matches there occasionally in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Club rugby was initially played at Inverleith by Stewart's College FP, the forerunner to the current Stewart's Melville RFC who still play there operating out of the 1990s clubhouse adjacent to the original grandstand – the owners, Stewart's Melville College, have their fields for other sports in the surrounding area.