Hawks face a club with a good Cup record Berwick this Saturday at Old Anniesland k.o. 2.00 p.m.
Two seasons ago the knocked out Heriots on the way to the semi finals and in 2004 they beat Glasgow Accies in the final of the Shield



Berwick Rugby club was first formed in the SRU in 1926 and played in
the South District Union. Its playing standard improved until the
early 1930's and although it survived annual difficulties of finding
players and pitches it could not survive the outbreak of the Second
World War which robbed it of both. When the club was re-born in 1968
it had three main aims - to strive for as high a standard of rugby as
possible for the club and its individual members, to create a good
physical environment for rugby, and to be part of the sporting and
social fabric of Berwick.

Pursuit of the first aim has taken the Club to the BT Scottish
Premiership (Division 2). In 2004 it won the National Shield and in
2006 reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup. To date, the
highest individual honours are headed by the seventeen full Scottish
caps won by Craig Smith and the thirty three by Gavin Kerr. Both were
in the 2006 Six Nations Squad. Gavin was a member of the 2003 World
Cup Squad and the Six Nations Squads of 2004 and 2005. Mark Lee
captained the Scottish VII in 2002 Commonwealth Games and played with
the British Army in 2005. Andrew Skeen played for the Scotland VII in
the 2006 IRB Tournament. Current Berwick players have won many
age-group, School and Student international and regional honours and
the Club boasts a full international referee in Iain Ramage. In 2001
the Club was invited to join the Border League, becoming only the
second English Club in rugby's oldest league. The Club has sides in
the Border League, the new cross-Border League, the Border Semi-Junior
League and age-group competitions from minis to Colts on both sides of
the Border. The Club has an increasingly skilled Ladies section which
won promotion in 1999 and 2000 and was runner-up in the National Bowl
in 2004.

Progress with facilities has matched playing performance. Thanks to
the vision and leadership of Club committees, the support of both
Rugby Unions and support from local businesses and individuals, the
Club has progressed from homelessness in 1968 to its present enviable
headquarters now embellished by a training gym and floodlit training
pitch. The Club hosts regional events and overseas teams and its
coaches encourage the game in the local schools - the best possible
"thank you" for school help in the Club's early days. The quest for
player development is ceaseless and embraces national Development
Squads and the Club's own "Academy" structure which will seek the
ambitious young of all ages and both genders.

The Club's third aim is all around us. The Club lives the philosophy
put forward by the SRU in July 2004, namely that "a rugby club should
be at the centre of its community and the focus of development". As
the Club progresses across the bumpy territory of Scottish "open"
rugby it is very much Berwick's rugby club. Its members are virtually
all natives or residents of Berwick or nearby and it draws massive
economic and social strengths from this. It will need the resources
of leadership and cohesiveness which have served it so well hitherto.
The true quality of the Club is reflected in the contributions of all
its members (playing and non-playing, past and present) who produce
the high levels of fitness, fulfilment and friendship that come from
belonging to Berwick Rugby Club.

This article was posted on 11-Mar-2007, 08:48 by Hugh Barrow.