Maorilander Captains London Rugby Club

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 245, 6 January 1928, Page 10

Maorilander Captains London Rugby Club

GREAT FOOTBALL RECORD OF LONDON SCOTTISH

! Recognised as one of the “Big Five" j of London Rugby Clubs, the London Scottish are this year captained by a New Zealander, G. G. Aitken, who skip- ' pered the All Blacks on two Tests ! against the Springboks in 1921.

Dealing with the history of this famous club, a writer in the London 'Sporting Life” says: There were certain invasions of England from across the border line that divides us from Scotland in the bad old days, tfr which serious “objec- ! tion” was taken at the time. A RUGBY INVASION About the year 1875 certain athletic Scots came to us in a more peaceful frame of mind, but still imbued with a desire to disconcert and outwit the hereditary foe. The old-time methods were, however, not then fashionable, and so preparations were made for friendly warfare by means of Rugby football. It was a good thing for England, ! and especially for the metropolis, when, i in 1878, the London Scottish Club was j formed, for it has enabled us in the j succeeding years to witness in action i some of the greatest Rugby men of | all time, who otherwise we might only occasionally have seen in internaj tional engagements. GREAT WAR RECORD No reference to the London Scottish would be complete without reference to their glorious war record. Let us think of this. On the final day of the 1913-14 season the Scottish fielded four fifteens. Of these 60 players only three or four escaped being killed, wounded or being taken prisoner! No fewer than 205 members served in some branch or other of H.M. Forces, of whom 69 were killed, 52 wounded and four taken prisoner of war.