Glasgow Hutchesons Aloysians RFC

The Club was formed in 1923 playing out of Auldhouse, the school's sports ground in Eastwood (near Thornliebank). Admitted as a full member of the Scottish Rugby Union in 1937, the Hutchesons’ Club entered the National League system in Season 1973 at 2nd Division level, having dispensed with tradition to some degree by opting for "Open" status two years previously, a significant decision forced, by necessity, on many Scottish F.P. Clubs at that time.

1990 was to see further constitutional change when the club agreed amalgamation with close friends and one time rivals to form Hutchesons' Aloysians R.F.C.

By contrast, the Old Aloysians club was formed in 1955 for the sole purpose of undertaking a challenge match against the extremely successful Saint Aloysius' College 1st XV. The unexpected success of this venture resulted in a decision to seek regular fixtures which led to a continuing upsurge in interest and the inevitable and rapid expansion of the F.P. Club. The first fixture was against Hutchesons' Grammar FP RFC., coincident with the invitation from Hutchesons' Grammar School to Saint Aloysius' College 1st XV to undertake regular fixtures. This long standing friendship led to the amalgamation in season 1990–91.

Richard Allan was selected as the club’s first full internationalist for the Irish fixture at Murrayfield in 1969, to be followed by other distinguished players who gained representative honours. Brothers Gordon and Alan Bulloch were to gain national caps, with the former captaining the national side on several occasions. Ray Nelson was to achieve caps for the United States national team the U.S. Eagles.

A view of the stand and club house at Braidholm, GHA's home field

Unlike the two Former Pupil Clubs now involved at Braidholm, Clarkston RFC, since its formation in 1937, had always been an "Open" club, created by a variety of former pupil rugby players who did not wish to undertake cross city travel to indulge in their sport. Significantly the first club chairman was a Glasgow Academical, the first President a Glasgow High former pupil and the longest serving club captain and coach, Andrew Williams a product of Allan Glen’s.

Playing initially at the local authority's Overlee ground, years of tireless fund raising saw the Club's new facility at Braidholm opened by S.R.U. President Charlie Drummond in January 1971. The club entered the new National League structure in 1973 at 4th Division level, rising through the years to division two. With three pitches, floodlights, 250 seater stand and expanded clubhouse, in recognition of its changing character and by a significant membership majority at the May 1995 A.G.M., the club altered its name to Glasgow Southern RFC.

Over several years a variety of players graduated through the Club participation from both youth and senior level to achieve representative status. Full International caps were awarded to Gordon McIlwham, and Euan Murray while others have achieved selection at Youth level.

Agreement reached with a development organisation saw the original 1970 clubhouse demolished to make way for a health club. A new, state of the art, clubhouse was formally opened by S.R.U. President Ronnie Young at Braidholm in January 2002. The Glasgow Southern name was only to survive for seven years before it became evident to all concerned that the sport on the south side of Glasgow would be best served through amalgamation, an initiative formalised in May 2002 with the formation of Glasgow Hutchesons' Aloysians Rugby Football Club. Plans for an all-weather artificial pitch at Braidholm were announced in 2018.[1]

Following the amalgamation, GHA took the place of the newly promoted Hutchesons Aloysians in Premiership Division Two, with the new club achieving promotion to Premiership Division One at the first attempt. The club has since spent four seasons in the top division - 2003/04, 2004/05, 2007/08 and 2019/20. Following three seasons in Premiership Two which saw a wealth of the club's most experienced players depart, ended in relegation to Premiership Three for season 2011/12.

In Premiership Three, with the arrival of a new coaching team and experienced ex-professionals Andrew Henderson and Hefin O'Hare GHA managed to finish second but due to league restructuring were denied promotion. Within the newly regionalised third tier of 2012/13 the club achieved promotion by winning RBS Championship A thanks to a historic 23–0 final day, winner-takes-all match away to local rivals Cartha Queens Park.

Following a difficult first season back in the second tier the club once again had a complete change of coaching team, which almost saw a surprise return to the Premiership during season 2014/15, only to be denied 39–22 in a relegation / promotion play-off with Stirling County. In yet another severe reversal of fortunes, the club suffered a season of disappointment in 2015/16, flirted with relegation until safety was assured on the penultimate weekend of the season.

After two consecutive third-place finishes in National League One; GHA were elevated to the Premiership for season 2019/20 due to the restructuring of Scottish club rugby. With the creation of the SRU's new semi-professional Super 6 competition, six of the existing Premiership teams would be demoted to National League One with the top six teams in that league taking their place. The club had mixed success in a very competitive league; with very little separating play-off and relegation places, notable achievements did include first ever away victories at Edinburgh Accies and league leaders Marr. GHA secured their Premiership status with a losing bonus point in their final game against Selkirk. However, three weeks later the 2019/20 season was declared null and void by the SRU due to the coronavirus pandemic, with no promotion or relegation between leagues.

• League cancelled with 4 matches remaining, potential finishing position was 7th - 9th.

Record correct as of 01/04/2020

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union Tony Brogan Prop Scotland Scott Carson Prop Scotland Sean Fisher Prop Scotland Michael Fox Prop Scotland Luis Barron Hooker Scotland Kirill Chernick Hooker Ukraine Hamish Clark Hooker Australia Adam Barnett Lock Scotland Jamie McCarthy Lock Scotland (C) Dario Ewing Flanker Scotland Elliott Hardie Flanker Scotland Adam Kerr Flanker Scotland Milan Marinkovic Flanker Serbia Mike Ryan Flanker Ireland Luke McCutcheon Number 8 Scotland

Player Position Union George Baird Scrum-half Scotland Andrew Gillman Scrum-half Scotland Jack Anderson Fly-half Scotland Jamie MacKinnon Fly-half Scotland Andrew Hughes Centre Scotland Cameron King Centre Scotland Charlie Lonergan Centre Scotland Jack Reilly Centre Scotland Jackson Baillie Wing Scotland Jordan Craig Wing Scotland James Edgar Wing Ireland Aaron Purewal Wing Scotland Grant Mollison Fullback Scotland

The following players have represented GHA's 1st XV on more than 100 occasions. Appearances for the original constituent clubs are also included on this list.

These totals are accurate to 01/04/2020.

#100	Name	Nationality	Position	Caps	Debut	100th Cap	Note
TBC	Andrew Healy	Scotland	Fly-Half	TBC	-	-	*(TBC)
TBC	Alistair Menzies	Scotland	Full-Back	TBC	31/08/2002	-	*(TBC)
TBC	Euan Baillie	Scotland	Fly-Half	210	30/08/2003	30/08/2003	†(200)
TBC	Rory Watson	Scotland	Wing	162	31/08/2002	04/12/2004	†(47)
TBC	John Fitzpatrick	Scotland	Back-Row	TBC	31/08/2002	-	†(TBC)
TBC	Ian Smith	Scotland	Lock	160	30/08/2003	-	*(110)
TBC	James Noonan	New Zealand	Fly-Half	172	31/08/2002	17/02/2007	*(40)
TBC	Richard Nolan	Scotland	Prop	TBC	31/08/2002	-	*(TBC)
TBC	Trevor Carmichael	Scotland	Lock	TBC	31/08/2002	-	†(TBC)
TBC	Martin Dunn	Scotland	Fly-Half	TBC	-	19/01/2008	†(TBC)
TBC	Paul Harkins	Scotland	Back-Row	131	-	-	-
TBC	Chris Binnie	Scotland	Centre / Full-Back	139	-	-	-
TBC	Niall Cassie	Scotland	Centre	130	-	-	-
TBC	Andrew Boag	Scotland	Back-Row / Scrum-Half	TBC	-	-	-
TBC	Ross McClymont	Scotland	Full-Back	TBC	-	-	-
TBC	Andrew Rushforth	Scotland	Centre	TBC	-	-	-
TBC	Zander McIlwham	Scotland	Prop	TBC	-	-	* (TBC)
TBC	Iain Nelson	Scotland	Hooker	TBC	31/08/2002	-	* (TBC)
19	Rangi Jericevich	Scotland	Wing	168	06/09/2003	28/09/2013	-
20	Ryan Jenkins	Scotland	Lock / Back-Row	117	08/12/2007	04/01/2014	-
21	Andrew Gillman	Scotland	Scrum-Half / Full-Back	165	30/08/2008	29/08/2015	-
22	Andrew Henderson	Scotland	Centre	102	27/08/2011	26/03/2016	-
23	Alan Auld	Scotland	Back-Row / Wing	100	29/10/2011	23/04/2016	*(1)
24	Jamie Auld	Scotland	Lock / Back-Row	116	03/10/2009	08/10/2016	-
25	Adam Barnett	Scotland	Lock	129	21/08/2010	27/01/2018	-
26	Scott Carson	Scotland	Prop	128	-	24/03/2018	-
27	Murray Houston	Scotland	Scrum-Half	107	20/03/2010	20/10/2018	-
28	Donald Malcolm	Scotland	Hooker / Back-Row	100	04/09/2004	10/11/2018	-

_{^*Appearances include games played for Glasgow Southern/Clarkston
^†Appearances include games played for Hutchesons' Aloysians
^BoldActive Players}

The GHA Rugby Academy was established in 2012 and is aimed at helping talented young players at the club to realise their potential and achieve their rugby ambitions.

The GHA Rugby Academy offers the club's most talented young players an opportunity to experience a professional approach to training and playing rugby. It was set up to produce future 1st XV players for GHA RFC, provide more players for the Glasgow district set up and ultimately get more players into National Age Grade Squads. It was seen as a necessary development and use of the clubs limited resources in order to develop the long term sustainability of the club and support its long-term ambitions.

• Ben Addison - Scotland 7s
• James Malcolm - Glasgow Warriors, London Scottish
• Rory Hughes - Glasgow Warriors, Scotland 7s, Scotland
• Jon Welsh - Glasgow Warriors, Newcastle Falcons, Scotland
• Zach Mercer - Bath Rugby, England
• Peter Jericevich - Scotland 7s
• Alan Bulloch - Glasgow Warriors, Scotland
• Carlo di Ciacca - Glasgow Caledonians (who later became Glasgow Warriors), Edinburgh Rugby
• James Eddie - Glasgow Warriors, Scotland A, Scotland 7s
• Calum Forrester - Glasgow Warriors, Scotland A, Scotland 7s
• Andrew Henderson - Glasgow Warriors, Scotland
• Andrew Kelly - Glasgow Warriors
• Gareth McClure - Glasgow Warriors, Newcastle Falcons
• Joe Naufahu - Glasgow Warriors, Southland, Canterbury
• Hefin O'Hare - Glasgow Warriors, Scotland 7s
• Jamie Pinder - Northland, North Harbour
• Sam Pinder - Glasgow Warriors, Northland, Scotland
• Andrew Plastow - Queensland Reds, Australia 7s
• Andy Rennick - Border Reivers, Northampton Saints
• Gavin Walsh - Northampton Saints, Ireland A
• Ross West - Queensland Reds
• Scott Cowan - Southland, Otago Highlanders
• Graham Harkness - Singapore
• John Fitzpatrick - Scotland 7s
• Ross Armour - Hong Kong 7s

• Euan Murray - Scotland, British and Irish Lions
• Richard Allan - Scotland
• Ray Nelson - USA
• Gordon Bulloch - Scotland, British and Irish Lions
• Gordon McIlwham - Scotland
• Anthony Posa - Croatia

• Andrew Kelly - 2007
• Jon Welsh - 2008
• Grant Mollison - 2020

The following players gained either Under 20 or Under 21 Age Grade International honours whilst playing senior rugby at GHA.

Under 21 (Age group was disbanded after 2006 season)

• Euan Murray - 1999, 2000, 2001
• Justin Reid - 2003
• Alasdhair McFarlane - 2005
• John W. Beattie - 2005
• James Eddie - 2005
• Iain Kennedy - 2005, 2006
• Calum Forrester - 2006

Under 20 (Age group replaced Under 21s from 2007 onwards)

• Peter Jericevich - 2008
• James Malcolm - 2013