Founded in 1872 Glasgow District was a select provincial amateur rugby union team that drew its players mainly from the Greater Glasgow area, as well as others from the rest of the west of Scotland; roughly corresponding to the old Strathclyde regional council area.

The teams met on 23 November 1872 at Burnbank Park at Woodlands in Glasgow; and Edinburgh District won 1 drop goal – 0 in a 20-a-side fixture.

This is the oldest inter-district match in the world and to mark this the current Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby sides play for the 1872 Cup every year.

Drew (Glasgow Academicals) Quarters:  George Buchanan McClure (West of Scotland), John Arthur (Glasgow Academicals) [Captain] Forwards:  John Kennedy Tod, Henry William Allan, Charles Chalmers Bryce, George Raphael Fleming,J.S.

Thomson, J.K. Brown (all Glasgow Academicals) James Howe McClure, J. Kennedy, J.P. Tennant, Robert Wilson, G. Hunter, A. Cochrane (all West of Scotland) J.W.

In Glasgow's case a trial match of hopefuls were divided into Blues and Whites teams, so the players could impress the selectors.

[4] With the exception of the first four years, the Glasgow v Edinburgh district fixture was more or less played annually; only being beaten by World War and occasional inclement weather.

Typically the Glasgow District side, in its early history, was crammed with Scottish international players.

Young, J. Lang (Glasgow University),John Blair Brown, R. A. Kerr, William Andrew Walls, G. H. Robb (G. Academicals).

Graeme Smillie (Glasgow Academicals) Dave Barrett, Matt Duncan, Dave McKee (West of Scotland), Ian Jardine, George Graham, Kevin McKenzie, Brian Robertson, Stewart Hamilton (all Stirling County), Derek Stark, Phil Manning, David McVey (Ayr), George Breckenridge, Ewan McCorkindale, Alan Watt, Shade Munro, Fergus Wallace, Derek Busby (all Glasgow High Kelvinside), Stewart McAslan (Glasgow Academicals), David Jackson (Hillhead Jordanhill).

[12] With players like Shade Munro, Andrew Garry, Gordon Mackay, Gerry Hawkes and Murray Wallace in that side, it gave a good foundation for the 1989–90 season triumph and these young players later went on to represent the fledgling professional Glasgow side.

In an attempt to stay in touch with the leading nations the SRU formed four professional teams out of the four amateur districts of Scotland in 1996.

It was these newly professional teams that would represent Scotland in the Heineken Cup and in the Celtic League.

[13] Diffenthal noted:[13] It is indeed a great honour and privilege to be selected as Head Coach of Glasgow and the West.

Looking ahead, it’s going to be a tough competition, entering the unknown mixing clubs and coaches, but it is an exciting challenge and a great opportunity to bring together talented players from across the District.

I have a great team with Thomas and Stephen assisting me and we are looking forward to working closely together to build a strong squad.