This Saturday 20th July, will see Edinburgh Eagles take on Strathmore Silverbacks in the 2019 Scottish Cup Final. The game is being played at Scottish Police’s Lochinch ground in Pollok Park in Glasgow, kick off 2pm.
This follows a very encouraging season for open age rugby league in Scotland with Glasgow Rugby League playing their first ever competitive games and Fife Lions returning to the fold after a numbers of years. This means that the highest number of competitive 13 a side club matches have been played in Scotland since 2013.
Edinburgh Eagles are also competing in the North East League where they play against 8 other teams based in the North East of England. Having finished second in the league they play 3rd placed Cramlington Rockets in the Qualifying Play off on Saturday 27th July.
The Cup Final will be preceded by an Under 16 match between The Eagles and The Silverbacks. This being the second of a series of three matches between these newly established teams.
With very encouraging numbers also taking part in the Scotland Under 16 and Under 19 programmes, 2019 has seen a significant increase in levels of participation in Scotland.
Barry McGuffog, Chairman of Edinburgh Eagles, said:
2019 has seen Edinburgh Eagles continue to grow on and off the pitch. We now have over 50 open age players registered to the club and have seen a very encouraging response to our Under 16 programme. We are really looking forward to a very competitive Cup Final with The Silverbacks
Dave Vernon, Head Coach, Strathmore Silverbacks, said:
Our guys have really enjoyed their rugby league this season. It is great to see more games getting played and new clubs joining the league. We always have highly competitive matches with The Eagles and I am sure that this weekend will be no different.
Ollie Cruickshank, Director of Operations for Scotland Rugby League, said:
We have had a very encouraging 2019 season in Scotland. We still have a long way to go and there are numerous things that we need to do better but the base is in a better place than it has been for some time. We are looking forward to a highly competitive Cup Final.
