Playing in the shadow of BT Murrayfield, Caledonian Thebans was the third inclusive rugby club in the UK, and the very first in Scotland.
In 2023, the Thebans celebrated their 21st birthday with plans to expand a club that has become part of the fabric of the Scottish grassroots game.
And whether it is bringing players back to the game they once loved, or giving others a first taste of the oval ball, there is no question the positive impact the team has had on the LGBTQ+ community in an around Edinburgh.
Chairman Sam Abdulla falls into the former category, returning to rugby a decade and a half after he had last played the game.
He recalled: “I’m Welsh originally. We grow up playing rugby or having rugby as part of our lives. I played a little bit of rugby when I was younger, a little bit in school and a little bit in a local club. But it became quite apparent quite quickly that it wasn’t going to work out. Even at that point, I was quite effeminate, and I got quite a few slurs about my capabilities.
“So very quickly I withdrew from that and that kind of environment. I stayed a fan of rugby, I always enjoyed watching rugby, always wanted to take part again.
“I must have been about 12 or 13 at that point. It wasn’t until I was 29 and I saw the Thebans were running their first new to or returning to rugby boot camp. I thought, this is going to be the time to do it. I was about to turn 30 and why not just go back to the sport I love and want to be part of?
“I’m a fully grown adult at this point, confident in who I am as a person and this is going to be an environment that is going to be comfortable with all aspects of who I am as a person and will allow me to be comfortable with all those aspects.
“I thought I’d give it a shot and here we are nearly five years later and honestly, I can say it’s the best decision I have ever made in my life.
“I knew I would love the playing aspect. Even when I was young, I loved playing, it was the environment that wasn’t right. It sounds cliché and trite, but I moved to Edinburgh in 2009 and I’d been in Edinburgh not quite a decade when I joined the team. Up until that point, I was settled but it wasn’t until I joined the team that I really felt that I had a home in Edinburgh.
“It was everything I wanted it to be and a wee bit more.”
Plying their trade in Tennent’s East Reserve League Division 3, the Thebans offer two major events each season: a boot camp every summer to attract new players, as well as an annual rugby clinic which sees rugby teams from across Britain and Europe converge on Edinburgh for four days of training, a tournament and sampling the Scottish capital’s hospitality.
That involves a lot of work for Abdulla and his team, but they clearly relish it, having now embarked on plans to add a women’s side.
Vacancy Opportunity: Women’s Rugby Union Coach
Deadline: 15 June 2023Thebans are so excited to be looking for a an experienced women’s rugby coach.
We hope the addition of a women’s rugby union team will provide a safe and welcoming environment for everyone who loves rugby. pic.twitter.com/29QIYx1p6J
— Caledonian Thebans RFC 🏴🏉🏳️🌈 (@ThebansRugby) May 16, 2023
He explained: “We made a decision a couple of seasons ago that we would start thinking about how we would bring a women’s element to the club, and now we’ve committed from this season coming that this is how we’re going to do it. We’re trying to identify a women’s coach, we’ve got a few members, we’re going to go out with some specific targeted advertising for women.
“So not only have we grown our men’s side, but we’re also now diversifying the audience that we try to bring in. We are looking at how we can make this attractive to all genders, not just LGBT+ men and straight allies but also LGBT+ women who have never played and are looking for a foot in the door and the same with straight women. We’ve seen that growth.
“The growth in the club has been good, not only in size but also in strength. We have got a group of players who are committed to the game and to what we do. People are attracted to us who aren’t necessarily part of the LGBT+ community, and I think as we see more and more people come to us, it’s because we are offering a kind of rugby which is competitive, of a decent standard, but it’s also got values behind it that are reflective of what rugby as a game purports its values to be – inclusivity for everyone. People see that and like that and want to be part of that movement.”
Rugby has been part of Abdulla’s life forever, while at the other end of the spectrum is social secretary Rob Holland, from Vermont in the United States.
Arriving in Edinburgh immediately after the Covid pandemic hit, the Thebans were the perfect outlet for Holland as he tried to navigate life on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
He explained: “I was brand new to rugby and I found them and they really changed my life. It was perfect timing, I moved to the UK in 2020 to do my PhD at the University of Edinburgh and I didn’t have a community here. I had always been intrigued by rugby but I’m older. I’m 38, I found them when I was 36, but although I’d always been intrigued by the sport, I’m from the United States and it’s not big there.
“So moving here and seeing an opportunity to learn in an environment that is safe and not judgemental was huge for me. There wasn’t the additional pressure of having to know the sport already. The atmosphere at the Thebans is very inclusive, there wasn’t the sort of macho side that goes along with it. So I was able to learn and really fall in love with the sport.
“I signed up for the boot camp on a whim. I was a little scared because I hadn’t done much in terms of team activities for quite a while but I was missing that camaraderie and brotherhood. I wasn’t in the best of shape at the time but they made a really welcoming environment for me to work on my fitness and work on learning the sport. And on the social side, they are some of the most welcoming people I’ve ever met.
“I moved here in August 2020, mid-pandemic into a city where I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t have a normal social group yet. They really helped me through some of those hard times. It ended up growing into this giant family and having such a good group of people around really help me succeed, not just in rugby but in my PhD and in my normal life in this country.”
Holland has not taken the easy route since picking up the sport, thrust straight in as a tighthead prop.
Packing down to scrummage against people who have been playing for decades was a daunting prospect, but he has loved the experience and the support of other sides in the area.
He added: “Other teams have been really supportive and the rugby community here in Scotland and Edinburgh, there’s a space for everybody. I’ve had a great experience with other teams and have made some great friends on some of the other teams we have played against.”
The Thebans are growing season on season, to the point that they recently got a shout out from none other than Finn Russell, who voiced his support for the team.
And for anyone in the area who might be interested in joining the club, Holland summed up just how easy the Thebans made it for him.
He said: “From day one in the first session, they made me feel welcome.”
All photos courtesy of Scott Barron Photography
