Although Jed-forest RFC was officially formed as a club in 1885 at a meeting in the towns Royal Hotel, it did not mark the start of rugby in Jedburgh. It was two years earlier, on 1^st December 1883, that a team from Kelso came to the town, aiming to show the Jed local youths how to play the game. Kelso won the match by a goal and a try to a try, and some fifty years later a member of the Kelso team was to recall that the Jed lads “knew nothing about the rules of the game. Despite his comments there is evidence to suggest that some of the Jedburgh team had at least some knowledge of the game.

        Firstly the captain of Jed that day was Archibald Skead is known to have played rugby in Hawick (who started in 1873) before moving to Jedburgh. Secondly, the Nest Academy in Jedburgh is known to have introduced rugby into it’s curriculum prior to 1883. Nothing is known of any fixtures they may have had, nor any of their players, but it is likely that some of the boys were part of the first Jedburgh team. Finally, by 1883, rugby was well established in other Border towns. It also has to be remembered that Ned Haig, who had earlier that year founded the sevens game at Melrose, was originally a Jedburgh native.

        Jed-Forest is unique amongst the other Border clubs, being that it doesn’t simply use the name or any abbreviation of it’s home town. No-one seems to know the exact origin of the name. There are several theories, ranging from the club being named Jed-Forest after the forest surrounding the town at the time, to widen up the catchment area to attract more players, to the club growing out of JedForest Cricket Club. The name Jed-Forest was also popular at the time with the Jedforest Hunt and the Jedforest Ornothological Society both being formed the year before. Whatever the reason the name soon stuck.

        G.L. Brown was appointed Jed’s first official captain. He was a teacher at St John’s School a soccer playing School, and the appointment was no-doubt intended, in part at least to bring the boys into the 15 a side game. By 1888 it is recorded that Jed-Forest had enough players to field a second team for the first time.

More to follow;