This article first appeared on The Offside Line on 30th September 2026
THERE are, unfortunately, numerous tales of the demise of clubs across the regional leagues in recent years, as pressures on player numbers, time, resources, and costs all increase. But on the west coast, one club has bucked this trend by rising again to play competitive league rugby for the first time in nine years.
“A lot of people on Arran love rugby and have plenty of good memories,” says Alan McGrath, President of Isle of Arran Rugby Club. “There are lots of families well ingrained into the history of the club and some of the old boys come along and watch us.
“They all enjoy the social side, and it reminds them of what they used to do 20-30 years ago. It’s just good to be back at it.”
Nestled in the Firth of Clyde and home to over 4,000 people, Arran have a long history of rugby. They have a famous sevens tournament that has been running since 1983, and they played in the regional leagues for many years. Given their proximity to the Ayrshire rugby strongholds of Ayr, Troon and Ardrossan, there may have been a time when Arran would have been seen a budding rugby haven. But it was not to be.
“We haven’t been in the league structure for nine years,” McGrath confirms. “The club was really struggling for numbers back then. There was a run of injuries, as well as a few players that couldn’t keep playing for one reason or another.
“There was a struggle to fulfil our fixtures and at that point a decision was made to withdraw from the leagues.”
Withdrawing from the league structure for a small club, especially an island one, is not a decision to be taken lightly in any circumstance. It can, and does, happen, and in many cases there might be a return the season after when the situation improves. But a delay of nine years would generally be seen as insurmountable. When rugby ceases to be played at a club, it is extremely hard to rebound.
That was the situation that faced McGrath. A mechanic by trade, he has worked across the world in the oil and gas industry, and played rugby wherever he ended up.
“I played everywhere I went with work. Rugby is obviously a very sociable sport. It’s a great way to make friends and obviously a lot of your social life revolves around the rugby club when you move to a new place.”
When he came back to Arran during Covid, he returned to an island without organised rugby except for at the annual sevens tournament. So, McGrath got together with some of his friends and got the rugby ball rolling.
“I said to a couple of boys: ‘We should go and start throwing the ball about again.’ And then we got a wee bit of a buzz going on the island and we started playing a couple of friendlies when we could.”
From that small beginning, there has been a steady growth in the number of players for Arran, some of whom may never have thought about playing rugby if it had not been for those initial impromptu get-togethers.
“Some of the younger boys would have historically been football players but because they’ve seen us out playing rugby and enjoying the social side of it, they wanted to come along and get involved,” explains McGrath.
With increasing numbers, McGrath and his fellow committee members at Arran made the decision to dip their toes back in the waters of organised rugby last season, rather than relying on occasional friendlies. But that first foray did not end the way they hoped.
“Last year we went into the West development leagues, but that could be described as ropey at best. I think we only had one league fixture all season.
“Part of that was down to our ferries and people not wanting to travel [to Arran], but even for the away fixtures, other teams could not find players.”
They were able to compete in the West Regional Bowl where they lost in the semi-final to Paisley 10-0 at Ormidale Pavillon in Brodick, the largest town on Arran. That taste of competitive rugby was all Arran needed.
“We had a chat at the tail end of last season and we said: ‘Look, what’s the worst that can happen?’ We wanted to give it a bash and if we didn’t fulfil all our fixtures, at least we’re back playing.”
Thanks to the work of McGrath, who plays as a prop for the team, and other prominent members of Arran rugby like Stuart McMaster (fixtures secretary and second-rower), Frazer Barr (secretary and stand-off) and Donald Murchie (treasurer and front-row), league rugby is back on Arran for the 2026-27 season.
McGrath was also quick to praise Ardrossan Academicals for their help, and he hopes that the new working relationship between the two clubs will have long-term benefits.
“We’ve joined up with Ardrossan’s seconds for this season. For the years when we didn’t have a team, the guys that really wanted to play rugby were away playing with Ardrossan. But their twos were struggling for numbers this year, so they reached out to myself and Stuart about doing something jointly. We think we’ll get maybe seven from Ardrossan each week, and 13 or 14 of our own.
“We are interested to see where this partnership with Ardrossan goes. They have a big minis and youth section so it would be great to get some of our young kids that are interested in rugby over to Ardrossan on some Sundays.”
McGrath also hopes that the rebirth of the rugby club on the island will lead to increased interest from other locals, as well as the island’s high school – but it will be small steps, and his initial focus is on this season.
“We want to get our fixtures fulfilled. It’s going to be a bit disjointed, but we knew that going into the season. Hopefully, we’ll pick up a win or two along the way, I’m sure we will.”
Their re-entry is not without potential challenges. Like all island clubs in Scotland, the travel element is a considerable obstacle. The ferry from Brodick to Ardrossan or Troon takes an hour, with both towns about another hour from Glasgow. Not a major issue in isolation.
But the increasing unreliability of the ferries that serve Arran (and the likes of Mull and Lewis who also have clubs in the regional league structure) makes travel and planning difficult for both the island clubs and the clubs travelling to play them. The true impact of the ferries on their ability to play this season remains to be seen, but McGarth expects the team will just have to take it in their stride, as islanders usually do.
Indeed, after starting the season with competitive losses to Hyndland away and at home to Clydebank, who currently sit atop West League 3, the club have found themselves without a game over the last three weeks. One of those was postponed as Arran were struggling for numbers due to injuries and sickness, but the other two have fallen foul of those travel issues which McGrath anticipated long before the Scottish autumn and winter truly sets in.
Onwards and upwards, this weekend Arran are scheduled to make the trip north in an inter-island derby against Isle of Mull, with both island teams hoping to get a first win of the season.
They might have hopes and ambitions for the future but returning to competitive rugby was the first hurdle to clear. When other clubs are struggling, Arran rugby’s rebirth is very much bucking the trend, and from McGarth’s viewpoint, it stemmed from one clear action: just playing rugby.
“I can’t put my finger on one thing that we did and say: ‘Oh, look, we had had a big day, or we ran a big event.’ The biggest thing was probably just making rugby available for everyone to enjoy.”
