In the Easter of 1924 Andrew ‘Jock’ Wemyss (Haddington, Wanderers & Scotland) toured with the Barbarians XV and had been struck with the idea of forming a similar invitation club in Scotland.
The opportunity arose when Haddington RFC invited Jock to bring down a team to play in Neilson Park and this historic fixture took place on Thursday 18 September 1924.

Match Report:
Wemyss’s team contained six internationalists and the game was hard fought by both sides. In early play D.G. Hutchinson (HRFC) went very close with a penalty kick. This was followed by A.C. Gillies (WFC) scoring penalty followed by a try by G.B Sanderson (Wanderers) to have a narrow 0-6 lead at half time.
In the second half any thoughts that the side laced with internationalists would run away with things was put to bed as Haddington put on a tremendous fight and the visitors found they had to play very well indeed to break through. It was a very even contest.
J. Greenshields (HFPRFC) managed to score under the posts and the conversion was completed by A.K. Mann (Wanderers) and the final score was 0-11 to the visitors.

The Co-Optimists:
After the match the teams repaired to the Railway Hotel and it was there, during the post-match socialising that the decision to form the Co-Optimist club was arrived at.
Jock Wemyss was elected Captain and George St. Claire Murray as Secretary.

The Co-optimist club returned to play Haddington in 1951 to mark the return of the club to Neilson Park following WWII and again in 1961 to mark the start of Haddington’s 51st year.

Since 1957 there has been an annual fixture with an East Lothian XV and Haddington RFC look forward to hosting the Co-Optimist’s Centenary season fixture in April 2025 at Neilson Park.

Haddington RFC would like to congratulate Euan Kennedy (Watsonians & Scotland), President of the Co-Optimists and the Co-optimists RFC on their Centenary Season