Land at
Inverleith, at that time on the undeveloped northern fringe of
Edinburgh, was purchased in 1897 by the
Scottish Rugby Union (then the Scottish Football Union), which had previously played international matches at
Raeburn Place about further south towards the city centre; that was primarily a
cricket venue (although it is still used for rugby today as the home of
Edinburgh Accies). Thus the organisation became the first of the '
Home Unions' to have its own ground. The first match at the new ground was played on 18 February 1899 when Scotland were defeated 9–3 by
Ireland in the
1899 Home Nations Championship. The last international at the old ground was a victory over France in the
1925 Five Nations Championship; the subsequent win over
England two months later that clinched the title and a first
Grand Slam was the first match at the new ground. Some further unofficial Scotland matches were played at Inverleith during
World War II when Murrayfield was requisitioned for military use. The
Scotland women's national rugby union team hosted matches there occasionally in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Club rugby was initially played at Inverleith by
Stewart's College FP, the forerunner to the current
Stewart's Melville RFC who still play there operating out of the 1990s clubhouse adjacent to the original grandstand – the owners,
Stewart's Melville College, have their fields for other sports (such as Hockey and Cricket, as well as an impressive number of rugby pitches) in the surrounding area (they were formed by a merger of
Daniel Stewart's College and Melville College, whose own sports grounds at Ferryfield, sold off for housing when the institutions merged, were immediately to the north). ==Location==