Merchistonian Football Club was a rugby football

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

 team based in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It was for former pupils of Merchiston Castle School

Merchiston Castle School

Merchiston Castle School is an independent school for boys in the village of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has about 480 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 8 and 18 as either boarders or day pupils; day pupils make up 35% of the school....

. However, as Allan Massie

Allan Massie

Allan Massie is a well-known Scottish journalist, sports writer and novelist.-Early life:Born in 1938 in Singapore, where his father was a rubber planter for Sime Darby, Massie spent his childhood in Aberdeenshire...

 notes, because it was a boarding school, unlike some of the other private schools in Edinburgh, a lot of the former pupils would disperse and go out of the city. Those that remained in the city would often play for Edinburgh Wanderers.

It was of particular significance, since the club was involved in the very first rugby international, and supplied three players.

Notable players

• Thomas Anderson
  Thomas Anderson (rugby)
  Thomas Anderson was a Scottish rugby football player, and cricketer.He attended Merchiston Castle School.He was capped once for in the 1882 match against at fullback...
  
  
• James Campbell
  James Campbell (rugby union)
  James Alexander Campbell was a Canadian-born rugby player who represented at international level...
  
  
• Gordon Neilson
  Gordon Neilson
  Walter Gordon Neilson was a Scottish rugby football player.He was capped once for in 1894. He also played for Merchistonians RFC.-Family:His father was James Neilson, an Ironmaster and second cousin of Walter Montgomerie Neilson and his mother was Jane Thomson, daughter of George Thomson, the...
  
  
• William Lovat Fraser
  William Lovat Fraser
  William Lovat Fraser was a Scottish sportsman who played both cricket and rugby union at an international level, representing Scotland in cricket and touring Argentina with the 1910 Combined British rugby union side, an early incarnation of the British and Irish Lions.-Early life:William Lovat...