![Tickets are still available for Glasgow Accies' match against Barbarians at New Anniesland tomorrow [Saturday] afternoon. Image: Franz Stücker](https://www.europesays.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Glasgow-Accies-scaled-e1746803676492.jpeg)
![Tickets are still available for Glasgow Accies' match against Barbarians at New Anniesland tomorrow [Saturday] afternoon. Image: Franz Stücker](https://www.europesays.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Glasgow-Accies-scaled-e1746803676492-678x381.jpeg "Tickets are still available for Glasgow Accies' match against Barbarians at New Anniesland tomorrow [Saturday] afternoon. Image: Franz Stücker")
Tickets are still available for Glasgow Accies’ match against Barbarians at New Anniesland tomorrow [Saturday] afternoon. Image: Franz Stücker 
WITH the sun out, and Warriors away from home, sports fans in Glasgow have an opportunity to celebrate the great game of rugby tomorrow [Saturday] afternoon by heading along to New Anniesland to watch Glasgow Accies take on the world famous Barbarians invitational side in a match which is being staged to celebrate the host club’s contribution to Scotland’s first ever Grand Slam success back in 1925.
The game will kick-off at 2pm, with gates opening at noon, and a celebratory dinner will be hosted in the clubrooms on Saturday evening when club legend John Beattie will host chats with the likes of Emma Wassell, Matt Fagerson, Duncan Weir and Ally Miller.
“There was actually four Glasgow Academicals who played for Scotland that year,” explains Niall Campbell, the Glasgow Accies Chairman. “Jimmy Nelson scored a try in the final match against England and Herbert Waddell (who would later become President of the Barbarians) scored the winning drop goal. Then there’s Jimmy Dykes and James Gilchrist as well, who didn’t that day but played earlier in the campaign.
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“So, that’s where the idea of this match came from, and we then got in touch with John Spencer (the former England and Lions centre who is now President of the Barbarians) to see if they were interested. They were already scheduled to play Durham University as part their 150th celebrations last weekend (a 33-64 win for the Barbarians), and they said yes to coming to Glasgow as well, which was great.”
The arrival of the Barbarians at Anniesland this weekend perhaps does not bring the same sort of celebrity power as the side’s last visit in 1988 for the Herbert Waddell Memorial Match a few months after the great man’s death, when Welsh legends Jonathan Davies and Paul Thorburn lined up at stand-off and full-back respectively, England skipper Will Carling was in the centre, Donal Lenihan of Ireland was in the second-row, and Finlay Calder and Iain Paxton flew the flag for Scotland in the back-row – but the resourceful Campbell can’t be accused of lacking ambition in trying to attract some stardust to the occasion.
“Henry Pollock‘s old man, John Pollock, is a Glasgow Academical, so I phoned up Northampton and asked if there was any chance of Henry coming up to play, but they weren’t keen,” he chuckles.
While this weekend’s Barbarians squad is predominantly made up of players from the third and fourth tiers of the English league structure who have representative honours playing for their county or England students, Campbell believes an entertaining and competitive match will ensure the day is a roaring success.
“The world has changed a bit but they are coming here to play traditional Barbarians rugby,” he stresses. “We’re not bringing in any ringers either, so it should be a really good match played in the finest spirit of the game. I think we’ve sold about 1,000 tickets so far, so it should be a good day.”
- Tickets are still available HERE.
A win for Accies would be great, but regardless of the result, they will finish the season feeling they are in a good place, after finishing third in National One and reaching the Scottish Cup Final three weekends ago, giving GHA a run for their money before eventually going down 52-30 to their rivals from across the city.
“We’ve come up a wee bit since being pushed down to the bottom of the regional leagues when we joined forces with GHK to form Glasgow Hawks back in 1996,” reflects Campbell. “We’ve gone through something like 10 promotions altogether, so it’s been quite a journey.
“And there’s a lot of positive stuff going on around Anniesland at the moment, with the school [Glasgow Academy] looking to build a couple of 4G pitches in the next year.
“We’ve also now got Stevie Longwell – who some people might remember from his days playing in Ayr, played in the Championship down south with Jersey Red, had a spell at Bristol and across in the USA with Old Glory – as our development officer. He’s been doing a great job with the minis and that stuff, and we’ve got a great senior coaching set up too with Ryan Grant, Ruaridh Jackson and Duncan Weir.
“So, we feel like the important things are moving in the right direction at the club. We’ll enjoy this weekend and then start looking ahead to next season.”
- Glasgow Accies take on the Barbarians at New Anniesland tomorrow [Saturday] afternoon, with a 2pm kick-off. By you tickets HERE.
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