Musselburgh Rugby Club has closed off a “terrific year” with its annual Christmas jumpers lunch.

The event was sponsored by the Honest Lads Association.

About 130 people enjoyed a traditional Christmas meal ahead of the club’s premiership clash with Selkirk.

Some £200 was raised for the rugby charity Hearts & Balls through the auctioning of limited edition Grand Slam whisky.

The club also took the opportunity to raise about £200 to help find a cure for motor neurone disease (MND) through the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation by selling drams of Alpha Five whisky.

Blair Stewart, vice-president of Musselburgh RFC, said: “The club has thrived this year and we wanted to sign off 2023 in style.

“Thanks to our wonderful bar staff and caterers, we were able to enjoy a fantastic lunch at the club ahead of our match against Selkirk.

“The game didn’t go our way and we narrowly lost an entertaining match but that wasn’t enough to dampen spirits around the club.

“Our players and coaches have been terrific this year and we go into the last few games of the season in January with a fighting chance of a top-four finish and a place in the play-offs.

“Whatever happens, this will be the club’s most successful ever season.

“As a club, we have established a reputation for being forward-thinking and progressive. More importantly, people from all over Scotland love coming to Stoneyhill to enjoy our warm hospitality and our attractive brand of rugby.

“This year, we have installed new LED floodlights and resurfaced our car park. We are also trying hard to build a ladies’ rugby team at the club.

“We are enthusiastic about the road ahead and 2024 can’t come quickly enough for us.”

Ahead of the match, the club held a minute’s silence to mark the passing of its oldest living player Eric Davidson. Mr Davidson played in the famous Musselburgh victory over Hawick on the club’s 25th anniversary in 1946.

When interviewed in 2021 ahead of the club’s centenary match against Hawick, Mr Davidson recalled the significance of the match given Hawick’s dominance of Scottish rugby at that time and that he had kicked the winning goal. At the written request of Bill Caird, Eric was granted leave from the army to play in the match. Afterwards he recalled that both sets of players had tea in the store tea rooms in Musselburgh.

Unfortunately, Eric stopped playing rugby due to injury at the age of 23.