History - the 1880s
Numerous players have gone on to gain representative honours at County, Divisional, Schools International and full International. David Murray and George Haldane were the first to be "capped" for Northumberland with David Foster from the Duke's School gaining the first International Cap at Schools level.
Robert Robinson gained his "blue" for Oxford, whilst the Waltons, Michael and Peter had the unique distinction of playing not only for Scotland Schools but going on to play for England Colts. Tim McCreath and Charlie Rutherford also played for Scottish Schools. Steven Howe and Paul Courty both played for England at U16 with Jeff Smith representing England at U16 and U18 and touring New Zealand with England Schools gaining a further cap. Our latest junior international at U16 level is Aidan Philipson.
A number of players have represented the County and have also toured abroad - Canada, the United States and the latest Czechoslovakia where the County pulled off an historic win over the Czech national side by 38-19.
North East Counties representation saw David Murray play against South Africa; Alistair Johnson against Australia, whilst Peter Walton played against Zimbabwe and Namibia with the Northern Division when the toured Africa.
Notably Peter Walton who became the first player ever to have played for Alnwick to have been selected for International honours at the highest level of the game. Making his debut for Scotland at Murrayfield against England - going on to gain further caps with matches against Ireland and France and touring Argentina where he played against the Pumas in two internationals. Also representing his country in the World Cup competition held in South Africa in 1995 when he played against Cote d'Ivoire. During the 1996-97 season he played against all the home countries. His international jerseys - graciously donated by him - are now on proud display in the Clubhouse. He has now retired from the International scene after gaining 24 caps.
In 2006 Toby Flood became the second player from Alnwick to gain International recognition when he came on as a replacement for England against Argentina. Toby who joined the Alnwick mini section as a 6 year old has gone from strength to strength since making his debut to become a regular member of the England squad featuring in the World Cup in 2007 and scoring a try in each Englands opening 2 games of the 2008 6 Nations competition. The signs are good that Toby will be adding to his 14 caps and 37 ponts that includes 3 tries.