The Scottish Tug Of War Association was founded in 1980 by Jimmy Findlater and some like minded individuals, (including Bill Meston who is still a major influence today), to develop the amateur code of tug of war in Scotland. Up until 1980 there had been plenty of tug of war events at the many Highland Games, however they were all run under the professional code.

Initially STOWA developed the outdoor side of the sport, encouraging teams from many young farmers events and also the development of trade teams. This continued until 1985 when STOWA tentatively dipped its toe in the indoor code. Scottish outdoor teams had been making steady progress with teams such as Kinneff, Wimpey, Tinto and Callander making inroads at UK level, however it was back to square 1 at the in door.

For a number of years the Scottish teams at indoor eve nts were to be the whipping boys. This all changed in the 1990’s as BRC, North Fife, Tinto and Kinneff became competitive at UK level and then took a bron ze medal at the World Championships.

Outdoor clubs had continued to progress Scotland’s name with newer clubs lik East Kilbride regularly placing in the top 16 at World Club events and together with more established teams propelled Scotland into the top 10 nati ons in the World. Until recently that had been the level at which Scotland had plateaued, however Cornhill have now burst on to the scene and gave Scotland it’s first top 10 finish at the 2008 World Championships in Sweden .

The story at indoor tug of war has seen a much more meteoric rise. Towards the end of the 1990’s Scotland had been pushing the top nations hard but broke through in 1999 with a gold medal in the World Championships in Ireland . Since then Scotland has become the top nation in the World with the highest medal tally at the events in Holland (2000), Glasgow (2004), Killarney (2006) a nd Faenza , Italy (2008). Scottish clubs such as Ayrshire, BRC and Kinneff also regularly dominate the UK Championships and compete for World medals.

Scotland ’s women have only come on to the scene comparatively recently, but in many wa ys have been the standard bearers at International level. East Kilbride was Scotland ’s first representative team in 1993 and have been almost ever present since then. The Scots women have regularly featured in the knockout stages as World and European Championships and the girls are enjoy ing a period of growth with teams like Bankfoot and Cornhill now coming on to the scene.