A meeting of the members of the Kirkcaldy Cricket Club, and also of those who are favourable to the formation of a Football (Rugby) Club, will be held within the George Hotel, on Wednesday 1 October at half-past seven o'clock.

The above intimation appeared in the columns of the Fifeshire Advertiser of 27 September 1873, and as a result of the meeting Kirkcaldy (Rugby) Football club came into being. There are no reports of matches being played before the end of 1873 - although there may have been at least one - so that the first recorded game took place on 3 January 1874 against Portobello, away, with Kirkcaldy winning by the massive margin of 121 goals and 12 tries to nil.

Kirkcaldy was just one of scores of football clubs playing to rugby rules up and down the country in the early 1870's following the success of the inaugural international match between Scotland and England in 1871.

This Scottish enthusiasm for rugby declined within a decade in the face of the advance of association football across the country and most of the early clubs disappeared without trace. Against all the odds, Kirkcaldy survived, and by 1885 had satisfied the criteria for admission to the Scottish Football Union (now Scottish Rugby Union).

In the growing industrial town of Kirkcaldy at that time playing space was at a premium at the beginning of the 1890's and the club's activities were curtailed when their ground was taken over for other purposes. At times the only playing space was on the beach at low tide. The gift of Provost Beveridge's grounds to the town to form Beveridge Park provided space for a new pitch for the club and the use of the cricket club's pavilion.

Another public meeting reformed KRFC and membership of the SFU regained in October 1894. Apart from the world war years the club's existence has been unbroken since that date.