Sport Rugby union Number of teams 2 | Instituted 2007–08 | |
Regions Scotland (Scottish Rugby Union) Holders Edinburgh Rugby (2015–16) Most titles Glasgow Warriors (6 titles) | ||
The 1872 Cup – also known as the 1872 Challenge Cup – is a men's rugby union tournament contested every year between the two Scottish professional clubs Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby.
Contents
- History
- District sides
- Professionalism and the Inter City Cup
- 1872 Cup begins
- Format of the Challenge Cup
- Sponsorship
- References
Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby use their Pro12 league matches against one another to decide the Cup winners. The highest aggregate score in the home and away ties decides the 1872 Champions.
Not only is the Glasgow – Edinburgh fixture the oldest inter-district rugby match in the world but the derby is classed as one of the biggest in world rugby. Former Edinburgh coach, the South African Alan Solomons states: "These games are massive. For me, this is one of the big derbies of world rugby."
History
The 1872 Cup marks the history of the world's oldest representative match. On 23 November 1872 a Glasgow District side met an Edinburgh District side at Burnbank, the home ground of Glasgow Academicals RFC. Rugby Union was 20 a side in those days. Edinburgh won the first match. However there was no cup to be won – and no cup was won until 1995.
District sides
Scotland was to have 4 District Sides: North and Midlands; South; Glasgow District and Edinburgh District. These sides would regularly play each other and a Scottish Inter-District Championship was introduced in 1953. A Scottish Exiles side was also introduced in the later McEwans District Championship.
Professionalism and the Inter-City Cup
The 4 District Sides North and Midlands, South, Glasgow and Edinburgh were to become Caledonia Reds, Border Reivers, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby with professionalism. These teams challenged in the Inter-District Championship for European qualification to the Heineken Cup. A Cup was offered by the Sponsors, the estate agents Slater, Hogg and Howison in 1995. In 1997–98 the competition received a new sponsor: Inter-City Trains – and the Cup became known as the Inter-City Cup.
When Caledonia Reds and Border Reivers were merged into the Glasgow and Edinburgh sides, Glasgow and Edinburgh played one-off matches for the Inter-City Cup from 1998 to 2002. The Cup became the Virgin Trains Cup with sponsorship in 2001–02 with the Welsh-Scottish League matches between the pair being used to determine the winner.
When the Border Reivers were revived in 2002 the Inter-City Cup was forgotten about and it sat in the old Glasgow & District Rugby Union office in Somerset Place, Glasgow for a few years. Unfortunately the Reivers folded again in 2007.
1872 Cup begins
The Cup was revived and rebranded by Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby as the 1872 Cup in season 2007–08. 1872 thus marking the date of the oldest derby match in rugby union history between the original Glasgow and Edinburgh amateur district sides on which the professional clubs were founded.
Format of the Challenge Cup
The two league encounters of the Pro12 are used to decide the winner of the 1872 Challenge Cup. Recently these fixtures have been scheduled as double-headers; home/away to rival one week and away/home to rival the next. These double-headers are often scheduled around the weekends of Christmas and New Year. The 2016-17 season's 1872 Cup matches no longer follow the double header format.
The aggregate score of Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby over the two legs is taken into account in deciding the winner.
Where the aggregate score is tied the holder retains the trophy.
Sponsorship
Crabbie's have been announced as the sponsor of the 2016-17 season's 1872 Cup.