Calcutta Cup

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Calcutta Cup

The Calcutta Cup is a rugby union trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Six Nations Championship match between England and Scotland. It is currently held by Scotland, who claimed the trophy by defeating the holders England 18-12 at Murrayfield in the 2006 Six Nations Championship on Saturday 25th February 2006.

1 The Calcutta Club
2 The Cup
3 The Competition
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] The Calcutta Club

On Christmas Day 1872, a game of rugby football, between 20 players representing England on the one side and 20 representing Scotland, Ireland and Wales on the other, was played in Calcutta.

The match was such a success that it was repeated a week later: the game of rugby had reached India. These lovers of rugby football wanted to form a club in the area and the aforementioned matches were the agents which led to the formation of the Calcutta Football Club in January 1873.

The Calcutta Club joined the Rugby Football Union in 1874. Despite the Indian climate not being entirely suitable for playing rugby, the club prospered during that first year. However, when the free bar had to be discontinued, the membership took an appreciable drop. Other sports, such as tennis and polo, which were considered to be more suited to the local climate, were making inroads into the numbers of gentlemen available. The members decided to disband but keen to perpetuate the name of the club, they withdrew the club's funds from the bank; which were in Silver Rupees, had them melted down and made into a cup which they presented to the RFU in 1878, with the provision that it should be competed for annually.

[edit] The Cup

The cup is of Indian workmanship, approximately 18 inches (45 cm) high, the body is finely engraved with three king cobras forming the handles. The domed lid is surmounted by an elephant which is, it is said, copied from the Viceroy's own stock and is complete with a howdah. The inscription on the Cup's wooden base reads: THE CALCUTTA CUP.

The base has attached to it additional plates which record the date of each match played with the name of the winning country and the names of the two captains. There is an anomaly in the recording of the winning country on the base of the Cup. It was first played for in 1879, but the plinth shows records extending back to the first international in 1871.

The original Calcutta Cup is rarely seen by the public. Whether it is held in London or in Edinburgh, it is stored in a vault. In Scotland, on occasion, it is exhibited in schools and rugby union clubs. The Rugby Museum at Twickenham has a full-size replica of the cup and a further replica is held in the SRU shop at Murrayfield or in the Library. Whilst the original was handmade by Indian craftsmen, the replicas were made using modern technology.

In 1988 the cup was damaged by the antics of some drunken players, including England number eight Dean Richards and Scotland flanker John Jeffrey who played football with the Calcutta Cup along Princes Street in Edinburgh. Jeffrey received a six-month ban from the SRU whilst Richards was given a one-match sentence from England.

[edit] The Competition

The RFU refused to turn the Calcutta Cup into a knock-out competition for English club sides (since they believed that ‘competitiveness’ ran against the amateur ethos) but instead decided that a game should be played each year between England and Scotland and whoever wins will keep it for that year. The first Calcutta Cup match was played at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, on 10 March 1879 and ended in a draw; Scotland scored a drop goal and England a goal. The following year on 28 February 1880 England become the first winners of the Calcutta Cup when they defeated Scotland by 2 goals & 3 tries to 1 goal in Manchester. As of 2006, 113 Calcutta Cup matches have taken place. Currently, this game is the annual match between the two nations in the Six Nations Championship.

In 2004, the two countries' rugby governing bodies, the Rugby Football Union (England) and the Scottish Rugby Union, were considering a plan to add a second Calcutta Cup fixture each year, outside of the Six Nations. The second fixture would be hosted by the away nation in the Six Nations fixture of the same year. Under that plan, one nation would have to win both matches to take the Cup off its current holder. Due to a largely unfavorable reaction, the proposal soon disappeared from view.