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 Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

and

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh pl ...

and

use selected

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

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." Not all Glasgow Warriors versus Edinburgh Rugby fixtures are deemed 1872 Cup matches. Should the sides play more matches against one another in a season than the nominated 1872 Cup matches, these other derby matches have no bearing on the 1872 Cup. For example, the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

match of 28 August 2020 in the 2019-20 season between the clubs was the pair's fourth fixture together that season. The 1872 Cup was already decided in the derby fixture the week before, and the 28 August 2020 match was a normal

league match. Similarly the Glasgow Warriors versus Edinburgh Rugby fixture of 15 May 2021 was a normal

Pro14 Rainbow Cup The Pro14 Rainbow Cup (also known as the Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup for sponsorship reasons) was a professional rugby union end-of-season cup competition played in 2021 that consisted of two separate tournaments: the Rainbow Cup for twelve Europe ...

match, the 1872 Cup for that season decided in the Rainbow Cup match in the previous week.

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 Park Burnbank Park was a sports ground in Glasgow, Scotland. It was situated in the city's Woodlands area, found at Barrington Drive (between Great Western Road and Woodlands Road).Glasgow Academicals The Glasgow Academical Football Club is the third oldest rugby football club in Scotland. The club was also a founder member of the Scottish Football Union (the future SRU) in 1873. History Glasgow Hawks In 1997 the decision was made to ...

. 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 North and Midlands - and now known as Caledonia - is a select provincial amateur rugby union team that draws its players mainly from north of Scotland, roughly corresponding from around Stirling northwards. Historically the North and Midlands te ...

; South; Glasgow District and Edinburgh District. These sides would regularly play each other and a

Scottish Inter-District Championship The Scottish Inter-District Championship is a rugby union competition between regional sides in Scotland. Established in 1953, the tournament went through several formats. The Scottish Rugby Union confirmed in January 2023 that the Scottish In ...

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

, South,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and Edinburgh were to become

Caledonia Reds Caledonia Reds were a Scottish rugby union professional district team who participated in the Scottish Inter-District Championship and in two seasons of the Heineken Cup. They evolved from one of the traditional four amateur districts of Scotlan ...

, Border Reivers,

and

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

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

and

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

From 2006 to 2017 the two league encounters of the Celtic League or the Pro12 were used to decide the winner of the 1872 Challenge Cup. Usually, these fixtures were scheduled as double-headers; home/away to rival one week and away/home to rival the next. These double-headers were often scheduled around the weekends of Christmas and New Year. The 2016–17 season's 1872 Cup matches did not follow the double header format. From 2017 to 2021 the format of the 1872 Cup was deemed a best-of-three format using

matches. In 2021, with the advent of the United Rugby Championship, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby reverted back to the traditional two league fixtures for the 1872 Cup. The aggregate score of Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby in the fixtures is taken into account in deciding the winner. Where the aggregate score is tied the holder retains the trophy.

Sponsorship

The cup was originally sponsored by Greaves Sports.

Crabbie's Crabbie's is a Scottish brand traditionally known for its green ginger wine and blended whiskies produced at John Crabbie & Co's extensive premises in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. That company has changed its name and its business is unr ...

have been announced as the sponsor of the 2016–17 season's 1872 Cup.

List of results

Two-match format (2007–08 to 2016–17)

When the first Glasgow - Edinburgh derbies were played in 1872 onwards, these were twice a season fixtures (for the first 4 seasons). It was decided that a 2 match format would then decide the 1872 Cup.

Three-match format (2017–18 to 2020–21)

With the introduction of the South African teams, the

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

and the

Southern Kings The Southern Kings were a South African professional rugby union team that competed in Super Rugby and Pro14. They were based in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province and played their home matches at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. They we ...

, and the new league format named the

; Glasgow and Edinburgh were designated to different conferences, resulting in one meeting during the season. As well as this, two additional derby matches were scheduled by the league, resulting in a three-game format for the Cup. The winner of the Cup will be the team that wins most matches, with the previous format of aggregate scores now being the first tie-break criteria. In a coronavirus pandemic affected 2020-21 season, neither the

and the

entered the

that season, the Kings having the misfortune to disband. However the Pro14 organised an additional tournament, the Rainbow Cup, which ensured Glasgow and Edinburgh had 3 1872 Cup fixtures in that season.

Two-match format (2021–22 onwards)

The introduction of 4 more South African teams, the Bulls,

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Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

and Stormers, and the new league format now renamed the United Rugby Championship; Glasgow and Edinburgh were designated the same conference, resulting in the traditional 2 league meetings during the season.

Notes

References

External links

Scottish Rugby on 1872 Cup

1872 - A rugby rivalry (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cup 1872 Cup United Rugby Championship Glasgow Warriors Edinburgh Rugby 2007 establishments in Scotland