Why the 1872 Cup is a real Competition

A version of this article first appeared in Scrum Magazine many moons ago.

Ok, hands up if you have won a trophy as a rugby player? Keep them up if you need more than two fingers to indicate how many? I’m willing to bet that unless you count the trophies you won at mini rugby that there’s not a lot of you with your hands up at all let alone using more than one finger.

So the opportunity to win something shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. Trophies and medals at rugby are pretty rare unless you are the All Blacks or, once upon a time, Saracens.

Those that dismiss the 1872 cup are missing the point. It’s a real trophy and a real rivalry exists between the teams that compete for it.  

I’m familiar with the arguments. It’s a construct, that it’s a diddy cup and that it’s irrelevant.

I beg to differ.

It’s a construct and was hidden away in a cupboard until the advent of the professional era. What if it was? The fact remains, teams called Glasgow and Edinburgh played a game of 20 a side rugby on 23rd November 1872. Although it’s not entirely pertinent to my argument I’ll point out that Edinburgh won that encounter. Reports from the day indicate that there were a couple of intercepted tries that settled it! I digress. There was no trophy at that time but you know what other long standing rivalry started that year and without an actual trophy? The Calcutta Cup and no one questions its validity as it continues its breakneck tour around the country.

So, yes there was no cup until 1995 but that hardly makes this series of matches less intense. Just ask Chris Fusaro or Scott Macleod – sent off in 2010 For fighting at the death of the Firhill leg that year. Not the handbags stuff of today, genuine fisticuffs.

It’s a diddy cup. It’s the Scottish football league cup or whatever it’s called these days. I refer you to my earlier answer. Show me your trophies. Glasgow may have a league title to their name but you usually find that only teams who have been knocked out of what they refer to as diddy cups call them that. Winners are grinners and even if this is the rugby equivalent of beating your little brother at crazy golf you still celebrate.

If it’s that diddy why do the fans turn up in record numbers year after year? And why is it just about the only time that Professional rugby in Scotland features on the BBC news. Even these column inches in a Scottish Rugby publication make a lie of that assertion.

Of course it’s not irrelevant. Neither on field or off. There is 10 points at stake in the Christmas fixtures. A crucial time of the season for both clubs. Win both and you fire into the New Year with gusto. Lose and the New Year’s fizz will seem a little flat. Even the third leg at the tail end of the season has some meaning in league terms even if the cup destination itself has been resolved already. 

Off field, the entente cordiale between Edinburgh and Glasgow fans that normally prevails gets stretched a little thin at this time of year. Banter levels on social media soar and sense of humour failures become commonplace.  The media teams at the clubs get carried away themselves a little.

A real rivalry then that should be cherished and nourished. There’s few enough reasons to celebrate Scottish Rugby. Of course if Edinburgh lose then you can disregard all of the above. It’s just a made up diddy cup.