Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

1872 Cup

1872 Cup
Organising bodySRU
Founded2007; 17 years ago (2007)
RegionGlasgow
Edinburgh
Number of teams2
Current championsGlasgow Warriors (2024)
Most successful club(s)Glasgow Warriors
(10 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.

Under the current format, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby play home-and-away league matches against one another within the United Rugby Championship in which both sides compete. The results in these matches is used to decide the Cup winners. The aggregate score in the home and away ties decides the 1872 Champions each year and bonus points won within the URC league structure are disregarded.

Not only is the Glasgow – Edinburgh fixture the oldest inter-district rugby match in the world,[1] but the derby is classed as one of the biggest in world rugby.[2][3] 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."[4] Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith said: "It's a very special derby that is world renowned."[5] The matches, often held over the Christmas and New Year holiday season, attract bumper attendances in larger stadia than the teams use habitually.

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 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 Pro14 league match. Similarly the Glasgow Warriors versus Edinburgh Rugby fixture of 15 May 2021 was a normal Pro14 Rainbow Cup 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.[6] On 23 November 1872 a Glasgow District side met an Edinburgh District side at Burnbank Park, the home ground of 1st Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers RFC and at the time also leased for use by Glasgow Academicals. 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.[7]

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 being the date of the oldest derby match in rugby union, between the Glasgow and Edinburgh amateur district sides on which the professional clubs were founded.[8]

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 one week and away/home the next—and often scheduled around the weekends of Christmas and New Year.

From 2017 to 2021 the format of the 1872 Cup was deemed a best-of-three format using Pro14 or Pro14 Rainbow Cup matches.[9]

In 2021, with the advent of the United Rugby Championship, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby reverted 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.[10]

Sponsorship

The cup was originally sponsored by Greaves Sports.[1] Crabbie's were announced as the sponsor of the 2016–17 season's 1872 Cup.[11]

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.

Ed. Year Date Venue Home Score Away Trophy Winner
Agg.
1
2007–08 28 December 2007 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 35–31[12] Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors (1)
54–49
11 April 2008 Firhill Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 23–14[13] Edinburgh
2
2008–09 26 December 2008 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 39–6[14] Glasgow Warriors Edinburgh (1)
59–31
2 January 2009 Firhill Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 25–20[15] Edinburgh
3
2009–10 27 December 2009 Firhill Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 25–12[16] Edinburgh Glasgow Warriors (2)
47–27
2 January 2010 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 15–22[17] Glasgow Warriors
4
2010–11 27 December 2010 Firhill Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 30–18[18] Edinburgh Glasgow Warriors (3)
47–46
2 January 2011 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 28–17[19] Glasgow Warriors
5
2011–12 26 December 2011 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 23–23[20] Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors (4)
40–35
1 January 2012 Firhill Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 17–12[21] Edinburgh
6
2012–13 21 December 2012 Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 23–14[22] Edinburgh Glasgow Warriors (5)
44–31
29 December 2012 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 17–21[23] Glasgow Warriors
7
2013–14 26 December 2013 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 16–20[24] Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors (6)
57–50
26 April 2014[a] Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 37–34[26] Edinburgh
8
2014–15 27 December 2014 Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 16–6[27] Edinburgh Edinburgh (2)
26–24
2 January 2015 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 20–8[28] Glasgow Warriors
9
2015–16 27 December 2015 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 23–11[29] Glasgow Warriors Edinburgh (3)
37–22
2 January 2016 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh[b] Glasgow Warriors 11–14[31] Edinburgh
10
2016–17 26 December 2016 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 12–25[32] Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors (7)
43–41
6 May 2017 Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 18–29[33] Edinburgh

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

With the introduction of the South African teams, the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings, and the new league format named the Pro14; 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.[34] In a coronavirus pandemic affected 2020–21 season, neither the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings entered the Pro14 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.

Ed. Year Date Venue Home Score Away Trophy Winner
Score
11
2017–18 23 December 2017 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 18–17[35] Glasgow Warriors Edinburgh (4)
2–1
30 December 2017 Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 17–0[36] Edinburgh
28 April 2018 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 24–19[37] Glasgow Warriors
12
2018–19 22 December 2018 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 23–7[38] Glasgow Warriors Edinburgh (5)
2–1
29 December 2018 Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 8–16[39] Edinburgh
27 April 2019 34–10[40]
13
2019–20 21 December 2019 Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 20–16[41] Edinburgh Edinburgh (6)
2–1
28 December 2019 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 29–19[42] Glasgow Warriors
22 August 2020[c] Glasgow Warriors 15–30[44] Edinburgh
14
2020–21 2 January 2021 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 10–7[45] Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors (8)
2–1
16 January 2021[d] Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 23–22[48] Edinburgh
7 May 2021 Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 29–19[49] Edinburgh

Two-match format (2021–22 onwards)

The introduction of 4 more South African teams, the Bulls, Lions, Sharks 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.[50]

Ed. Year Date Venue Home Score Away Trophy Winner
Agg.
15
2021–22 18 March 2022 Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 30-17[51] Edinburgh Edinburgh (7)
45 - 41
21 May 2022 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 28-11 Glasgow Warriors
16
2022–23 23 December 2022 Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 16-10[52] Edinburgh Glasgow Warriors (9)
48 - 35
30 December 2022 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 25-32[53] Glasgow Warriors
16
2023–24 23 December 2023 Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 22-10 Edinburgh Glasgow Warriors (10)
36 - 29
30 December 2023 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Edinburgh 19–14 Glasgow Warriors

Notes

  1. ^ Match originally scheduled for 1 January 2014, but was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.[25]
  2. ^ Match originally scheduled to be played at Scotstoun Stadium, but was moved due to a waterlogged pitch.[30]
  3. ^ Match originally scheduled for w.o 29 May but postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic and then rescheduled to be played at Murrayfield but still contested as a Glasgow home leg.[43]
  4. ^ Match originally scheduled for December 27th, 2020 but postponed to 8 January 2021 due to four confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 among the Glasgow Warriors, then to 16 January 2021 due to a frozen playing surface at Scotstoun.[46][47]

See also

Other celtic derbies

References

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