The England men’s rugby union team may not have won the Five Nations (as it was then) back in 1988, but they did bring home the Calcutta Cup – and that was a big deal because back then they hardly ever won anything.
There are all kinds of prizes on offer in Europe’s great rugby competition and you have to be really unlucky to go home empty-handed. Take Ireland, for example. They finished third overall in last year’s tournament, but won the Triple Crown, awarded if one of England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales defeat the other three countries in a single edition of the Six Nations. They lost, they failed, but they also triumphed.
The Calcutta Cup is another of the many competitions-within-a-competition and is awarded to the winner of the England–Scotland match. England’s 9–6 victory over Scotland in 1988 wasn’t the greatest of games, but both teams took part in the post-match feasting, the Calcutta Cup fizzing with champagne and passed from hand to hand. After midnight the trophy became the ball in an impromptu game of rugby played on Princes Street. Made in 1878 by Indian craftsmen from 270 melted-down silver rupees, it was passed and it was kicked and it was dropped.
The players were a little more sober when they got back to their hotels. John Jeffrey of Scotland remembered thinking, “Hmm, we could be in a spot of bother here.” He received a six-month ban, while England’s Dean Richards, a police officer, got a one-match ban.
The competition’s rivalries are often packed with meaning and every round has a certain power. It sometimes seems that the only unifying factor is an ancient and lasting grudge against England.
Of course, there are other rivalries and many have their own silverware. Ireland and Scotland mark their shared heritage with the Centenary Quaich. Scotland and France play for the Auld Alliance trophy, which is named after a treaty from 1295 when the two nations agreed to gang up on England. Wales and Scotland have the Doddie Weir Cup, France and Italy the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy, and Scotland and Italy the Cuttitta Cup, celebrating Massimo Cuttitta, former captain of Italy and later Scotland scrum coach. Finally, England and Ireland play for the Millennium Trophy, marking Dublin’s thousand-year history in 1988. England were the first winners (after that Calcutta Cup victory).
That still leaves a good few matches sans trophy. Perhaps England and France could play for the St Crispin Cup, to mark the Battle of Agincourt? England could challenge Wales for the Under Milk Wood Tankard and Ireland and France for the Proust-Joyce Goblet.
It’s about neighbours and about centuries: rows, wars, grudges, conquests, trade, friendship, oppression, cultural borrowings and strategic alliances; nations and people bound together by history and geography, by time and by space. Every match has a meaning way beyond sport. As the tournament begins once again, we should all raise a glass to celebrate. But let’s try not to drop it. Or kick it.
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