The fascinating history behind the 1872 Cup

You might have noticed that the 1872 Cup had a restorative dip in some Brasso earlier this week. After a bit of buff and polish the results were pretty impressive. Not only has the trophy, awarded for the winners of the Glasgow v Edinburgh derby which has its first leg in the United Rugby Championship this evening, had a facelift, its had some implants too: okay, that might be stretching the metaphor a bit but it's hard not to have been impressed by the three-tier plinth the cup now sits on and which carries the engraved names of every trophy holder since the fixture was first staged 150 years ago. That tally remains elusive despite Edinburgh announcing recently that a complete total would be made available but, since the cup was revived in 2007, the score is 8-7 in Glasgow's favour.

It has been something of a week for nostalgia in The Fixture, no doubt because it's that time of the year, and you don't get much more historic in the modern sporting context than a duel that was first staged when Queen Victoria was still a relatively young woman. Much as you would expect from a match that spans a century and a half, the fixture between the two sides has a storied past.

Once dismissed as a 'gravy bowl' by then Edinburgh head coach, Richard Cockerill, the silverware wasn't always so well treasured. Indeed, there were plenty of signs of wear and tear following years of celebratory beverages being poured into and supped out of the cup. Then there was the time it disappeared altogether without anyone noticing for five years before Steve Swindall, the then Glasgow Warriors flanker, fished it out of a cupboard during a clearout at Firhill as he took part in some punitive work in lieu of a fine he had been given by the club.

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The first fixture was played using 20-a-side rules on November 23, 1872, a full week before Scotland hosted England in the first ever international football match. Tom Chalmers and Willie Cross, two of the Glasgow team, had been selected to play for Scotland but opted instead to take part in the rugby match. Cross had been a participant in the first international rugby match between Scotland and England which had been played at Raeburn Place a year earlier and had, in fact, scored the first points in international rugby history.

The match was then, and remained until 1995, one that was played without a trophy. That changed when estate agents Slater, Hogg and Howison put up the claret jug that we see today up but within two seasons it had a new sponsor – Inter-City Trains. 

Fast forwarding to the modern day and one of the quirkier stories involves Glasgow's Chris Fusaro and Edinburgh's Scott MacLeod who swapped punches in a tousy encounter at Firhill in December 2010 with Geoff Cross appearing to pin Fusaro's arms so that MacLeod might get a better shot at him. Rugby, apparently a sport for gentleman, so often descends into the kind of outright hostility that it loves to frown at football for – perhaps the belief is that a firm handshake afterwards is enough to mask knocking someone's lights out but whatever the reason, the next night, the Edinburgh coach Rob Moffat hosted Fusaro's parents for dinner as part of a previously agreed arrangement. The chat around the table would surely have made for some interesting listening. 

Tonight's game at Scotstoun promises to be another tense affair even if there is unlikely to be too much in the way of fisticuffs. The destiny of the trophy this year seems as uncertain as it has been for some time with both sides evenly matched and sitting within three places of each other in the URC table, albeit Glasgow have played a game fewer. The smart money seems to be on both teams winning their home encounters, at which point it will come down to which side outscores their opponents over the two games – although Glasgow might have the slight edge on that front having had a run out at Murrayfield last week when they beat Perpignan in the Challenge Cup after Scotstoun had been deemed unplayable.