THE Calcutta Cup has had a few tales to tell off the park, from its intriguing origin as melted-down Indian rupees to sustaining damage on a night of celebration in Edinburgh's Princes Street.
Dean Richards and John Jeffrey became legendary figures on the pitch for Scotland and England, notably playing key roles in famous Calcutta Cups that secured and dashed Grand Slams for their respective nations. They also gained a notoriety off it in
1988, after deciding to share the famous cup with supporters in Edinburgh following a 9-6 win for England at Murrayfield, and paid very different prices for it.
Popular with supporters, both players have since been accused of "playing football" with the trophy, but that was a myth exaggerated over time. Each told The Scotsman this week that he still remains remorseful for the incident and the damage caused to the soft metal trophy, but it seems that it was the result of nothing more than simply being dropped.
The dinner at the Carlton Highland Hotel on North Bridge had been a wild affair with players from both sides throwing food at each other and committee men, and Brian Moore, the England captain, being doused in champagne from the cup at one point. Richards, who was then a policeman, but is now the coach of Harlequins, confirmed that he took the cup out of the hotel. It is understood not to have been in Jeffrey's possession when it was damaged, but neither player has ever said how it actually came to harm.
Jeffrey stated: "The facts were Dean and I took the trophy out of the hotel and we brought it back damaged, and I never denied that. The pair of us were responsible, and that's all I ever wanted to say about it and all I will ever say because it's not something I was proud of.
"The SRU swiftly decided that I'd be banned for six months, while Dean got a week from the RFU, and I was desperately worried that that was it, my Scotland career finished; I had burnt my bridges. Fin (Calder] took me aside and said not to worry, that the only way to respond was to play well enough that they had to pick me again. Norman Mair (former internationalist and Scotsman rugby writer] gave me a lot of advice as well; he was super that way.
"There was never any malice intended. We took it out to show supporters, which is something that had been done in the past and has been done in recent years too. So, I don't regret taking it out, but I, obviously, most definitely regret the fact that such a wonderful, historic trophy was damaged."
Richards insisted he was more culpable than Jeffrey, who was on the bench throughout the game, and was shocked at the SRU's treatment of one of their leading young players.
"It was a dour game, but the night got a little boisterous," he said. "Unfortunately, the cup came back damaged. I was very apologetic and offered to pay for the damage at the time, but it was insured so we weren't asked to. It was quite bizarre that I got a one-match ban and he got six months – that seemed very unfair. We had won the cup so it was in England's possession, and I was the one who took it out of the hotel, so I was more culpable.
"I felt sorry for JJ, but I think the SRU wanted to make a point at that time, because a number of their dinners had ended up in real states."
The Calcutta Cup might never have been in Scotland at all as it was originally presented to the RFU to be their equivalent of the English FA Cup, played for in an English cup final each year.
The trophy was presented by the Calcutta Football Club in 1878, the club stating that they had found the climate in India not conducive to playing rugby matches, and were winding up. They had split the club funds of rupees, paying half to silversmiths to fashion a trophy that could be presented to the RFU and melting down the other half to be used in the making of it. It was a fantastic, unique design, incorporating three king cobras as handles with an elephant crafted on top, supposedly a model of one of the Maharaja's elephants.
The RFU decided it should be played for annually between Scotland and England and it has resided north of the border for two years of the last three, travelling the length and breadth of Scotland, visiting Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles and every corner of the mainland in SRU community visits toasting the achievement and inspiring younger generations.
It returned to Twickenham on Thursday, ready for today's 116th Calcutta Cup match – there have been 125 Scotland-England games in all – close to the very day, 130 years ago, that it was first played for.
