This morning Lindsay Crawford President of Glasgow Academicals delivered the 1871 Cap of J W Arthur to the Twickenham Rugby Museum


Issued in liaison with the RFU press office at Twickenham this morning

International rugby was born 140 years ago on a bright, sunny day in Edinburgh. Now, for the first time since 1871 and thanks to Glasgow Academicals FC and Simon Inglis (Editor Played in Britain), two of the caps presented to players in this game will be reunited at the World Rugby Museums in Twickenham.

The Calcutta Cup, named after the trophy that accompanies it, has its roots in India. When the Calcutta Football Club disbanded in the late 1870s with approximately £60 of club funds remaining, the money was withdrawn from their bank in silver rupees, melted down, and sculpted into the trophy still played for today. But the inaugurating game in 1879 was not the first time England and Scotland had met on the pitch. Eight years before, these two teams had made history by participating in the first ever international rugby match - a fixture that was continued annually even before the introduction of the trophy years later.

The World Rugby Museum’s collection, which already contained Arthur Guillemard’s England cap from 1871, will now be complemented by the arrival of J W Arthur’s Scotland cap. The cap has been kindly loaned to the museum by Glasgow Academicals FC the club that Glasgow born Arthur played with for seven seasons Arthur was one of a small group of Scottish Club players, who instigated the match, writing to the Secretary of Blackheath:

“…we, representing the whole footballing interest of Scotland, hereby challenge any team selected from the whole of England, to play us a match, twenty a side Rugby rules”.

Founded in 1866, Glasgow Accies have an impressive club history. One of the oldest clubs in Scotland, they provided four players for the team that defeated England in the first ever rugby international, and were the first Scottish club to play in Ireland and London. The club can also boast success in the association game, with Queens Park asking them to provide players for the first official association football international against England in 1872. Away from the touring scene, Accies hosted the meeting that led to the formation of the Scottish Rugby Union in 1873 and provided one of the delegates to the founding meeting of the IRB.

The two caps will be displayed side by side from Saturday 12th March.

This article was originally posted on 12-Mar-2011, 12:13 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 13-Mar-2011, 11:08.