With the Six Nations in full swing, the coming weeks will see heroes and villains made. As England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Italy slog it out, one thing is for sure: this is a tournament like no other. Welsh legend Shane Williams told Betway just how tough it is to battle through the intense weeks and emerge as champions: “ You’ve got to be on top of your game for the full tournament. The level of competition is so tight. One mistake ……. and you lose the match.”.
While in its current form, this tournament has been taking place for 22 years, the origins go back much further. In fact, an early form of the competition took place back in 1883. That’s a lot of history and there have been some great facts that come to light when looking back. Here’s a look at just three of them.
The trophy just couldn’t handle the celebrations!
As we have seen, winning the Six Nations is a big ask. When teams do win they, understandably, want to celebrate. We are all familiar with sports such as F1 where champagne takes a major role in any celebration. Well, champagne is just as much of a feature in the world of rugby as it is F1. The problem with rugby is that, over time, the amount of champagne began to corrode the silver trophy.
Refusing to stop champagne swigging celebrations, a solution was soon found. A new trophy was unveiled in 2015 and came with a gold lining. This stopped the corrosion issue, but what really topped things off was the addition of a rim that made the trophy easier to drink from!
Beer, beer, and more beer
Fortunately, the sport of rugby has managed to avoid the issues that are faced by football when it comes to fans. Football has long had problems with hooligans and the addition of any alcohol tends to make any situation worse. This is why you can’t drink in a football stadium. Rugby is very different!
This is a sport associated with plenty of drinking, but no trouble. The atmosphere at any Six Nations match is electric yet good-natured. It is estimated that during Six Nations matches that take place at Twickenham, over 160,000 pints of beer are consumed! All the while the fans do their country’s proud.
The Calcutta Cup
The Six Nations means that an important rugby tradition is adhered to. The history of the Calcutta Cup means that England and Scotland must face each other every year. The Six Nation ensures that this happens. This all links back to a game between the two teams back in 1872. The Indian population were huge fans of what they saw and went on to form the Calcutta Football Club as a result.
The club was later dissolved but members took the last silver coins from the accounts and melted them down. From these silver coins, the Calcutta Cup was made. It was handed over on the condition that England and Scotland face each other every year.
