It is called the Calcutta Cup because the original trophy was created and donated by the Calcutta Rugby Football Club in India in the 1870s, and the cup was named in honour of that club and the city where it was based.

Quick Scoop: Story in a nutshell

  • In 1872, English and Scottish players based in Calcutta (then part of British India) played a rugby match, which led to the formation of the Calcutta Rugby Football Club the following year.
  • When the club later folded (membership and interest dropped), its remaining fundsā€”270 silver rupeesā€”were melted down by local silversmiths to create a decorative rugby trophy.
  • The finished silver cup, featuring Indian-style details like an elephant on the lid and snake-shaped handles, was presented to Englandā€™s Rugby Football Union (RFU) in 1878.
  • The RFU decided it would be the prize for the annual match between England and Scotland, the oldest international rugby rivalry; because it came from the Calcutta club, they named it the ā€œCalcutta Cup.ā€

So the name isnā€™t about where the match is played today, but about where the trophy was born: the old Calcutta Rugby Football Club in colonial-era India.

TL;DR: Itā€™s called the Calcutta Cup because a now-defunct rugby club in Calcutta melted its silver rupee funds into a trophy and gifted it to the RFU, who then used it as the Englandā€“Scotland trophy and kept the name ā€œCalcuttaā€ to mark its Indian origins.

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