United Hospitals Cup

United Hospitals Challenge Cup

The United Hospitals Challenge Cup is contested by the six medical schools in London and is most notable for being the oldest rugby cup competition in the world.[1]

History

In 1874 the United Hospitals RFC instituted a cup competition, the United Hospitals Challenge Cup, also known as the Inter-Hospital Challenge Cup. The first final was played on Wednesday 3 March 1875 at The Oval, which had also been the site of England's first home rugby international three years earlier. The match predated by four years the first Calcutta Cup match and is the oldest cup competition in the game of rugby. The first final was contested by at 3.30pm by Guy's Hospital and St George's Hospital in front of 400 spectators. Guy's, wore an orange and blue kit, and kicked the game off, whilst their opponents wore green jersey, green shorts with brown socks. Guy's won but St George's got their revenge the next season. When this game was played matches were won by goals rather than points. A goal was a converted try, and tries themselves only value in the case of a draw in which case they would be counted up as the deciding factor. Guy's Hospital won the game by 1 Goal (a converted try) and 1 try to 2 tries. The records say that the three additional 'tries' were all defensive touch downs. The game was also notable for fielding 15 players per side at a time when all international matches, the Varsity Match, County matches and all other top level games were being played with 20 players per side and would continue to do so until 1877. In this regard, the United Hospitals RFC was a pioneer. With the exception of breaks for the two world wars of the twentieth century, the United Hospitals Challenge Cup has been played for without interruption since that first final.

The Royal Veterinary College was invited to join the competition for the first time after a vote was taken during the AGM on 13 May 2008.[2]

The 2014 final took place at Richmond Athletic Ground. Mary's defeated Bart's and the London 28-6 in the 128th Cup Final. They reacquired the cup after a 2 year hiatus, making them the most successful club in the UH competition history, having won the cup 51 times (GKT, or constituents thereof, having won 50 times, and BL 24 times).

The 2015 UH Cup saw RUMS face defending champions Mary's, at Ealing Trailfinder's ground. RUMS had not reached the final in over a decade, and had not won since 1887. A hard fought final, in front of a large support crowd from both medical schools, RUMS eventually emerged 20-6 winners. This broke RUMS' 128 year gap between last winning the cup, as the Middlesex hospital (before merging with UCH).

United Hospital Challenge Cup wins

United Hospital Challenge Cup wins
Hospital Team First Competed Last Competed Current Status Wins Total Wins including constituent elements
Imperial Medicals1997presentActive1351
G.K.T.1999presentActive250
St Barts and The Royal London (Royal Hospitals RFC)1996presentActive424
St George’s1874presentActive44
RUMS RFC1998presentActive12
The Royal Veterinary College2009presentActive00
Guy's and St. Thomas' RFC19901998Part of G.K.T.148
Guy’s18741990Part of G.K.T.3131
St Thomas’s18741990Part of G.K.T.1616
King's College Hospital18741998Open club so no longer eligible. Medics represented by G.K.T.00
St Mary’s18741996Part of Imperial Medics3232
Charing X/ Westminster19841996Part of Imperial Medics36
Westminster18741983Part of Imperial Medics33
Charing Cross18741983Part of Imperial Medics00
London18741995Part of Royal Hospitals RFC1111
St Bart’s18751995Part of Royal Hospitals RFC99
Middlesex18741997Part of RUMS RFC11
Royal Free?1997Part of RUMS RFC00
University College Hospital RFC?1997Part of RUMS RFC00

Winners

  • 1875 Guy’s
  • 1876 St George’s
  • 1877 Guy’s
  • 1878 St Thomas’s
  • 1879 Guy’s
  • 1880 St George’s
  • 1881 St Bart’s
  • 1882 St George’s
  • 1883 St Bart’s
  • 1884 London
  • 1885 London
  • 1886 Guy’s
  • 1887 Middlesex
  • 1888 St Thomas’s
  • 1889 St Thomas’s
  • 1890 Guy’s
  • 1891 Not Played
  • 1892 St Thomas’s
  • 1893 St Thomas’s
  • 1894 St Thomas’s
  • 1895 St Thomas’s
  • 1896 St Thomas’s
  • 1897 St Thomas’s
  • 1898 Guy’s
  • 1899 Guy’s
  • 1900 St Mary’s
  • 1901 Guy’s
  • 1902 Guy’s
  • 1903 Guy’s
  • 1904 London
  • 1905 Guy’s
  • 1906 London
  • 1907 Guy’s
  • 1908 London
  • 1909 Guy’s
  • 1910 Guy’s
  • 1911 Guy’s
  • 1912 Guy’s
  • 1913 Guy’s
  • 1914 London
  • 1915 No Competition
  • 1916 "
  • 1917 "
  • 1918 "
  • 1919 No Competition
  • 1920 Guy’s
  • 1921 Guy’s
  • 1922 Guy’s
  • 1923 Guy’s
  • 1924 St Bart’s
  • 1925 Guy’s
  • 1926 St Thomas’s
  • 1927 Guy’s
  • 1928 St Bart’s
  • 1929 Guy’s
  • 1930 Guy’s
  • 1931 St Bart’s
  • 1932 Guy’s
  • 1933 Guy’s
  • 1934 St Mary’s
  • 1935 St Mary’s
  • 1936 St Mary’s
  • 1937 St Mary’s
  • 1938 St Mary’s
  • 1939 St Mary’s
  • 1940 No Competition
  • 1941 "
  • 1942 "
  • 1943 "
  • 1944 "
  • 1945 "
  • 1946 St Mary’s
  • 1947 Not Played
  • 1948 Guy’s
  • 1949 St Mary’s
  • 1950 St Thomas’s
  • 1951 St Mary’s
  • 1952 St Mary’s
  • 1953 St Mary’s
  • 1954 St Thomas’s
  • 1955 London
  • 1956 St Mary’s
  • 1957 London
  • 1958 St Thomas’s
  • 1959 St Mary’s
  • 1960 St Thomas’s
  • 1961 Guy’s
  • 1962 St Thomas’s
  • 1963 St Mary’s
  • 1964 St Thomas’s
  • 1965 London
  • 1966 Guy’s
  • 1967 St Mary’s
  • 1968 London
  • 1969 St Bart’s
  • 1970 St Bart’s
  • 1971 Guy’s
  • 1972 St Mary’s
  • 1973 St Mary’s
  • 1974 Westminster
  • 1975 Westminster
  • 1976 St Bart’s
  • 1977 St Bart’s
  • 1978 St Mary’s
  • 1979 St Mary’s
  • 1980 St Mary’s
  • 1981 St Mary’s
  • 1982 Westminster
  • 1983 St Mary’s
  • 1984 St Mary’s
  • 1985 St Mary’s
  • 1986 London
  • 1987 St Mary’s
  • 1988 St Mary’s
  • 1989 St Mary’s
  • 1990 St Mary’s
  • 1991 St Mary’s
  • 1992 St Mary’s
  • 1993 Charing X/ Westminster
  • 1994 St Mary’s
  • 1995 Charing X/ Westminster
  • 1996 Charing X/ Westminster
  • 1997 Guy's and St. Thomas' RFC
  • 1998 Imperial Medics
  • 1999 Imperial Medics
  • 2000 Imperial Medics
  • 2001 G.K.T.
  • 2002 Imperial Medics
  • 2003 Imperial Medics
  • 2004 Imperial Medics
  • 2005 Imperial Medics
  • 2006 Imperial Medics
  • 2007 Imperial Medics
  • 2008 Imperial Medics
  • 2009 G.K.T.
  • 2010 Imperial Medics
  • 2011 Imperial Medics
  • 2012 Barts and The London
  • 2013 Barts and The London
  • 2014 Imperial Medics
  • 2015 RUMS RFC
  • 2016 St George’s
2009 Winner - Guy's Hospital RFC

References

  1. ↑ United Hospitals RFC - President's welcome Archived 2 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2014.

See also

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