It is contested each year by seven teams from the Scottish Borders, the only area of Scotland where rugby is the most popular sport.

By tradition, the two main strongholds of Scottish rugby have been the cluster of towns that flank the River Tweed in the Borders, and the private schools of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Between them the two camps have directly or indirectly provided the vast majority of Scotland's international players, but their different traditions have produced an enmity based as much on class as geography.

In the Borders where clubs such as Hawick, Gala and Jed Forest were largely working class institutions, there was a resentment of the haughty control exerted by representatives of city schools on the Scottish Football Union (as the SRU was known then).

Then with a fine sense of irony, the Border clubs opposed the arrival of the national championship, fearful of the effect it would have on their own competition.