The Siam Cup is an annual Rugby Union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 competition held between the Channel Islands

Channel Islands

The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...

 of Jersey

Jersey

Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...

 and Guernsey

Guernsey

Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...

. It was first contested in 1920. The trophy awarded its winner is the second oldest rugby honour contested after the Calcutta Cup

Calcutta Cup

The Calcutta Cup is a rugby union trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Six Nations Championship match between England and Scotland. It is currently England's since the 2009 Six Nations Championship....

.

Trophy

The trophy is made from Siamese silver and decorated in Siamese style, the winning Island's name engraved on an ebony base. It was created after an idea from British students serving in the Siam Constabulary for an inter-insular Rugby competition. The trophy is made from coinage of Siam

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 tical

Thai baht

The baht is the currency of Thailand. It is subdivided into 100 satang . The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand.-History:The baht, like the pound, originated from a traditional unit of mass...

s and required the permission of King Rama VI to melt the coins down. The King not only permitted it, he had the trophy created within the Royal Crown Silversmith

Royal Thai Mint

The Bureau of Royal Thai Mint, , is situated in Pathum Thani, Thailand. It is a sub-division of the Treasury Department, Ministry of Finance.The first mint was established in 1860, inside the Grand Palace, as "โรงกระสาปน์สิทธิการ". Because of limited space, the mint was moved to the new building in...

. The trophy was then taken to Guernsey by Lt. Col. Forty but was not presented until 1935. During the Occupation of the Channel Islands

Occupation of the Channel Islands

The Channel Islands were occupied by Nazi Germany for much of World War II, from 30 June 1940 until the liberation on 9 May 1945. The Channel Islands are two British Crown dependencies and include the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey as well as the smaller islands of Alderney and Sark...

 by Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 in the Second World War, the trophy was hidden in an unknown place to prevent it being melted down by the Nazis; it reappeared in 1947. By the 1970s the trophy started to deteriorate from age and a replica was commissioned. The original was handed to the Rugby Football Union

Rugby Football Union

The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...

 in 1977 where it was placed on display at the World Rugby Museum at Twickenham Stadium

Twickenham Stadium

Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Competition

The competition has been contested annually since 1920, each island hosting it every other year. The only breaks in competition were due to the Second World War. Jersey is the more successful island in the Siam Cup, with 53 wins to Guernsey's 15; there has been only one draw. Equivalent competitions are held at academy and veterans level.

The rivalry is fierce, often leading to fights that have spilled into off field scuffles. In 2010 a Jersey player was allegedly assaulted by two Guernsey players in apparent reprisal for an assault on a Guernsey player by drunk Jersey players after a Siam Cup game.