Submitted by Callum O'Shea on Wed, 21/06/2023 - 15:38
Over 4,500 students representing their colleges in inter-collegiate sport during Lent and Easter term!
The ’University of Cambridge College Sport’ umbrella provides a straightforward way to view league tables, fixtures, results, and contact information for all interested parties, including team captains, players, and students keen to take their first steps in College sport, as well as University and College staff & alumni.
Taking part in team sport has many benefits – along with the advantages for physical health, there is much to be gained in terms of vital soft skills, e.g., leadership, teamwork, time management, creativity, and resilience.
There are also benefits to an individual's mental health in terms of stress relief and time spent with friends, but also in the case of outdoor sports in spending time at the tranquil college sports venues around Cambridge.
Being involved with college sports teams also allows people to meet others outside of their course, household and year group, and expand their support network much further.
In 2020, the Cambridge SU ‘Loneliness Report’ found that individuals who are involved in team sports are, in general, much more likely to have a reliable support network and build more lasting relationships.
As well as the fun and mostly relaxed aspect of inter-collegiate competitions, during Lent and Easter term Cuppers offers a competitive outlet for teams to try and secure the annual trophies for their colleges!
Basketball
Churchill College proved to be the team to beat during Lent term, winning all their league games and securing the Division 1 title, seeing off the challenge from Darwin and Girton, who had won Division 2 and gained promotion during Michaelmas.
Elsewhere, Wolfson gained back to back promotions as Division 2 winners, not dropping a single point and pipping fellow promoted team Jesus to the title, while King’s/Homerton also won back to back promotions after finishing second in Division 3 behind Robinson. Further down, Christ’s won Division 4 while Magdalene/Emmanuel won Division 5.
In the Cuppers competition, Division 2 team Jesus remarkably overcame all challengers to take the victory, winning the final against Division 1 champions Churchill 49-47 in overtime.
As it stands there are 24 teams in total across 5 divisions, and 28 colleges represented.
Football
At the end of the regular league season, Churchill/Christ’s/Lucy Cavendish defeated all opponents to win 10 out of 10 games and secure the Division 1 title ahead of Fitzwilliam/Corpus.
In Division 2, Wolfson/Darwin/St. Edmund’s went unbeaten, winning the title and gaining promotion alongside second place St. John’s/King’s.
Newnham/Pembroke won all of their league games in Division 3 to take the title, while a resurgent Downing finished second to gain promotion.
In Cuppers, Fitzwilliam/Corpus took on Jesus in a closely contested final, prevailing 2-0 to take the title away from Jesus. Varsity Sport Editor, Abbie Hastie (Emmanuel), provided the match report.
Over in the men’s league, Fitzwilliam proved once more to be unstoppable, meeting expectations by completing the double as they went unbeaten to secure the Premier Division title, and defeat Pembroke in the Cuppers final – reporter Jonny Coffey (Girton) provided the match report.
Meanwhile there were excellent seasons for Downing, who won Division 2, and Trinity Hall, who won Division 3, while Darwin were the only team outside of the Premier Division to reach the semi-final stage of Cuppers.
With 58 teams, the men’s football league has the highest number of Cambridge students participating of any college sport league.
Mixed Hockey
The Cambridge University Hockey Club League Secretaries, Imogen Jenner and Alex Clarke (both St John’s), continued to provide excellent hockey playing opportunities throughout Lent and Easter term in the league and Cuppers.
St. John’s College demonstrate their strength in-depth, with 4 teams in total (joined with Newnham), with their 1st and 2nd teams finishing in 1st and 2nd position in Division 1 during Lent term, although combined, the Trinity/Fitzwilliam team pushed them all the way, having only been promoted from Division 2 in Michaelmas. They were pushed all the way by St. Catharine’s and Christ’s/Pembroke.
In Division 2, King’s/Sidney/Homerton won the league to gain promotion.
In a fantastic one-day Cuppers Finals event at Wilberforce Road Sports Ground, Jesus were the victors, overcoming St. John’s in the final, while Trinity/Fitzwilliam finished 3rd ahead of Christ’s/Pembroke.
With two divisions of 16 teams’ total, and 27 colleges represented, the league has a great platform for growth.
Mixed Lacrosse
It was a term to forget for Medics who were relegated, having won Division 1 in Michaelmas. Emmanuel did just enough to pip St. John’s to the Lent term league title.
In Division 2, a tie on points between Churchill and St. Catharine’s saw both teams promoted to the top league, with Churchill champions on goal difference. Both teams had been promoted from Division 3 in Michaelmas and continue their march to the top.
In Division 3, Vets and Christ’s secured promotion.
In the Cuppers Finals held on the same day as Mixed Hockey at Wilberforce Road, nearly 200 students across 18 teams took part. Peterhouse/Fitzwilliam/Murray Edwards (aka Pitzward) were the victors, overcoming defending champions Robinson in a close encounter in the Final, after they dispatched Emmanuel and St. Catharine’s in the semi-finals.
Read the Event Report for Varsity, written by League Secretary Damola Odeyemi (Emmanuel).
The Mixed Lacrosse league currently has 3 divisions of 20 teams, with 25 colleges and 2 faculties represented.
Netball – Ladies and Mixed
It was St. John’s who once more dominated Division 1 in the college ladies’ netball league, although they were pushed very close by Murray Edwards in second. St. John’s and Murray Edwards are also currently the only colleges who enter two teams into the ladies netball league.
Emmanuel and Churchill secured Division 2 promotions, while Girton were Division 3 winners, and Pembroke Division 4 winners.
In the Mixed Netball league, Hughes Hall celebrated their first ever season in Division 1, which was once again won by Jesus.
Christ’s and Fitzwilliam were promoted from Division 2, while St. John’s won Division 3 to secure promotion.
The annual Cuppers event was held at the University of Cambridge Sports Centre, where vast numbers of people descended to compete in the tournament for their respective colleges. Jesus reached both finals, winning in the Mixed Netball final against Pembroke, while in the Ladies Netball final St. John’s were the victors.
Across ladies and mixed, there are 59 teams, with 27 colleges represented. Thanks to CULNC College League Secretary, Mercy Akinyele (St. Catharine’s) for her efforts this year.
Squash
Queens’ narrowly beat Christ’s to the Division 1 title, winning all their matches, having been promoted from Division 2 in Michaelmas. Squash is clearly thriving over at Christ’s, as their 2nd team secured promotion to Division 1 to play alongside the 1st team!
Another college showing a strong squash performance is Downing, whose 1st team won Division 3, while Downing 2nd won Division 4.
For Cuppers, a reformatted competition in a ‘World Cup’ format saw 18 teams competing.
With 25 teams and 17 colleges represented in the league, there is room to grow in the squash league – and lots of squash facilities around the university to make it happen.
Table Tennis
Division 1 Michaelmas champions were King’s, who won all five of their matches. Elsewhere, there were league titles in the lower divisions for St. Catharine’s, Pembroke 2nd, Wolfson, Clare 3rd, and Pembroke 3rd.
In the annual Cuppers event, King’s were the overall champions – with strong representation from CU Table Tennis members, including President Khoi Tran, the team were in a solid position to overcome Trinity in the final.
College Table Tennis continues to go from strength to strength, largely thanks to the efforts of League Secretary Jinheum Park (Lucy Cavendish).
With 34 teams across 6 divisions from 20 colleges, there’s room for the league to grow. It is space-friendly and only requires 3 people for each match.
Tennis
Ever popular at Cambridge, with over 40 teams contesting the Lent leagues, the champions during Lent were St. John’s. Next year they will be joined by Division 2 winners Trinity, and Selwyn/Robinson, who gained a consecutive promotion to move up to Division 1.
Wolfson earned consecutive league titles, winning Division 3 with Homerton in 2nd. Lucy Cavendish 1st and Queens’ secured Division 4 promotions. Lucy Cavendish 2nd showed their credentials to win Division 7 and make it a double promotion for the college.
In Cuppers, the final was contested by Churchill and Girton, with Churchill taking victory for a second consecutive year! Finalists pictured below.
CU Lawn Tennis Club and College League Secretary Isabella Weber (Homerton) also ran the ’Play Your Way to Wimbledon’ competition, where two pairs of lucky tournament winners will compete regionally to win the chance to play on the famous Wimbledon grass courts.
28 colleges are represented in the college tennis league.
Badminton
Downing College took the Open Division 1 title during Lent, making it two consecutive Division 1 league titles. Robinson and Corpus Christi were the teams to gain promotion from Division 2.
In the Women’s league, Gonville and Caius were the Division 1 victors, while Downing won Division 2.
With 56 teams across open and women’s leagues, badminton is played by 27 colleges. Pictured below are the St. Catharine's College Mixed team!
Ultimate
An ever-growing sport at Cambridge, the college Ultimate Flying Disc league is run by the University Ultimate Club. It is one of only two leagues (along with women’s football) where every college is represented.
During Lent term, Jesus celebrated the league victory, while the New Thundercatz (made up of several colleges!) celebrated victory in the Outdoor Cuppers event.
Pictured above: Outdoor Cuppers at Coldhams Common!
14 teams participate in the regular outdoor college league across two divisions, while there were also 14 competing at the Indoor Cuppers.
Rugby Union
College Rugby saw hotly contested league and cup competitions during Lent and Easter – as well as the league, the Cup competitions included the Bowl, Shield, Plate, and Cuppers.
St. John’s (celebrating in the image below) ran out overall Cuppers victors, showing their strength to overcome Fitzwilliam/Sidney, having already secured the Division 1 league title.
The Plate final was won by St. Catharine’s, who scored the winning try in the last play of the game to defeat Jesus.
The All Greys (made up of the mature colleges Darwin, St. Edmund’s, Hughes Hall, Wolfson) could not be troubled by PEST (Peterhouse, Emmanuel, Selwyn, Trinity Hall) RFC, winning the Bowl final 32-12. Read the Varsity match report by Fabian Pountney (Robinson).
Churchill/Magdalene ran out victors in the Shield final, overcoming Corpus Christi/Clare/King’s, who had won the Division 2 league title.
There was a total of 61 matches played, and a throughput of approximately 1700 participations.
Cricket
The Cuppers finals took place over the course of the day at the iconic home of cricket in Cambridge, Fenners, on Thursday 15 June, with the matches being played back to back in a T20 format.
Two closely contested semi-finals were edged narrowly by Gonville and Caius and St. Edmund’s, over Downing and Trinity respectively. All four had done brilliantly to reach the final stage of competition.
In the final, Caius set a total of 161 for St. Edmund’s to beat. Despite looking on course for victory, they fell short by just two runs. Well done to the winners, with particular kudos to the Caius batters, who had ground out some hard earned singles during their innings to ultimately edge the victory – a valiant effort in the 28 degree sunshine!
Well done to runners up St. Edmund’s, who had not even been able to enter a team in 2021/22. A super turnaround!
Rowing
Lent Bumps was once more keenly supported and contested, but like much of the sporting activity during March, suffered disruption due to the weather conditions!
In the Men’s event, Lady Margaret and Gonville and Caius retained their 1st and 2nd positions, while Clare, Queens’ and Emmanuel also celebrated impressive results in Division 1. The best performance of the event was from Wolfson, who managed to move up five positions during the weekend and will be eyeing up the top of Division 2 at the next event!
In the Women’s Event, Jesus ascended to top spot in Division 1, while there were strong results elsewhere by Lady Margaret, First and Third and Fitzwilliam. Jumping up five places to Division 1 were Peterhouse.
In the May Bumps, the Headship was retained by Gonville and Caius in the men’s event, but in the women’s event a remarkable performance from Jesus saw them earn Blades and move from 5th to 1st over the course of the event!
The success for Jesus didn’t stop there, whose M1 crew also achieved blades, bumping up every day in the Men’s Division 1 too, while King’s also achieved Division 1 blades in Men’s Division 1.
It was a Bumps with many changes and outstanding performances, with 5 other crews along with Jesus achieving blades in Division 1 in the women’s event. Well done to Churchill, Trinity Hall, St. Catharine’s, Queens’, and King’s.
As ever the crowds were out in force along the Cam, as 154 crews across 10 men’s and women’s divisions set out to represent all 31 colleges (plus the Vet School!).
The Pegasus Cup was this year won by Selwyn College Boat Club, with their M1, W1 and M2 crews bumping up a total of 9 times!
Click here for league tables, fixtures, and results!
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Alternatively, head to our website and read more on the College Sport page.
Thanks to Dik Ng for the rowing and rugby pictures, and to Nicola Jones for the football pictures!