British Universities Sports Association
Encyclopedia
British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for university
sport
in the United Kingdom
. BUCS was formed in June 2008 following a merger of the British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) and University College Sport (UCS) organisations. BUCS is responsible for organising 50 inter-university sports within the UK and representative teams for the World University Championships and the World University Games.
BUCS is a membership organisation for 157 universities and colleges in the UK. It coordinates competitions and leagues for the 2.3 million students attending university. In the 2009/10 season over 4000 teams will compete in 16 league sports. University sports clubs can affiliate to BUCS through their Athletic Union
or students' union
when no separate AU exists. BUCS has the biggest sporting programme in Europe.
BUCS organises a national championships event called the BUCS Championships. This is hosted by Sheffield until March 2010. In 2009 over 5,500 student athletes competed in 24 sports over five days across 14 venues.
BUSA, one of BUCS's predecessor organisations, was founded in 1994, one of its co-founders was Alun Evans.
was announced as the Official Teamwear Supplier to BUCS in May 2008. Nike
and BUCS offer BUCS members discounted team kits and equipment PricewaterhouseCoopers
has sponsored BUCS since 1999. This season (2009–10) PricewaterhouseCoopers
are title sponsors to the Hockey and Rowing BUCS programmes.
BUCS also has other sponsorship deals with Barclays, Lucozade
Sports Drinks, Kukri Sports and Molten Sport.
BUCS is the latest manifestation of an association for the promotion of inter-university sport. Competition between various universities had existed for many decades before the twentieth century, notably the rivalries between Oxford and Cambridge, and those between the country's medical schools. However no association existed to oversee or promote more widespread inter-university competition. In February 1918, the Presidents of University Unions conference in Manchester called for the need to establish such an association and the following year the Inter-Varsity Board of England and Wales helds its first inter-varsity meeting, with representatives of nine universities present. In 1922, association football, field hockey
, rugby union
and swimming were added to the events programme and the following year the Women’s Inter-Varsity Board came into being. In 1930 the Universities Athletic Union (UAU) was established and managed inter-university competition. To manage Britain’s student representation at an international level, the Inter-Varsity Athletic Board was formed in 1953. This was replaced in 1962 by the British Universities Sports Federation (BUSF) with the Scottish Universities Sports Federation, the University of Wales Athletic Union and the Northern Ireland Universities Sports Committee being corporate members. However, colleges and polytechnics were excluded from membership and had their own equivalent bodies, the British Colleges Sports Association and the British Polytechnic Sports Association. Until 1979 men’s and women’s sport were still represented in England and Wales by separate bodies. The Women’s Inter-Varsity Board was then merged into the Universities Athletic Union. In 1992, the divide between universities and polytechnics was removed and a new single organisation was called for to represent them jointly. This led to the UAU and BUSF merging to create British Universities Sports Association (BUSA).
Meanwhile, there had been a development of the representation for staff responsible for sport at university. Thus, in 1960 the Universities Physical Education Association (UPEA) had been formed which in 1972 became the British Universities Physical Education Association. This in turn merged with the Association of Polytechnic Physical Education Lecturers to become British Universities and Colleges Physical Education Association and in 2000 this was renamed as University and College Sport (UCS).
In June 2008 British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) was incorporated as a merger of UCS and BUSA to create one national association for university sport.
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. BUCS was formed in June 2008 following a merger of the British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) and University College Sport (UCS) organisations. BUCS is responsible for organising 50 inter-university sports within the UK and representative teams for the World University Championships and the World University Games.
BUCS is a membership organisation for 157 universities and colleges in the UK. It coordinates competitions and leagues for the 2.3 million students attending university. In the 2009/10 season over 4000 teams will compete in 16 league sports. University sports clubs can affiliate to BUCS through their Athletic Union
Athletic Union
An Athletic Union or Athletics Union usually refers to the group of student sports clubs within a university or other institute of higher education, in the United Kingdom.-General information:...
or students' union
Students' union
A students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools...
when no separate AU exists. BUCS has the biggest sporting programme in Europe.
BUCS organises a national championships event called the BUCS Championships. This is hosted by Sheffield until March 2010. In 2009 over 5,500 student athletes competed in 24 sports over five days across 14 venues.
BUSA, one of BUCS's predecessor organisations, was founded in 1994, one of its co-founders was Alun Evans.
BUCS sports
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Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes.... Gymnastics Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body... Judo is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an... Karate is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,... Korfball Korfball is a mixed gender team sport, with similarities to netball and basketball. A team consists of eight players; four female and four male. A team also includes a coach. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1902 by Nico Broekhuysen. In the Netherlands there are around 580 clubs, and over a... Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh... Modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is a sports contest that includes five events: pistol shooting, épée fencing, 200 m freestyle swimming, show jumping, and a 3 km cross-country run... Netball Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ... Orienteering Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they... Rowing (sport) Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water... Rugby Fives Rugby Fives is a handball game, similar to squash, played in an enclosed court. It has similarities with Winchester Fives and Eton Fives.... Rugby league Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players... 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... |
Sailing Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and... Snooker Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :... British Universities Snowsports Council The BUSC or British Universities Snowsports Council exists to promote participation and competition in skiing and snowboarding at all levels for students in the United Kingdom.- Activities :... Squash (sport) Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball... Surfing Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore... Swimming (sport) Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native... Table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net... Taekwondo Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"... Tennis Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all... Ten-pin bowling Ten-pin bowling is a competitive sport in which a player rolls a bowling ball down a wooden or synthetic lane with the objective of scoring points by knocking down as many pins as possible.-Summary:The lane is bordered along its length by semicylindrical channels Ten-pin bowling (commonly just... Trampolining Trampolining is a competitive Olympic sport in which gymnasts perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. These can include simple jumps in the pike, tuck or straddle position to more complex combinations of forward or backward somersaults and twists.... Triathlon A triathlon is a multi-sport event involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances... Ultimate (sport) Ultimate is a sport played with a 175 gram flying disc. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone, similar to an end zone in American football or rugby... Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive... Wakeboarding Wakeboarding is a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water. It was developed from a combination of water skiing, snow boarding and surfing techniques.... Water polo Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a... Windsurfing Windsurfing or sailboarding is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually two to four metres long, powered by the orthogonal effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a... |
Sponsors
BUCS currently has various sponsors across the organisation; NikeNike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
was announced as the Official Teamwear Supplier to BUCS in May 2008. Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
and BUCS offer BUCS members discounted team kits and equipment PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
has sponsored BUCS since 1999. This season (2009–10) PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
are title sponsors to the Hockey and Rowing BUCS programmes.
BUCS also has other sponsorship deals with Barclays, Lucozade
Lucozade
Lucozade is an umbrella name for a 6 series of energy and sports drinks, produced by GlaxoSmithKline in Gloucestershire. The former company became part of Beecham and, after the mergers of SmithKline and Beecham in 2000, GlaxoSmithKline....
Sports Drinks, Kukri Sports and Molten Sport.
BUCS Overall Championship
BUCS awards points in all its competitions towards the 'BUCS Overall Championship' - a ranking of member universities' sporting achievements. In recent years the top three positions have been Loughborough, Bath and Birmingham, with the rest of the top 10 generally constituting other "red-brick" universities and institutes with strong sports departments.2009-10 (BUCS)
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2008-9 (BUCS)
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2007-8 (BUSA)
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2006-7 (BUSA)
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2005-6 (BUSA)
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2004-5 (BUSA)
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2003-4 (BUSA)
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2002-3 (BUSA)
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History of student sport administration in the UK
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, 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...
and swimming were added to the events programme and the following year the Women’s Inter-Varsity Board came into being. In 1930 the Universities Athletic Union (UAU) was established and managed inter-university competition. To manage Britain’s student representation at an international level, the Inter-Varsity Athletic Board was formed in 1953. This was replaced in 1962 by the British Universities Sports Federation (BUSF) with the Scottish Universities Sports Federation, the University of Wales Athletic Union and the Northern Ireland Universities Sports Committee being corporate members. However, colleges and polytechnics were excluded from membership and had their own equivalent bodies, the British Colleges Sports Association and the British Polytechnic Sports Association. Until 1979 men’s and women’s sport were still represented in England and Wales by separate bodies. The Women’s Inter-Varsity Board was then merged into the Universities Athletic Union. In 1992, the divide between universities and polytechnics was removed and a new single organisation was called for to represent them jointly. This led to the UAU and BUSF merging to create British Universities Sports Association (BUSA).
Meanwhile, there had been a development of the representation for staff responsible for sport at university. Thus, in 1960 the Universities Physical Education Association (UPEA) had been formed which in 1972 became the British Universities Physical Education Association. This in turn merged with the Association of Polytechnic Physical Education Lecturers to become British Universities and Colleges Physical Education Association and in 2000 this was renamed as University and College Sport (UCS).
In June 2008 British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) was incorporated as a merger of UCS and BUSA to create one national association for university sport.
- British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) (1994–2008)
- British Colleges Sports Association (BCSA) (?-1994)
- British Polytechnic Sports Association (BPSA) (?-1994)
- British Universities Sports Federation (BUSF) (1962–1994)
- Inter-Varsity Athletic Board (1953–1962)
- The Universities Athletic Union (UAU) (1930–1994)
- Women's Inter Varsity Athletic Board (WIVAB) (1923–1979)
- Inter Varsity Athletics Board of England and Wales (1919–1930)
- University College Sport (UCS) (2000–2008)
- British Universities and Colleges Physical Education Association (BUCPEA) (1993–2000)
- British Universities Physical Education Association (BUPEA) (1972–1993)
- Universities Physical Education Association (UPEA) (1960–1972)
- Association of Polytechnic Physical Education Lecturers (APPEL) (?-1993)
- British Universities Physical Education Association (BUPEA) (1972–1993)
- British Universities and Colleges Physical Education Association (BUCPEA) (1993–2000)
See also
- International University Sports FederationInternational University Sports FederationThe Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire , based in Brussels, Belgium is responsible for the organisation and governance of worldwide competitions for student-athletes between the ages of 17 and 28...
- Scottish Universities SportScottish Universities SportScottish Universities Sport is the professional body for delivery and furthering of sports at university level in Scotland. SUS currently has 16 affiliated Higher Education members and is looking into expanding with Further Education....
- Colleges & Universities Sports Association of IrelandColleges & Universities Sports Association of IrelandThe Colleges and Universities Sports Association of Ireland was formed in November 2005 when the Irish Universities and the Institutes of Technology decided to come together and form one organisation to oversee Irish third level student sport....
External links
- bucs.org.uk - official site.