Did You Know…?
- Varsity is a clipped-speech abbreviation of the word university and goes back to the mid-19th century. (“My nephew is going to Varsity after the holidays…”) Over time it became associated with sports teams representing their universities, hence ‘The Varsity Match’ for rugby and varsity fixtures for some other 70 sports. In the UK, the term is used (almost exclusively) to indicate clashes between Oxford and Cambridge although a number of US colleges have ‘borrowed’ the word to describe their own competitive fixtures.
- The practice of awarding Blues goes back to the 1836 Boat Race when the Oxford crew raced in dark blue colours and the Cambridge boat had a light blue ribbon tied to its front. The colours became synonymous with the two universities and were awarded to participants taking part in the race. These blue motifs were then adopted by other university sports and awarded when the universities competed against each other. (Some sports have Half Blue rather than Full Blue status.)
- Many other sports or sporting institutions award ‘caps’ to signify team representation or participation in a specific event. (For example, Sir Bobby Charlton won 106 England caps during his career.) This tradition, however, also goes back to the early days of rugby when a Rugby School team wore red caps with tassels as part of their uniform for an 1839 match watched by royalty. Having been created for such a prestigious fixture, the caps became a symbol of achievement and the practice of awarding them for important matches spread to other schools and other sports.
- William Webb Ellis of the aforementioned Rugby School is credited with inventing the sport by picking up the ball and running with it during an 1823 football game. (As the story didn’t appear from some 50 years after the event, there is some doubting its accuracy!) However, rugby as a sport certainly got its name from the school and Webb Ellis has another connection with the Varsity Match through his attendance at Brasenose College, Oxford in later life. His name, of course, is now commemorated through the awarding of the William Webb Ellis Trophy to the winners of the Rugby World Cup every four years.
- When the first Varsity Match was played in 1872, the two teams abided by ‘laws’ drawn up by the Rugby Football Union the previous year. The RFU was formed in the Pall Mall Restaurant, Regent Street, London in 1871 by representatives of 21 clubs. Many, such as Harlequins, Blackheath, St Paul’s School and Wellington College are still active today. Others, including the exotically named Gipsies, Flamingos, Marlborough Nomads and Wimbledon Hornets have sadly fallen by the way.
