British Universities and Colleges Sport - History of Student Sport Administration in The UK

History of Student Sport Administration in The UK

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.

• 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)