Varsity Match History

Oxford is currently the holder of the Rose Bowl, which is on display in the trophy cabinet at the Sports Complex (bottom shelf at the right), so this seemed like an appropriate time for a celebration of the annual archery Varsity Match. [The photo, however, came from CUB, so please ignore the Cambridge scarf and jumper.]

OUCofA member Dave Spence has also had a look into Varsity Match history and come up with a couple of old invitations (which are worth a look), but didn't get much further than I have.

The Varsity Match is currently shot as a GNAS Albion round (3 dozen arrows at each of 80, 60 and 50 yards, in ends of six). It is held in Cambridge in even-numbered years and in Oxford in odd-numbered years. Each club's team consists of its four highest scorers, with women handicapped up by some formula that nobody seems to be entirely sure of, but that works out to 70 points. Apparently.

It used to be that everyone on the team was awarded a Half Blue, but between 1993 and 1994 the additional requirement was introduced that team members had to shoot a 1st Class standard score (700 or over for men) to be eligible for a Half Blue. This was presumably to satisfy the Blues Committee that getting a Half Blue was difficult, and caused much hilarity when Dave Spence proceeded in 1994 to shoot 695, missing a Half Blue by 5 points.

Grudge Match

Then there's the Grudge Match, hosted by whichever team isn't hosting the Varsity Match. The round is, as far as I know, made up (call it an Oxbridge) and consists of 3 dozen arrows at 30 yards. It's such a short round because it's a frostbite - shot outdoors in February usually. There is no record of scores for this, but then nobody really cares. Cambridge are the current holders.

Varsity Match Winners, 1950-1997

This list of winners was taken from the engravings on the side of the Rose Bowl trophy, which means it should be accurate. However, if any matches were shot prior to 1950, my overall score will be wrong.

I've put the few scores I know in brackets, with the winner's score first.

  1. Cambridge
  2. Cambridge
  3. Cambridge
  4. Cambridge
  5. Cambridge
  6. Cambridge
  7. Cambridge
  8. Cambridge
  9. Oxford
  10. Cambridge
  11. Oxford
  12. Cambridge
  13. Cambridge
  14. Cambridge
  15. Cambridge
  16. Oxford
  17. Cambridge
  18. Oxford
  19. Oxford
  20. Cambridge
  21. Cambridge
  22. Oxford
  23. Oxford
  24. Oxford
  25. Oxford
  26. Oxford
  27. Oxford
  28. Oxford
  29. Oxford
  30. Oxford
  31. Cambridge
  32. Cambridge
  33. Oxford
  34. Cambridge
  35. Cambridge
  36. Cambridge
  37. Cambridge
  38. Oxford
  39. Cambridge
  40. Cambridge
  41. Cambridge
  42. Cambridge
  43. Cambridge
  44. Cambridge
  45. Cambridge
  46. Cambridge (3198 - 3012)
  47. Oxford (3348 - 2862)
  48. Oxford (2844 - 2830)

By my reckoning, this makes the total score:

Cambridge 30 - 18 Oxford

I'm going to try getting in touch with the John Johnson collection at the Bodleian, which may have more in the way of ancient OUCofA history. Failing that, I should be able to get more of the recent scores from our Records Officer.

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