Cambridge University Association Football League

Founded	19th Century
President John Little
Chairman Sam Ernest
Treasurer Henry Lambert

The Cambridge University Association Football League (CUAFL) is the governing body of football in the University of Cambridge in England.

Introduction

Modern football was developed on the playing fields of public schools and universities in the late 19th Century, thus it is only natural that the University of Cambridge should have a flourishing football league. It is because of this early influence on the game that The FA granted the university a seat on The FA Council, a position retained to this day. This gives Cambridge University county status (separate from Cambridgeshire), with the same voice in English football's governing body as such associations as London, the Army and Women's football.

History

Origins of collegiate football

Football in Cambridge was being played on Parker's Piece as far back as the 1830s. However it was not until 1855 that the University had a formal football club, Cambridge University Association Football Club, making it one of the oldest clubs in the world. Collegiate football helped spread the game in the 1870s, and the first competition for these teams was held in 1882–1883. The format was a knockout tournament based on the FA Challenge Cup, which had been created in 1871. The first entrants included nine colleges (Caius, St. John's, Clare, St. Catharine's, Pembroke, Sidney, Jesus, King's and Trinity Hall) and three old boys sides (Old Harrovians, Trinity Etonians and Trinity Rest). It is likely that the university, quick to follow The FA in hosting a cup competition, also soon followed the idea of William McGregor, the founder of The Football League, by creating the Cambridge University Association Football League.

The Modern Era

For the 2006–2007 season, the number of teams in the league reached 78, and in the 2007–2008 season, 31 clubs and 75 teams entered CUAFL competitions. This means that at least 800 people play college football each season, however this is a very conservative estimate.

Competitions

CUAFL organises Seven divisions as well as three cup competitions, 'Cuppers' for first teams, the Shield for second teams and the Vase for lower teams.

Cuppers is a knockout tournament with pairings drawn completely at random at the first captains's meeting of the season. There are no seeds and byes are only awarded if the number of entrants requires them. The final is contested the neutral venue of Grange Road. The competition starts in the fourth week of Michaelmas term. In 2004–2005, 31 teams entered the competition, including 26 full colleges, one college affiliated to the university, two local schools, and Cambridge's other university, ARU. To be eligible for entry, teams must be affiliated to CUAFL. Each club may only enter one team, which must be their 1st team. There are five rounds in total.

Cuppers was first contested in 1882–1883. The first entrants included nine colleges (Caius, St. John's, Clare, St. Catharine's, Pembroke, Sidney, Jesus, King's and Trinity Hall) and three old boys sides (Old Harrovians, Trinity Etonians and Trinity Rest).

There is a Plate competition for teams that have been knocked out in the first round.

In recent years, when St. Catharine's College has been victorious in Cuppers they have challenged the Oxford University Cuppers Champions to a one-off "Supercuppers" match. In 2007, they defeated Brasenose College Oxford 3–2 (after extra time) in a match held at St. Catharine's Sports Fields, Cambridge. In 2009, they played St. John's College Oxford at Iffley Road, Oxford, and again were victorious 3–2.

Results

The results of the principal competitions are shown below.

Season	Division 1 Champions	Cuppers Champions	Plate Winners	Shield Winners	Vase Winners
1945–1946		St. John's
1946–1947		NO CONTEST
1947–1948		Fitzwilliam House
1948–1949		Christ's
1949–1950		St. John's
1950–1951		Emmanuel
1951–1952		St. Catharine's
1952–1953		Emmanuel
1953–1954		Christ's
1954–1955		Emmanuel
1955–1956		Downing
1956–1957		Christ's
1957–1958		Christ's
1958–1959		St. John's
1959–1960		Christ's
1960–1961		Christ's
1961–1962		Christ's
1962–1963		Christ's
1963–1964		Christ's
1964–1965		Christ's
1965–1966		Christ's
1966–1967
1967–1968
1968–1969		Fitzwilliam
1969–1970		St. John's
1970–1971		Christ's
1971–1972
1972–1973
1973–1974		Trinity
1974–1975		St. Catharine's
1975–1976		St. Catharine's
1976–1977		St. Catharine's
1977–1978		St Catharine’s
1978–1979		Christ's
1979–1980		Christ's
1980–1981		St. Catharine's & Downing (Shared)
1981–1982		St. Catharine's
1982–1983		St. Catharine's
1983–1984		Trinity Hall
1984–1985	Robinson	St. John's
1985–1986		Fitzwilliam & St. Catharine's (Shared)
1986–1987		Selwyn
1987–1988		Downing
1988–1989
1989–1990
1990–1991		St. John's
1991–1992		Fitzwilliam
1992–1993	Trinity	Downing
1993–1994	Anglia University	Fitzwilliam
1994–1995	Downing	Girton
1995–1996	Fitzwilliam	Long Road	Girton
1996–1997	Downing	Long Road	Clare
1997–1998	Girton	Fitzwilliam	Magdalene
1998–1999	Fitzwilliam	Christ's	Homerton	Long Road II
1999–2000	Jesus	Long Road	APU	Fitzwilliam II
2000–2001	St Catharine's	St. Catharine's	Homerton	Fitzwilliam II
2001–2002	Fitzwilliam	Long Road	Churchill	Hills Road II
2002–2003	St John's	St. John's	Kings	Hills Road II
2003–2004	Girton	St. John's	Clare	APU II
2004–2005	Fitzwilliam	Jesus	Gonville & Caius	APU II
2005–2006	Churchill	Fitzwilliam	Anglia Ruskin	Long Road II	ARU III
2006–2007	Churchill	St. Catharine's	Corpus Christi		St. Catharines's III
2007–2008	Trinity	Christ's	St. Catharine's	Gonville & Caius II
2008–2009	Downing	St. Catharine's	Pembroke	Trinity Hall II	Churchill III
2009–2010	Downing	Trinity
2010–2011	Trinity	Queens'			Jesus III
2011–2012	Downing	Fitzwilliam	Trinity Hall	Homerton II	Jesus III
2012–2013	Fitzwilliam	Fitzwilliam	Selwyn	Selwyn II	Jesus III
2013–2014	Trinity Hall	Jesus	Robinson	Fitzwilliam II	Jesus III
2014–2015	Downing	St John's	Selwyn	Jesus II	Girton III
2015–2016	Queens'	Robinson	Christ's	Queens' II	Queens' III
2016–2017	Fitzwilliam	Fitzwilliam	Selwyn	Fitzwilliam II	Fitzwilliam III
2017-2018	Queens’	Fitzwilliam	Emmanuel	Gonville & Caius II	Goneville & Caius III
2018-2019	Fitzwilliam	Fitzwilliam	Trinity Hall	Queens’ II	Fitzwilliam III
2019-2020

The combined results of the Cuppers competition is shown below.

College	Number of Cuppers Titles
Christ’s	16
Fitzwilliam	12
St. Catharine’s	12
St. John’s	9
Long Road	4
Downing	4
Emmanuel	3
Jesus	2
Trinity	2
Robinson	1
Girton	1
Trinity Hall	1
Selwyn	1
Queens’	1

Board of directors

CUAFL President: Dr John Little

Year	Chairman
2001–2002	Chris Palmer
2002–2003	Rod Latham
2003–2004	Will Jobling
2004–2005	Martyn Race
2005–2006	Martyn Race
2006–2007	Bob Myhill
2007–2008	Jamie Aspinall
2008–2009	Rory Scott
2009–2010	Luke Jesson
2010–2011	Mark Baxter
2011–2012	George Deeks
2012–2013	Adam Donald
2013-2014	Matt Reizenstein, Nikos Yerolemou
2014-2015	Nicholas Hilton, Nikos Yerolemou
2015-2016	John Harrison, Marcus Nielsen
2016-2017	John Harrison, Marcus Nielsen
2017-2018	John Harrison, Pablo Lemos Portela
2018-2019	John Harrison
2019-2020	Sam Ernest

External links

• Cambridge University Association Football League
• University of Cambridge
• University of Cambridge Sport