When it comes to the university sporting experience in Nottingham, there is no experience more unmissable than Varsity.
That’s why, to round off our Welcome Week coverage in the sports section, we’re going to give you the full lowdown on what Varsity is, when it will next take place and why Nottingham loves it quite so much.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
So, Varsity is a pretty widely-recognised term in the sporting world.
When you hear it, you may think of American collegiate sports, like gridiron football and basketball, or you might think of Oxford vs Cambridge university battles in the UK; ‘The Varsity Match’ is the name for the annual rugby union match between the two.
Varsity as a term is actually just an abbreviation of ‘university’, but has come to mean so much more, evoking pride and rivalry with nearby establishments.
In Nottingham, this means the clash of the two institutions that are as different as chalk and cheese.
The University of Nottingham are the elder statesmen; the prestigious Russell Group members; the uni that could afford to build a £40 million sports complex – named after their former student and founder of Carphone Warehouse – to boost their offer to talented sportspeople.
Officially founded in 1881 as University College Nottingham, their seat of learning was the Arkwright Building; now, of course, the flagship architectural front of our Nottingham Trent University.
They moved to their current base at University Park in the 1920s, with help from the generosity of Sir Jesse Boot, of pharmaceutical dynasty fame.
Having changed their name to The University of Nottingham in 1948, they later expanded onto the old Raleigh Bicycle Company site, with the land becoming their Jubilee Campus, and opened campuses in China and Malaysia too.
Nottingham Trent University is in contrast a baby of the university scene.
We’re one of the many institutions to have been granted full university status in 1992, having previously been a Polytechnic formed of several different colleges.
Our roots go back to the founding of the Nottingham Government School of Design in 1843, making the School of Art & Design the oldest one within our university today.
Since becoming Trent Polytechnic in 1970, Nottingham Polytechnic in 1988 and finally Nottingham Trent University in 1992, though, we’ve been quick to develop.
Now the fifth-largest university in the UK by its number of students, with almost 39,000 of us split over five campuses (City, Clifton, Brackenhurst, Confetti and Mansfield), nobody doubts what NTU can do.
We may not be so mighty in terms of sporting facilities, but the talent we have more than makes up for it.
The only trouble is, The University of Nottingham have got pretty good at this Varsity business.
Each of the last ten editions have ended in a UoN victory, including a 12-3 pummelling in 2019.
The last time NTU won a series was all the way back in 2010, while in 2011 it ended in a 7-7 draw.
The disciplines included in the event have changed with each edition, but there are usual staples of football, basketball, American football and, of course, ice hockey.
Spread across two weeks either side of the Easter break – at least in 2022 – the event generally takes place at familiar venues too, such as Lady Bay for rugby events and the Motorpoint Arena for ice hockey.
Super Wednesday hosting duties – when there are multiple sports taking place on the same day – alternate, with Clifton Campus and the David Ross Sports Village accommodating several sports.
All Varsity events are crucial to the overall score, and as they take place towards the end of the university year, are generally season-ending fixtures for the teams involved.
For players, reporters (yours truly) and fans alike, Varsity is an experience like no other.
The atmosphere that’s generated when the pink and blue of Trent take on the green and gold of UoN, and it’s cheers of ‘T-R-E-N-T, we are the Trent Army’ against ‘Your dad works for my dad’ (sigh), is truly unbeatable.
NTU are coming back with a vengeance after losing 2022’s contest 10-7, too, and UoN better be prepared for a stern test for the title in 2023.
So, with fixtures set to be lined up and venues to be decided in the coming months, await March/April with great anticipation.
It may just be the best part of your amazing NTU experience.
Feature Image Credit: Reagan Yip