Founded	19th Century
President John Little
Chairman Luke Jesson

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

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 in the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

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

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, the Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 and Women's football

Women's football (soccer)

Women's association football has been played for many decades, but was associated with charity games and physical exercise in the past before the breakthrough of organized women's association football came in the 1970s. Before the 1970s, football was basically seen as a men's game...

.

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 the oldest club 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

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

, which had been created in 1871. The first entrants included nine colleges (Caius

Gonville & Caius A.F.C.

Gonville & Caius AFC, more commonly known as Caius, is the representative football club of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, England. It is one of only a few university teams to have entered the FA Cup 1st round proper....

, 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

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

, 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

Michaelmas

Michaelmas, the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel is a day in the Western Christian calendar which occurs on 29 September...

 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

Anglia Ruskin University

Anglia Ruskin University is one of the largest universities in Eastern England, United Kingdom, with a total student population of around 30,000.-History:...

. 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

Harrow School

Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...

, Trinity Etonians

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

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 principle 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
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		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		Downing
1992–1993	Trinity	Fitzwilliam
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'

CUAFL People

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

External links

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