A century of

A CENTURY OF COMPETITION

Silver medallist Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill celebrates after the Women’s Heptathlon at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The first meeting of the Inter-varsity Athletics Board of England and Wales took place in March 1919. The University of Sheffield was one of the 10 founding members. The first athletics meet took place the following May, marking the beginning of university sport in the UK. Today, over 170 institutions compete in over 50 sports as part of British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS).

As part of its centenary celebrations, BUCS have inaugurated a Hall of Fame to mark the achievements of athletes, coaches and supporting staff. Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (BSc Psychology 2007, Hon LittD 2010) was the first inductee, announced at the BUCS Centenary Dinner held at the University. An Olympic gold and silver medallist and three-time heptathlon world champion, she developed her athletics career at BUCS events during her time as a Sheffield student, and her first senior international competition was the Summer Universiade in Izmir, Turkey, in 2005. She said, “University sport is fantastic for so many people on so many levels – it gave me so much and I’m very proud to be inducted into the BUCS Hall of Fame.”

BUCS are also profiling 100 People of British University Sport. One of the first to be included was Lord Coe (Hon LLD 1991), two-time Olympic gold medallist and President of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

Sarah Morse, Sports Officer at the Students’ Union, added, “The 100 Years of Sport anniversary is a very special celebration to us. The University now has nearly 60 diverse student-led sports clubs, provides world-class sporting facilities and collaborates on one of the largest Varsity events in the country. Sport has the power to unite and bring all students together under one shared passion and provides an outlet to combat stress and cope with busy academic periods, keeping students happy and healthy.”

Visit www.bucs.org.uk for details of the centenary celebrations and #100YearsOfSport for news of the University’s special events.

HIGHLIGHTS: OUR SPORTING HISTORY

1910

1966: SPORTING MEMORY “Wednesday 19 January 1966: the First XI soccer team match against Durham was cancelled and our secretary managed to arrange a game against Sheffield Wednesday reserves – we beat them 3-2. Four months later, two of their team, Graham Pugh and Sam Ellis, played in the FA Cup Final at Wembley. Celebrations at the Union Bar went on long into the night.” John Kinder (BSc Chemistry 1967) Opening of the new athletic 1910 ground, 15 October Students 1910. successfully campaign to get the first playing fields at Norton.

1928

The Norton Pavilion opens and the University hosts the InterUniversity Sports for the first time. A gymnasium opens on Western Bank; it is demolished during the 1960s expansion of the University estate.

The Hobson Memorial Pavilion at Norton was opened on 16 May 1928.

1963/64

The Athletics Club achieves the best results, in both male and female events, ever attained by a single club in the University Athletics Union (UAU) Championships.

1960

The Goodwin Athletics Centre – ‘the best gymnasium in the country’ – is opened.

A view of the new Goodwin Athletics Centre and playing pitches, with Elmfield to the left.

1975

The post of Athletics Secretary becomes sabbatical: in the 1975/76 season, there were 1,609 intra-mural fixtures involving over 3,000 students and lecturers.

1960

1970S: SPORTING MEMORY 1970S: SPORTING MEMORY “I arrived as a ‘typical grammar school “One of my most memorable moments was all-round athlete’, but specifically as South West Counties cross country champion,” when I was running round the all-weather said Gillian Castka (BEng Civil and Structural pitches at Goodwin. This waif-like figure Engineering 1977). “There wasn’t a women’s appeared and floated around the pitches athletics team; I would be left to train on my own and there would be no competitions. As a result I took up swimming as my doing almost two laps to every one of mine. It was only as I was leaving that I recognised main sport, with the free-to-use facility at Sebastian Coe. Some fellow students told Goodwin. We won a team relay silver medal me that his parents lived nearby and that he at the British Universities Sports Federation championships held at Crystal Palace, and I sometimes used the pitches for training.” was selected to represent the Women’s Inter John Swales (MB ChB Medicine 1979) Varsity Athletics Board in the annual grudge match against the polytechnics.”

1975

1930

‘Sarge’ Harry Cofield joins the staff; he is a key figure in shaping sporting activity in the University for almost 40 years. The swimming pool at Goodwin is named in his honour in 1967.

‘Sarge’ Harry Cofield

1959: SPORTING MEMORY Members of the cross country running team undertook an overnight relay run from the Students’ Union to the London Palladium as part of Rag. They delivered a copy of the Rag magazine Twikker to Harry Secombe, the famous Welsh singer, Goon and comedian. John Spencer (MB ChB Medicine 1960) recalled, “The event was a huge success and for the last couple of miles the runners followed a motorbike right to the Palladium steps where Harry was waiting, already wearing a University scarf and mortar board and making us all feel we had completed a major success!”

1980s

Successes in the 1980s include the Lacrosse Team winning the Iroquois Cup Final; Sally Ann Hales (MB ChB Medicine 1985) runs the second fastest time by a British female marathon athlete in 1985; and the men’s Rugby League Team win the UAU and Premiership Trophies, topping the Student Rugby League and also having players selected for the Great Britain squad. The Sheffield team who were the Universities’ Athletics Union table tennis champions in 1987. 1950S: SPORTING MEMORY

1946/47

Four sports pitches are handed back to the University by the War Agricultural Committee, who growing crops for the war effort. used the land for “We wore white knee-length pleated shorts, which we made ourselves, polo shirts, kneelength socks and un-studded plimsoles or gym shoes. The wicket keeper was allowed a pair of full-length pads and a pair of padded gloves. The batswoman also wore pads and a pair of thin cotton gloves with rubber strips along the back.”

Angela Dixon (BSc Botany and Zoology 1960) played in the women’s cricket team.

1950

Harry Secombe welcomes the relay team to London. 1959

The inaugural staff versus students cricket match

1955

The Bramley Playing Fields are inaugurated on Charter Day (31 May) in the University’s golden jubilee year.

1983: SPORTING MEMORY “My favourite memory was going to the inter-university archery tournament at Bath. It felt great to be representing my University.”

Caroline Hall(née Atkinson) (BA Germanic Studies 1985)

1983

1991

The World Student Games is hosted by the City of Sheffield, involving thousands of students, either as competitors or volunteers. Curtis Robb (MB ChB Medicine 1997) wins a silver medal in the 800 metres, going on to take part in two Olympic Games, three world championships and a

Commonwealth Games.

Helen Sharman (BSc Chemistry 1984, University of

Hon DSc 2017) carried the torch 1991 during the opening ceremony.

2008 –11: SPORTING MEMORY “Playing intra-mural football for three years with my journalism course mates as part of the legendary Red Tops FC.” Andrew Twist

1993: SPORTING MEMORY “The ping pong national championships at Warwick. A squad of eight, sleeping on one floor, the captain in the bath. No medals but great fun!”

Ian Warner (BA Accounting and Financial Management 1995)

2008

BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) is the result of the merger of the British Universities Sports Association and University College Sport.

2001/02

The Goodwin Athletics Centre undergoes a £6 million refurbishment. The University and Students’ Union form USport to co-ordinate all sporting activities.

1997

The first Varsity competition between the (BA Journalism 2011)

Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University takes place.

2010

The Elite Sports Performance Scheme is launched – the support structure for high-level athletes studying at the University.

2012

USport is rebranded as Sport Sheffield. 2008 Students exercise in the new Goodwin Fitness Suite. 2015 2016 2016: SPORTING MEMORY Sheffield Varsity records the year’s highest-attended student ice Hollie Pearne-Webb MBE (BA Economics 2013) helped Great Britain’s “Before University I had never rowed before, so one of my favourite memories was rowing in the Women’s 8+ at Henley.” hockey game outside North America – 8,300 people women’s hockey team win gold in the Rio Olympics. Sarah Prescott-Smith (Politics and International Relations student and President of the University of Sheffield Rowing Club 2018/19) watch the final Bryony Page (BSc at the Sheffield Biology 2015) took Arena. silver for trampolining, as did Dame Jessica EnnisHill in the heptathlon.

2016

2018

New pitches at Norton are opened; the site is renamed Norton Sports Park.

2019

Celebrations of 100 Years of Sport – and the University of Sheffield wins Varsity for a record-breaking seventh consecutive year.

Varsity 2019