Our Guide to Sports at BL
BUCS – British Universities & Colleges Sport. BUCS is the governing body for university sport in the UK, and they organise the official university sports leagues. These games happen on Wednesday afternoons, which are free from lectures to enable you to play sports. BUCS matches tend to occur in and around London, but teams in higher tiers of the competition tend to travel further afield.
LUSL – London Universities Sport Leagues. A subset of BUCS, but these leagues are exclusively for universities in London. LUSL matches are more relaxed and more flexibly scheduled; LUSL games are held at the weekends for most sports, and on Mondays for Netball and Water Polo.
Tables – the weekly sports night held at the Griff Inn. Clubs congregate from 7pm for a few hours of games before the music turns on at 10pm. I only hope that you’re a fan of Basshunter.
Final Whistle – tables but even more fun. Hosted by the BL Sports Officer, Final Whistle is a monthly event to celebrate BL’s sporting successes. What starts as a regular Tables night takes a turn for the competitive at 10pm, when clubs go head to head in ‘friendly’ challenges. Winners are awarded with points – the club that obtains the most throughout the season will be crowned Final Whistle champions – a title more prestigious than the Association Club of the Year.
Tour – the annual, or bi-annual, occasion during which your sports club travels to a mystery location to… Not play sports. It may seem counter-intuitive, but it’s the norm here. Turning up at Mile End station at 4am with nothing but your passport, fancy dress and a VK, with no idea where you might be heading, is a rite of passage for any fresher.
UH – the United Hospitals, the collective name given to the five medical schools in London – RUMS (UCL), GKT (King’s), ICSM (Imperial), George’s (George’s) and Barts and The London (not QM). Many sports clubs here compete in UH Cups – these competition carry huge amounts of history – the UH Rugby Cup is the oldest rugby cup competition in the world (expect to hear this fact a lot, we’re proud of it). BL are currently the defending champions in Netball, Rowing and Rugby (2nd XV), and look to reclaim more silverware next year.
Chissy – also known as The Fortress, Chissy is the home ground for many of our sports teams in Chislehurst (South East London). If you’re in BL Rugby, Football, Lacrosse, or Cricket, you should expect to spend a lot of time here. It may be far away, but not many teams can flaunt the fact that they have a hot tub at their home venue.
Merger Cup – the highlight of the sporting calendar. Think Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity on steroids; the Merger Cup is the annual showdown between the mighty Barts and The London and the mediocre Queen Mary University of London. All matches are played during one week in late March, culminating with the finale held at Chislehurst on the Saturday. An after-party in the Griff Inn follows, with the results being announced at midnight – where the winning Sports Officer gets to lift the Merger Cup. Merger came home in 2019, and we’ll be hoping to keep the Cup in its rightful place for 2020.
Sports Officer – the big dog who runs BLSA Sport and whose face gets plastered around campus during March in the run-up to the Merger Cup. This year your go-to girl is Alice Jones, be sure to contact her with any sporty-related queries.
If you want more information about Sport at BL, bartslondon.com/sports is a good place to start. From there you can find out how to contact specific clubs, as well as getting information on taster sessions, trials, and how to join.
