Blue (university sport)

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A University Sporting Blue is an award earned by sportsmen and sportswomen at Cambridge, Oxford, and some other universities for competing at the highest level of university sport.

Contents

[edit] Origins

The first ever sporting match between Oxford and Cambridge was at cricket, held on 4 June 1827. There is no record of any "colour" being worn on that occasion. In the first boat race, on 10 June 1829 at Henley, the Cambridge crew wore white, with a scarlet or pink sash (accounts vary), honouring their Captain W. Snow from St. John's. The second, 1836, boat race is the event associated with the origin of the Blue. Just before the race, it is said that R.N. Phipps, of Eton and Christ's, thinking that the Cambridge boat should have a colour at its bows, called at a haberdashers and asked for a piece of ribbon or silk. The colour of the ribbon was light blue, perhaps because it was Eton's colour, or Gonville & Caius' colour (there were three Caians in the boat), or simply because it was the colour of the nearest bit of ribbon to hand.

[edit] University of Cambridge

Sportsmen and women at the University of Cambridge may be awarded a Full Blue (or simply a Blue), Half Blue or Second Team Colours for competing at the highest level of university sport, which must include being in a Varsity match or race against the University of Oxford. A Full Blue is the highest honour that may be bestowed on a Cambridge sportsman or woman, and is a much-coveted and prestigious prize. In general, the Full Blue standard is approximately that of being successful at a national level of student competition, and the Half Blue standard is that of being successful at county or regional level.

[edit] Awarding process

The criteria for awarding blues are different for men and women. Awards are made the discretion of the men's and women's Blues Committees. The Men's Blues Committee is formed from one representative of each of the Full Blue sports, and the Women's from one representative of each of the Full Blue and Half Blue sports. Each committee meets frequently to discuss issues relating to Cambridge sport.

The Committees spend most of their time sitting in judgment on requests for Full or Half Blues. They initially determine an appropriate status for each sport, ranking it as Full Blue, Discretionary Full Blue, Half Blue or non Blue, according to its perceived popularity or importance.

  • Once a sport is judged Full Blue, its Captain is given responsibility for making awards to his/her team, on behalf of the appropriate Blues Committee, and within any constraints or restrictions that the Committee has laid down. In some Full Blue sports, all members of the varsity match team against Oxford receive Full Blues, whereas in others only some of the team receive Full Blues and the others receive Half Blues; the Captain is trusted to make all the decisions. In some sports with Full Blue status, the varsity match second team is awarded Second Team Colours.
  • When a sport is judged to be of Discretionary Full Blue status, its Captain is empowered to make the Half Blue awards to his/her team, and may request the appropriate Blues Committee, with some expectation of success, to grant one or more Full Blues to some of its members; thus the Committee, rather than the Captain, has the discretion that is in the title.
  • The Captain of a Half Blue sport is empowered only to grant Half Blues (subject to any sport-specific restrictions), on behalf of the appropriate Committee. However, a recent (1990) rule allows the Committee, on rare occasions, to grant an Extraordinary Full Blue in a sport that otherwise only holds Half Blue status.
  • No Full or Half Blue can be awarded in a sport that holds non Blue status. In spite of claims by the Cambridge University Tiddlywinks Club, there is officially no such thing as a 'quarter blue', though as a stance against the often perceived elitism of the culture of 'bluism' quarter blue scarves and apparel are produced.
  • The awarding of a Full Blue often requires a person to fulfil a number of requirements in the same academic year, particularly in sports with Discretionary Full Blue status. If, for whatever reason, an exceptional sportsman or woman is of or above Full Blue standard but does not fulfil all the requirements for the 'automatic' award of a Full Blue in any given year, the committee then has the authority to grant an Extraordinary Full Blue to that person subject to scrutiny of the particular case. The individual's case must be presented to the Blues Committee in person and must be backed up by substantial evidence and references. The award is unlikely to be made unless the person is of world-class or at least international standard.

Each sport has specific criteria for each award (in such a way that the four categories above are slightly simplistic); details of the individual criteria for women's sports can be found here, and are summarised below.

The Blues Committees are steeped in tradition, and somewhat conservative in their thinking, but by no means unwilling to move with the times. New sports frequently arise, petition for, and receive status; but, to show evidence of permanence, they must have held at least five successive Varsity matches. Sports have recently lost status, and have been required to improve their organisation before regaining it.

[edit] Categorisation of men's sports

Full Blue - whole team
Cricket, Field Hockey, Football, Golf, Lawn Tennis, Rowing, Rugby Union, Boxing, Squash
Full Blue (some) / Half Blue (rest)
Athletics, Basketball, Cross Country, Swimming
Discretionary Full Blue
Badminton, Canoeing, Cycling, Fencing, Judo, Karate, Lacrosse, Modern Pentathlon, Orienteering, Rifle Shooting (small-bore and full-bore), Rugby league, Sailing, Skiing, Water Polo
Half Blue
Archery, Eton and Rugby Fives, Gymnastics, Chess, Ice Hockey, Korfball, Lightweight Rowing, Pistol Shooting, Polo, Rackets, Dancesport, Association Croquet, Real Tennis, Riding, Rifle Shooting (small-bore and full-bore), Table Tennis, Volleyball, Ultimate Frisbee and Powerlifting.
Currently undecided / under review
Gaelic football

[edit] Categorisation of women's sports

Full Blue - whole team
Fencing, Football, Hockey, Lacrosse, Lawn tennis, Netball, Rowing, Squash
Full Blue (some) / Half Blue (rest)
Athletics, Cricket, Modern pentathlon, Swimming
Discretionary Full Blue
Badminton, Cross-country, Cycling, Gymnastics, Judo, Karate, Orienteering, Rifle shooting (full-bore), Rugby union, Sailing, Skiing, Volleyball
Half Blue
Archery, Basketball, Canoeing, Cricket, Dancesport, Golf, Ice hockey, Korfball, Lifesaving, Lightweight rowing, Orienteering, Association Croquet, Pistol shooting, Real tennis, Riding, Rifle shooting (small-bore), Taekwondo, Trampolining, Triathlon, Ultimate, Waterpolo,
Currently undecided / under review
Table tennis, Windsurfing, Eton Fives

[edit] Regalia

Cambridge University Half Blue blazer and bow tie.
Cambridge University Half Blue blazer and bow tie.

The winner of a Blue or Half Blue is entitled to wear a blues blazer, which is one of the most recognisable and distinctive garments associated with Cambridge University. Full Blue blazers are completely coloured Cambridge blue. Often it is remarked that Cambridge blue is really a green; the best representation of the colour in HTML is shown below.[1]

 

Half Blue blazers have a number of different designs, depending on the wearer's sport; a typical design is an off-white blazer with Cambridge blue lapels and trimmings. There is a variety of other Blue and Half Blue paraphernalia, including scarves, ties, pullovers, bow ties, caps and squares. Such items are worn with pride.

[edit] Hawks' Club/Ospreys

Men holding Blues, Half Blues or Second Team Colours in a Full Blue sport are eligible to join the Hawks' Club. Women holding any of these awards are eligible to join the Ospreys.

[edit] University of Oxford

Oxford University, Oxford University Rifle Club Half Blue blazer and tie.
Oxford University, Oxford University Rifle Club Half Blue blazer and tie.

At Oxford University the committees for awarding Blues and Half Blues works on much the same principles as the Cambridge committees. The principal difference between the two men’s committees is that at Oxford all Captains, regardless of their status as Full, Discretionary or Half Blue must attend meetings of the Committee. Until recently the voting was broken up according to Blues status with Full Blue Captains being allowed to vote on all matters while all the other Captains could only vote on matters directly relating to Half Blue Sports. In Michaelmas Term 2006 the committee finally allowed Discretionary Full Blue Captains the right to vote on matters directly relating to Discretionary Full Blue Sports. This has ended many years of inequality for Discretionary Full Blue status Captains and was largely welcomed by the committee.

The committees are administered by an elected President and Secretary who serve one year. Unlike in Cambridge where the President of Cambridge University Boat Club holds the position, in Oxford any Captain can be elected President, regardless of sport or status.

The role of the President is to call and serve as Chair of any meeting of the committee, of which there are normally 3 per year (6 for the women). They also serve as the representative of the committee and sit on the University Sports Strategy Committee and the Executive Committee of the Sports Federation. Both Presidents along with the Director of Sport represent Oxford at any meetings of a Joint Blues Committee held with Cambridge. The purpose of the Joint Blues Committee is to discuss issues of eligibility for the Varsity match and to settle any disputes between the sporting communities of the two universities.

The current executive of the two committees [2] are:

Oxford University Men’s Blues Committee

  • President: Richard Beal (Badminton, Wolfson)
  • Secretary: Richard Hildick-Smith (Modern Pentathlon, St. Edmund Hall)

Oxford University Women’s Blues Committee

  • President: Frances Smithson (Athletics, Magdalen)
  • Secretary: Victoria Young (Karate, Merton)

The colour of an Oxford Full Blue blazer is dark blue. The Oxford Half Blue blazer can be one of two designs. Either it is composed of thick vertical stripes of dark blue and off-white, similar in style to the Newcastle United football strip - see the image to the right. Or it can be dark blue, as the Full Blue blazer, with two white stripes above the club badge on the left breast.

The club for Oxford Blues is Vincent's Club, although it is not restricted to Blues. Atalantas is a club for sportswomen at Oxford, and also is not restricted to Blues.

[edit] University of Bristol

The University of Bristol awards 'Bristol Reds' to students who have produced exceptional performance in their respective sports at a level of achievement and commitment beyond that normally associated with University 1st team play. Though not absolutely necessary, this can be demonstrated by performances of honours beyond student level.

[edit] Durham University

Three, or two, respectively, of the following qualities - 'Ability of a High Standard' (international representation), 'Service to a Club' and 'Attitude and Commitment'. The award is called a 'Palatinate' rather than a 'Blue'. This is because the colour of Durham University Sport is Palatinate (a shade of purple) specific to the university and the county of Durham.

[edit] University of Dublin

The University of Dublin awards Pinks to students at Trinity College who compete at international level, as well as with their college club. A captains' committee, consisting of the captain of each club currently affiliated to the university's Central Athletic Club, meets biannually to elect new Pinks. There are no half-Colours awarded.

The Pinks scarf is plain light-pink, and the tie is navy-blue with a pattern of pink crowned harps, the design for the Blazer is currently lost.

Election to Pink status is extremely difficult, as participation on a first team is not sufficient; one must also compete at international level.

Sporting clubs for elite sportsmen and women also exist at the University of Dublin: the Dublin University Knights of the Campanile for men, and the Dublin University Heraeans for women. However, membership of these social clubs is by no means restricted to holders of the Pink and entry is secret with unknown criteria.

[edit] University of London

The University of London awards Purples and Half Purples for competition at the highest level of university sport, in a similar way to Oxford and Cambridge Blues. These are taken to be the equivalent of Blues at other universities.

[edit] University of Manchester

The University of Manchester awards Maroons and Half Maroons for competition at the highest level of university sport, in a similar way to Oxford and Cambridge Blues.

[edit] Other 'Blues' awards

At some universities a Blue is an award given to an individual by the Sports Union or Association of the university for outstanding achievement at a national or international level. Typically the recipient must have achieved a medal winning performance at national or international university competition level or must have won a Gold medal at a regional level.

[edit] Australian National University

The Australian National University in Canberra, Australia awards Blues and Half Blues in this way.

[edit] University of Adelaide

The University of Adelaide in Adelaide, South Australia awards Blues, Half Blues and Club Letters in a similar fashion.

[edit] University of Sydney

The University of Sydney in Sydney, New South Wales awards Blues for outstanding sporting achievement. Blues are nominated in October at the conclusion of the annual university sporting calendar and the successful nominees are presented with their Blues at the Annual Blues Dinner. Blues earn the right to wear the Blues jacket in the traditional stripes of Blue and Gold with the Sydney University Shield.

[edit] The University of Western Australia

The University of Western Australia in Western Australia awards Blues and Half Blues to students as well as club members for outstanding sporting achievement.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^  The actual colour is between 12 B 17 and 12 B 19 on British Standard BS5252. See here.

[edit] External links

Cambridge University:


Oxford University:

Other universities: