Done!

interesting reading josh's reasons for joining the league club at oxford. i am an ex st.mary's player, and it is good to see him quoted as a high light beating simmies. its also good to see oxford getting back towards national standings. his experience with the league club at uni is refreshing, and hopefully it is being reflected across the elete universities across the country.
i went to the game last night, and oxford were a very good league team. they would have beaten most cambridge sides of old. it is a worry though that cambridge put in such a lack luster performance, as the occassion is a good one, and a competitive game would have improved a good night.
rugby league in the univerities needs to be nurtured, and promoted as this will be another way of improving the profile of the game.
figures on wiki intimate that 85k households tune into the game on sky, and i think this is a very encouraging figure, which can hopefully be built on year on year.

RLFANS have a discout promo code for Premier Sports here too --------------------------------->

If you fancy 150 NRL games this year... Just saying.

We have this thread around this time every year...

Two factors to add to this. One is the size of Oxford & Cambridge. They both have around 20k students each. As well as being older/richer/more academic, they're also a lot bigger than most other universities. The other is that both tend to produce a much stronger attachment in their graduates than other universities. I wouldn't cross the road to watch my old uni play against Leeds Met - but my father-in-law would support Oxford against Cambridge in anything, 50+ years after he graduated.

Both of those things mean that even if the game might appeal only to Oxbridge graduates, it could still get decent ratings and be an easy sell for Sky advertising buyers.

I was at Oxford myself but didn't get into RL until shortly after I left. Sadly, RL gets a bit overlooked there because Union tries to dominate (helps that the Varsity union game has a bit of a social draw- God knows why) and you can't get a full Blue for RL.

I do hope that OURLFC kick on from this and keep on increasing their profile.

Reckon RL could swallow it's pride and play as a curtain raiser to RU varsity at Twickers?

Boom, 30,000 fans just like that.

I’m convinced that there are many people out there who would fall in love with Rugby League if they were exposed to it more – there is plenty of untapped support in this country

I’m also convinced that you won’t find much of that support in the crowd as a RU varsity match – Union is as ingrained a part of their lives as wellies and wax jackets, picnics from the tailgate of their Range Rover, shooting in the country and future jobs in the city

It is a different world, I think we have to realistic and admit that the sport of Rugby League is never going to see the captain of the national side marrying into the royal family any time soon... I’m not sure that Jamie Peacock would fit in around the Windsor’s dinner table (no offence Jamie)

A few notes.

Ady Spencer - Cambridge Uni at League and Union, London Broncos RL professional, the last man banned from union before it went pro, later worked as RFL Commercial Manager in London.

Varsity RL is 30+ years old, and as such is the longest running continuous competition in student rugby. It's social kudos makes it important for the profile of the game, though neither side are in the top 10 student teams.

The SRL Super8 competition is based on a licensing system. The Premier Sports tv SRL started with Super8 games, but the top 4 playoff was a made-up-for-tv event. It was a cracking final, though.

The real SRL championship is contested by the top 4 Super 8 teams, and the top 2 in each of the Premier North and South competitions. In the quarters last Wednesday, Prem South Champs Exeter stuffed Super8 Edge Hill 38-8, and Prem north winners Newcastle edged out Super8 Northumbria, who perhaps has their eyes on this weekend's Challenge Cup.

Neither Exeter nor Newcastle have the resources from their unis to play in the super 8. Exeter to Northumbria, for example, is a 700 mile round trip plus an overnight stay. Without a lot of funding it's just not possible.

RLis not discriminated against at Oxbridge as such. It doesn't have automatic full blue status because there isn't an inter-college competition. Union, in contrast, has a first XV at every college, and 2 or 3 teams at some. So, there are maybe 50 student union teams at Cambridge, but only one RL team. John Evans, the saints-born coach educator who coaches Cambridge, is right, though... The difference between the number of discretionary full blues at Oxford compared to Cambridge is skewing the contest.

Don't underestimate the influence of the excellent Oxford coach, Dan Garbutt. A Gloucestershire bloke, Dan's also coached with the Harlequins Academy and the England Lionhearts (summer conference) setup.

Oxford were mid table in the Southern Premier. Cambride are in a regional league in the tier below.

I think Oxford get 13, and Cambrigde get 4. Could be a few out!

Each Uni blues committee operates independently of the other, and you'd be right to think of them a bastions of the establishment. But it's not simple prejudice, there is reason behind why RL isn't as highly rewarded as the collegiate sports like footy, cricket, rowing and union.

Think of the blue as an international cap, and you'll be close to how the students themselves see it.