30 Years of Varsity: The Origin Story and the chance to make an amazing social impact.

These days everyone loves an Origin Story…this one involves Varsity Days, and my role in kickstarting what is the highlight of many a University year.

Please read through and I hope that if your personal Varsity Days are a source of great memories, that by way of paying tribute to this amazing student sporting success, you help its kickstarter create a huge social impact this Autumn 2026.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Well, I spent the spring, summer and autumn of 1996 traversing the country, encouraging postcode sharing old universities and old polytechnics to take a match they normally played on a desolate playing field in front of no one, and stage it instead at their local senior rugby club at night and charge their fellow students £5 raising funds for charity and also student sport. (60/40 split).

I was working as a volunteer for Oxfam tasked with engaging students into their work, and the idea came when watching that more established Varsity Match on the BBC and thinking why can’t others have their own?

It took a lot of persuasion, but with Oxfam underwriting each event the students were implored to whip up on campus enthusiasm and leave the rest to me, some were more receptive than others. The fact always remains, without the unbelievable work from students and student sports officers, these Varsity matches would not have taken root and then flourished.

Negotiations were tough at times. A portent of things to come. The Welsh Varsity match was originally meant to be between Cardiff and (now) Cardiff Met, but Met said they were too busy. Nottingham Trent didn’t think it would work, and the first Nottingham Varsity match saw Nottingham vs Loughborough. In the end eight matches were delivered.

The first of these matches was staged at The Memorial Ground Bristol, on the 26th November 1996, as I was based in the city it was always going to be that way, and much to everyone’s amazement, including future RFU President Bob Reeves, 2,622 people paid £5 a head to watch a match that normally they could see for free. Jim Brownrigg played for UWE and was signed by Bristol Rugby, Jim Jenner by Newcastle Falcons the next week. Bristol University won that one, and apart from a glorious period of 1999-2004, when UWE dominated (I am an ex UWE student), they never subsequently lost.

This Varsity revolution took in further stops at Birmingham, 247 to watch Warwick, Plymouth, where Marjons generated 1,019 at Plymouth Albion RFC. March 1997 saw Manchester vs Man Met at Sale and a game won in extra time, after we all agreed at the final whistle that we needed extra time. Loughborough beat Nottingham in front of 249; Swansea won the first Welsh Varsity Match at the Arms Park the crowd was just over a 1,000 as we included the stewards who spent most of their time watching the match.

It was only two days later in Newcastle that we realised that this concept had already been done, as Northumbria and Newcastle had two years on us, but no-one else had thought for themselves it was a good idea or to be honest eben mentioned it as we progressed up the country. The season ended with Bath hosting Exeter, and the first involvement of Women’s Rugby which thankfully quickly got fully adopted elsewhere in the next couple of years.

1997-8 saw a whole host of new matches. North of the border, Edinburgh, Glasgow were joined by Dundee and St Andrews in hosting their own versions, the parties were legendary, and I am sure Chris Cusiter played in the first Edinburgh match but it was a big party so that might have been a figment.

Working with Exeter, they started to host their own Varsity, cherry picking opposition they could beat from their regular league fixtures, a very successful policy over the years. St Marys and Brunel staged their first varsity match at Sunbury, and Simon Amor kicked the match winning drop goal in the last minute.

THEN IT REALLY GREW WHEN WE INVOLVED EVERYONE

The attendances grew, the pre and post-match parties became bigger and I like to think that one more innovation from myself, has helped sustain the Varsity phenom.

I had come to realise in the first year that there was a direct correlation between attendances and how popular the rugby club was, so we had to find a way to make every sport count, whilst still having a showpiece event to gather round.

To that end with the help of convenient fixture scheduling in Wales, the Varsity Day was created, with every result counting and every performance highlighted. It meant that 600+ Cardiff students had to attend; they did, enjoyed and created an awesome atmosphere and competition that now sees 15,000+ congregate annually. Pretty obviously the idea spread, I created a lot, dozens more evolbved, everyone inspired by what had been created elsewhere..

Thanks to those brave enough to take the idea on in 1996, over 30,000 students annually enjoy for what many is the highlight of their students days. I am certain that over time it would have occurred, but Oxfam were innovative to kick start the project and showed what could be done with student sport. BUCS Super Rugby certainly has its origins in this work.

So, is this to be my sporting legacy? I think I played a significant part at the start, but I always knew that its’ sustainability would be driven by the competitive nature of student life that each year the captains and sabbaticals would strive to outdo their predecessors.

Whatever my impact, it still enables me to talk to students from Universities across the country and get their respect, which at my age is pretty unique it also prompted the remark from a Bath student in April 2026 "everyone should give you £5 by way of a thank you", that got me thinking of whether we could make a social impact from such memories.

MARK 30 YEARS BY MAKING A HUGE SOCIAL IMPACT

Historically, GB Athlete Experience Days have made between £677K and £685K for good causes. The idea is to fully fund the delivery of these experience days and corporate charity events, so that good causes receive 100% of the donations.

Group Experiences once sold preclude the need for additional people to make an event happen.

CAN ALSO BE USED TO SUPPORT STUDENT SPORT

• Crowdfunding Creates a supply of fully funded experiences.

• 100% of the amount they are sold for goes to the selling club.

• A great way for Student Sport Clubs to raise money from Alumni and Corporates

For further information, please visit www.legacy300.com/corporates / www.lcs26.com/corporates

David "Billy" Cotton