Chichester get better of Winchester on Varsity Day

Varsity matches, featuring sports fixtures between rival campuses, have been part of the university sporting calendar since the early 19th century when Oxford and Cambridge started competing against each other.

University of Chichester SU sports co-ordinator Adam Sewell said: “Our varsity with Winchester has been growing year on year. There were 23 teams competing this time in a wide range of sports including lacrosse, American football, swimming and volleyball, amongst others, across the campus and at external facilities.

“For many leavers, this is their last opportunity to represent our WSIHE sports community.”

Chichester beat Winchester by some margin for the third year in a row. See a selection of pictures in Jordan Colborne's slideshow.

Elsewhere, Chichester teams bagged BUCS divisional titles.

Men’s futsal ones needed a win at home to Brunel twos to snatch the title from Kingston. It was 2-2 at the break but after a tense start to the second half Chichester edged 4-3 in front and went on to win 7-5 to add a league title to their Conference Cup runners-up honours.

Futsal president James Callnon said: “Not only are we league champions but we didn’t lose a single game in the league. A huge congratulations to all the University of Chichester futsal players, staff and fans for an unreal season. It still hasn’t sunk in.”

The netball fifth team clinched a division they dominated in an unbeaten season and netball ones capped off their impressive title-winning year with a 54-27 victory over Brighton twos in a sixth consecutive league win.

England pride for college studentsDisaster strikes the BluesMen’s football fives were crowned champions in South Eastern 4A after taking the point they needed in a 1-1 draw with closest rivals Sussex threes in the last game.

The men’s football first team picked up the South Eastern 1A league title when their campaign went down to the wire in a dramatic decider with challengers East London that Noah Hustler’s side won in time added on after trailing 2-1. The win earnt Chichester a place in the play-offs against Bristol and Exeter with a Premier South spot up for grabs.

Varsity results: Men’s basketball, Chichester 82-75 Winchester; women’s basketball, Chichester 53-39 Winchester; women’s football twos, Chichester 2-1 Winchester; men’s football fives, Chichester 4-2 Winchester twos; men’s football sixes, Chichester 11-0 Winchester threes; men’s futsal ones, Chichester 9-2 Winchester; men’s futsal twos, Chichester 12-5 Winchester; women’s hockey ones and development, Chichester 1-7 Winchester ones; men’s hockey twos, Chichester 3-1 Winchester ones; netball threes, Chichester 33-31 Winchester twos; women’s rugby development XV, Chichester 56-5 Winchester ones; swimming team, Chichester 124-106 Winchester; men’s tennis development, Chichester 0-12 Winchester ones; trampolining, Chichester 1-1 Winchester; mixed ultimate, Chichester 7-13 Winchester; women’s volleyball, Chichester 3-0 Winchester; men’s volleyball, Chichester ones 3-1 Winchester ones.

Other BUCS results: Men’s badminton, Chichester 2-6 Brighton; women’s badminton, Chichester 6-2 Brighton; men’s basketball, Chichester 88-92 Sussex; men’s tennis, Chichester 4-8 Sussex; women’s tennis, Chichester 4-8 Sussex.