Cambridge University Association Football League

The Cambridge University Association Football League (CUAFL) is a football league between the Colleges of Cambridge University organised by the Cambridge University Association Football Club.

History Origins of collegiate football Football in Cambridge was being played on Parker's Piece as far back as the 1830s. However it was not until 1855 that the university had a formal football club, Cambridge University Association Football Club, making it one of the oldest clubs in the world. Collegiate football helped spread the game in the 1870s, and the first competition for these teams was held in 1882–1883. The format was a knockout tournament based on the FA Challenge Cup, which had been created in 1871. The first entrants included nine colleges (Caius, St. John's, Clare, St. Catharine's, Pembroke, Sidney, Jesus, King's and Trinity Hall) and three old boys sides (Old Harrovians, Trinity Etonians and Trinity Rest). It is likely that the university, quick to follow The FA in hosting a cup competition, also soon followed the idea of William McGregor, the founder of The Football League, by creating the Cambridge University Association Football League.

The Modern Era For the 2006–2007 season, the number of teams in the league reached 78, and in the 2007–2008 season, 31 clubs and 75 teams entered CUAFL competitions. This means that at least 800 people play college football each season, however this is a very conservative estimate.

Competitions

CUAFL organises Seven divisions as well as four cup competitions, 'Cuppers' and the Plate for first teams, the Shield for second teams and the Vase for lower teams.

Cuppers is a knockout tournament with pairings drawn completely at random at the first captain's meeting of the season. There are no seeds and byes are only awarded if the number of entrants requires them. The final is contested the neutral venue of Grange Road. The competition starts in the fourth week of Michaelmas term. In 2004–2005, 31 teams entered the competition, including 26 full colleges, one college affiliated to the university, two local schools, and Cambridge's other university, ARU. To be eligible for entry, teams must be affiliated to CUAFL. Each club may only enter one team, which must be their 1st team. There are five rounds in total.

Cuppers was first contested in 1882–1883. The first entrants included nine colleges (Caius, St. John's, Clare, St. Catharine's, Pembroke, Sidney, Jesus, King's and Trinity Hall) and three old boys sides (Old Harrovians, Trinity Etonians and Trinity Rest).

The Plate competition is for teams that have been knocked out in the first round.

In recent years, when St. Catharine's College has been victorious in Cuppers they have challenged the Oxford University Cuppers Champions to a one-off "Supercuppers" match. In 2007, they defeated Brasenose College Oxford 3–2 (after extra time) in a match held at St. Catharine's Sports Fields, Cambridge. In 2009, they played St. John's College Oxford at Iffley Road, Oxford, and again were victorious 3–2.

Girton College went mixed in 1976 and the first male under-graduates arrived in October 1979. The college started playing in the college league, in division 5, for the first time in the 1980–81 season and won two successive promotions. In season 1986–87, with two blues players, Chris Elliott and Ian McKinnon, they made it through to the semi-finals of Cuppers, losing narrowly in extra time to Downing. By 1993–94, they made it to the top division and in 1997–98, they were crowned league champions for the first time, a feat they repeated in 2003–04. In 1995 they won Cuppers for the only time in their history, beating APU in the final. Since then they have been Cuppers Runners up on 5 occasions, in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2008 and 2018.

Since 2014, Homerton College and Gonville & Caius College, the only two colleges with fourth teams that year, have competed for the Bucket in an annual informal 'cup' match. Homerton College won the inaugural contest 1–0. As of 2021, Gonville & Caius College hold the Bucket.

Fitzwilliam established the greatest era of any college team in the mid 2010s, going on to win 7 successive cuppers and 7 league titles in 9 years with a series of dominant performances. Their cuppers run was ended by defeat to St John's in the 2023/24 semi-final, who subsequently lost on penalties to St Catharine's after a 0-0 draw in the final, giving a different cuppers winner for the first time since 2016. This was followed up by Jesus' third ever cuppers win in 2024/25, when they beat Trinity Hall on penalties after a goalless draw on a difficult pitch at Grange Road. Jesus' Cai La Trobe-Roberts scored 14 goals in the 2024/25 cuppers campaign to finish as top scorer.

The 2025/26 season saw Fitzwilliam claim the double, securing their 17th cuppers title, the most ever and surpassing Christ's College who they previously shared 16 with. The final was competed on the redeveloped Grange Road 4G pitch, with Fitzwilliam clinching a 2-1 victory over Selywn.

Results

The results of the principal competitions are shown below.

SeasonDivision 1 ChampionsCuppers ChampionsPlate WinnersShield WinnersVase Winners1945–1946 St. John's   1946–1947 NO CONTEST   1947–1948 Fitzwilliam House   1948–1949 Christ's   1949–1950 St. John's   1950–1951 Emmanuel   1951–1952 St. Catharine's   1952–1953 Emmanuel   1953–1954 Christ's   1954–1955 Emmanuel   1955–1956 Downing   1956–1957 Christ's   1957–1958 Christ's   1958–1959 St. John's   1959–1960 Christ's   1960–1961 Christ's   1961–1962 Christ's   1962–1963 Christ's   1963–1964 Christ's   1964–1965 Christ's   1965–1966 Christ's   1966–1967     1967–1968     1968–1969 Fitzwilliam & Queens' (Shared)   1969–1970 St. John's   1970–1971 Christ's   1971–1972     1972–1973     1973–1974 Trinity   1974–1975 St. Catharine's   1975–1976 St. Catharine's   1976–1977 St. Catharine's   1977–1978 St Catharine's   1978–1979 Christ's   1979–1980 Christ's   1980–1981 St. Catharine's & Downing (Shared)   1981–1982 St. Catharine's   1982–1983 St. Catharine's   1983–1984 Trinity Hall   1984–1985RobinsonSt. John's   1985–1986 Fitzwilliam & St. Catharine's (Shared)   1986–1987FitzwilliamSelwyn   1987–1988 Downing   1988–1989     1989–1990     1990–1991 St. John's   1991–1992 Fitzwilliam   1992–1993TrinityDowning   1993–1994Anglia UniversityFitzwilliam   1994–1995DowningGirton   1995–1996FitzwilliamLong RoadGirton  1996–1997DowningLong RoadClare  1997–1998GirtonFitzwilliamMagdalene  1998–1999FitzwilliamChrist'sHomertonLong Road II 1999–2000JesusLong RoadAPUFitzwilliam II 2000–2001St Catharine'sSt. Catharine'sHomertonFitzwilliam II 2001–2002FitzwilliamLong RoadChurchillHills Road II 2002–2003St John'sSt. John'sKingsHills Road II 2003–2004GirtonSt. John'sClareAPU II 2004–2005FitzwilliamJesusGonville & CaiusAPU II 2005–2006ChurchillFitzwilliamAnglia RuskinLong Road IIARU III2006–2007ChurchillSt. Catharine'sCorpus Christi St. Catharines's III2007–2008TrinityChrist'sSt. Catharine'sGonville & Caius II 2008–2009DowningSt. Catharine'sPembrokeTrinity Hall IIChurchill III2009–2010DowningTrinity 2010–2011TrinityQueens'Jesus III2011–2012DowningFitzwilliamTrinity HallHomerton IIJesus III2012–2013FitzwilliamFitzwilliamSelwynSelwyn IIJesus III2013–2014Trinity HallJesusRobinsonFitzwilliam IIJesus III2014–2015DowningSt John'sSelwynJesus IIGirton III2015–2016Queens'RobinsonChrist'sQueens' IIQueens' III2016–2017FitzwilliamFitzwilliamSelwynFitzwilliam IIFitzwilliam III2017-2018Queens'FitzwilliamEmmanuelGonville & Caius IIGonville & Caius III2018-2019FitzwilliamFitzwilliamTrinity Hall Queens' IIFitzwilliam III2019-2020Fitzwilliam & Churchill (shared/Covid)Fitzwilliam & Queens' (shared/Covid)St. Catharine'sJesus II Jesus III2020-2021N/AFitzwilliamGonville & CaiusN/AN/A2021-2022Fitzwilliam FitzwilliamDowningFitzwilliam II2022-23FitzwilliamFitzwilliamJesusHomerton IITrinity III2023-24FitzwilliamSt. Catharine'sSt. Catharine's IIGonville and Caius III2024-25FitzwilliamJesusSt John'sSt Catharine's IIGonville and Caius III

The combined results of the Cuppers competition is shown below.

CollegeNumber of Cuppers TitlesFitzwilliam17Christ's16St. Catharine's13St. John's9Long Road4Downing4Jesus3Emmanuel3Trinity2Queens'2Robinson1Girton1Trinity Hall1Selwyn1 The combined results of the Vase competition (since 2024) is show below. +CollegeNumber of Vase TitlesGonville and Caius2

Board of directors

CUAFL President: Dr John Little

YearChairman2001–2002Chris Palmer2002–2003Rod Latham2003–2004Will Jobling2004–2005Martyn Race2005–2006Martyn Race2006–2007Bob Myhill2007–2008Jamie Aspinall2008–2009Rory Scott2009–2010Luke Jesson2010–2011Mark Baxter2011–2012George Deeks2012–2013Adam Donald2013-2014Matt Reizenstein, Nikos Yerolemou2014-2015Nicholas Hilton, Nikos Yerolemou2015-2016John Harrison, Marcus Nielsen2016-2017John Harrison, Marcus Nielsen2017-2018John Harrison, Pablo Lemos Portela2018-2019John Harrison2019-2020Sam Ernest2020-2021Sam Ernest2021-2022Sam Ernest2022-2023Tom Randall2023-2024Dan Lofts2024-2025Aaran Mehmood, Aaron Kay2025-2026Roddy Simpson2026-2027Alex Durrani

References

External links

University of Cambridge University of Cambridge Sport