What is BUCs?
With the beginning of the University Sporting League BUCS today, it is apparent that a lot of students are still unaware of what BUCs is. This article, written by our previous Sports editor Caitlin, will help to promote awareness of what BUCS is.
The British Universities and College Sports (BUCS) is a national governing body that faces over 170 universities across the country against each other in leagues and cups in 47 different inter-university sports. The sports season runs throughout the university year and as well as these competitive leagues and knockout cups, BUCS runs national competitions at the end of the season. These national competitions like BUCS Big Wednesday and BUCS Nationals are days of sports to celebrate the most successful teams and representatives for World University Championships and Games.
More than 5800 teams are involved in BUCS nationally, and we have 48 competitive teams here at Kent. We currently have 16 different sports involved which offer the chance to play in BUCS provisional leagues varying in size, and eleven of those teams have first teams in the South-Eastern tiers for their sport. Kent’s biggest teams are the Women’s Lacrosse, Rugby Union, Women’s Hockey and Netball which offer 4 levels of teams in their sports. This means that even if the Kent 1st team are in the top tier, we can have 2nds and 3rds matches in the tiers below this if the team is big enough, and pushes Kent up even further in the rankings.
As well as the leagues, these teams also partake in knock-out tournaments, organised by BUCS, where the teams play against each other to win cups and decide on promotion and relegation. The tournament you’re put in to is considered by which tier you’re in; the premier league fight for the Championship title, the first tier fights for the Trophy and the tiers below that play for various cup titles.
BUCS games for the league are run on Wednesdays – hence why Wednesdays are designated as the sports day of the week- including some which run at the weekends such as American Football on Sundays. Often our sports societies often promote their fixtures and result through a variety of social media before and after the day of the game; whether it’s at the Pavilion watching Hockey or on the Park Wood pitches watching the Rugby Union, there will always be at least one form of BUCS match on a Wednesday. Teams can either be playing at home or away at a different university and this alternates with weeks.
The information for fixtures and results from the leagues and cups are all available on the BUCS website, where there is a section to access team profiles, university scores and results through searching through the institutions. If you are just looking for results, you can check on the ‘BUCScore’ tab on the website and from there look at how the other teams are doing and where Kent are positioned in the league, including information on games played, wins, losses, goal difference and points awarded.
As the season moves on, you can see the overall BUCS points of all the universities nationally. In the past three years, Kent has been moving up the rankings, from 62nd in the 2014/15, to 51st the year after and 48th in 2016/17. Even though Kent is not in the top 10, we are still a significant spirit as Team Kent. Every team works towards winning games and points and Kent has been moving forward in the 2017/18 year by ranking in the early 40s this season. So, let’s keep pushing this BUCS season, and let’s go Team Kent!
Get down to the Pavillion and catch some of the BUCS matches. There’s Lacrosse, Hockey, Tennis, Table Tennis, Rugby and many more!
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