University and College Sport

By 1850, the Boat Race, though not yet known by that lapidary title, had an established place in the sporting calendar of Oxford University. It was almost (though not quite) an annual fixture, and was regarded as ‘the great event of the aquatic year’ and ‘the greatest of all aquatic reunions’. The Oxford–Cambridge cricket match, a still more venerable fixture, had established itself as an annual contest, but excited less public interest than its counterpart on the river. These were, however, the only two inter-university contests yet established; the concept of the ‘blue’ had not yet emerged;...

By 1850, the Boat Race, though not yet known by that lapidary title, had an established place in the sporting calendar of Oxford University. It was almost (though not quite) an annual fixture, and was regarded as ‘the great event of the aquatic year’ and ‘the greatest of all aquatic reunions’. The Oxford–Cambridge cricket match, a still more venerable fixture, had established itself as an annual contest, but excited less public interest than its counterpart on the river. These were, however, the only two inter-university contests yet established; the concept of the ‘blue’ had not yet emerged; and Lord's was not yet established as the permanent venue for the cricket match. Sport in Oxford had not taken on a recognizably modern form; netther had the word ‘sport’ assumed its modern meaning, for to the Oxford undergraduate of the 1850s it still meant hunting, whereas rowing, cricket, and boxing were ‘athletic pursuits’. The half-century that followed saw the establishment of the distinctive patterns of modern Oxford sport and, indeed, of undergraduate leisure.