Nottingham Trent and AECC take 2020 British University Championships honours

10 Mar. 2020

Nottingham Trent and AECC take 2020 British University Championships honours

Well over 600 players from 62 teams across England, Scotland and Wales took part in the 2020 British University Handball Championships this past weekend (6-8 March) at the Medway Sports Park in Gillingham, south-east England.

Both the men’s (35 teams) and women’s (27 teams) competitions were split into a total of seven tournaments of different levels with games lasting 25 minutes each.

The top, main competition, the ‘National Cup’, are for teams who are at the top performance level in Britain, competing regularly in the England Handball leagues or other form of competition, or having finished in the top 16 in previous university competitions.

The ‘National Plate’ competition was for the second teams of clubs and developing clubs themselves, with remaining teams spread out over the ‘National Shield’ tournaments in both genders, and a fourth competition for the men, entitled ‘National Trophy’.

The first two matchdays featured preliminary group matches, before the final day saw the knockout rounds and medal matches.

In the women’s competition, AECC University College beat 2018 winners Loughborough University 1 in the final of the Women’s Cup competition, 11:10, to grab the overall first place and gold medal as 2019 winners, University of Warwick, could only finish in third place.

The University of Glasgow beat University of Birmingham 1 16:5 in the Women’s Plate Final while the University of Essex beat Welsh side Bangor University 10:7 to claim the Women’s Shield.

The Men’s Cup final was also a tight affair with just a single-goal difference in the end as English side Nottingham Trent University 1 beat Scottish side University of Strathclyde, 15:14. The University of Bath, who won the 2019 edition, finished ninth.

England beat Scotland again in the Men’s Plate final, with the University of Essex downing University of Glasgow, but the University of Dundee took home a medal to Scotland, defeating Brunel University London 11:7 in the Men’s Trophy final, adding to their 2017 Shield win. The University of Lincoln defeated University of Portsmouth 13:3 in the Men’s Shield final.

All 62 teams who entered the championships had to provide two referees who were mentored throughout the weekend of matches by the EHA Referee Developers and Assessors as part of their continued person development (CPD) towards future referee qualification (England Handball Referee Level 2/3).

The 2020 edition of the British University Handball Championships was also a crucial event as part of the pathway for the inclusion of handball within the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) programme for the 2020/21 season.

BUCS is the national governing body for Higher Education sport in the United Kingdom and is responsible for organising more than 50 inter-university sports within the UK and representative teams for the World University Championships and the World University Games.

The championships were organised by the England Handball Association (EHA) and their National Competitions and Events Manager John Pearce was full of praise for everyone involved as the sport at university level enters a crucial period.

"The British University Handball Championships continues to be a hugely popular event with an electric atmosphere,” said Pearce. “But the event wouldn't go ahead with out the hard work of the EHA referees who have excelled during a 14-hour working day.  

“A special mention also has to go to Medway Council for their continued support of the event which has been fantastic and, of course, the ladies from Rainham Girls School who were table officials for the entire weekend.

“We hope to gain BUCS inclusion for the coming season and will be looking at more opportunities for university competition and development for next season.”

For more information about the British University Handball Championships, you can read these articles on ihf.info here and here, or visit www.englandhandball.com.

2020 British University Handball Championships - Final Rankings

Women’s Cup
1.    Anglo-European College of Chiropractic (AECC) University College
2.    Loughborough University 1
3.    University of Warwick 1
4.    University of Liverpool
5.    University of Nottingham
6.    University of Cambridge
7.    Nottingham Trent University
8.    Imperial College London
9.    University of Bath

Women’s Plate
1.    University of Glasgow
2.    University of Birmingham 1
3.    Leeds Beckett University
4.    Lancaster University
5.    Loughborough University 2
6.    University of Oxford
7.    University College London (UCL), University of London
8.    University of Kent
9.    University of Chichester
10.    Liverpool John Moores University

Women’s Shield
1.    University of Essex
2.    Bangor University
3.    Durham University
4.    University of Manchester
5.    University of Strathclyde
6.    University of Warwick 2
7.    University of Birmingham 2
8.    University of Birmingham 3

Men’s Cup
1.    Nottingham Trent University 1
2.    University of Strathclyde
3.    Loughborough University 1
4.    University of Cambridge
5.    University College London (UCL), University of London
6.    University of Nottingham
7.    Lancaster University
8.    University of Birmingham 1
9.    University of Bath 1
10.    Imperial College London

Men’s Plate
1.    University of Essex
2.    University of Glasgow
3.    University of Oxford
4.    University of Kent
5.    University of Warwick 1
6.    University of Manchester 1
7.    Liverpool John Moores University
8.    University of Liverpool
9.    Bangor University 1
10.    Durham University

Men’s Shield
1.    University of Lincoln
2.    University of Portsmouth
3.    Loughborough University 2
4.    Heriot-Watt University
5.    Manchester Metropolitan University
6.    University of Warwick 2
7.    Leeds Beckett University
8.    University of Chichester
9.    University of Birmingham 2

Men’s Trophy
1.    University of Dundee
2.    Brunel University London
3.    Nottingham Trent University 2
4.    Bangor University 2
5.    Queen Mary University of London
6.    University of Bath 2