Exeter finished the 2018-2019 season as the top sporting institution in the South of England and Wales.
A total of 3,747 BUCS points, an increase of 293 points from 2017-2018, ranks the university 5th in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) table.
Finishing as the number one institution for their sport in the
BUCS rankings were Rugby, Hockey and Sailing. Exeter Sailors had their best season to date and took BUCS Gold in the Yachting, Fleet and Team Racing Championships with a BUCS Silver in the Match Racing to complete their 2018-2019
medal haul.
The University of Exeter Women’s Rugby 1st team had the
perfect season, going unbeaten to take the Premier South league title, BUCS 15s Championship Gold and BUCS 7s Championship Gold, which also earned them a place on the shortlist for BUCS Team of the Year. Head of Women’s Rugby Jo Yapp said: “Having not won the 7s since 2013-2014 it was great to have Exeter back in the final, which is testament to the effort the girls have put in over the past few years. Being able to do the 15s and 7s double in the same year shows the mental strength and resilience of the squad with limited 7s preparation and a high academic workload."
The Men’s Hockey 1st team won BUCS Championship Gold in dramatic fashion in a final that went to penalty flicks following a last second disallowed goal by Durham in normal time. Sports Scholar James Carson held his nerve to net the winning flick, with goalkeeper Elliot Bullman producing a fine performance under immense pressure.
The University of Exeter Men’s Rugby 1st team made it back to back titles in the BUCS Super Rugby league, with a win over Cardiff. And another team with the perfect season, winning 100% of the BUCS points available to them, were the Women’s Lacrosse 4th team who won their league and BUCS Gold in the Conference Cup.
A number of teams earned promotion to their respective
BUCS Premier Leagues including the University of Exeter Men’s Cricket 1st team who won South A and secured promotion back into National League as well as winning BUCS Gold in the Outdoor Trophy. The Netball 1st team went unbeaten in Western 1A with a goal difference of 380
and came through playoffs to gain their place back in Premier South next season. Men’s Waterpolo 1st team had a fantastic season making the BUCS trophy final and taking Silver at Big BUCS Wednesday, and also earning promotion to join the women’s side in Premier South for 2019-2020.
The Golf 1st team won seven out of eight matches in the BUCS Premier League to retain their title. The team of six, including three women, wrapped up the league with a 6-0 win at home to Reading. Led by 1st team captain and R&A scholar, Jack Pope, the team’s only loss came in a tight match away at rivals Bournemouth before a convincing win in the return fixture at Dawlish Warren. Exeter was the only institution to field more than one woman in the first team, highlighting the talent of the female cohort including England
International Emily Toy.
In the BUCS individual events
Exeter won 15 gold medals,
10 silver medals and 14 bronze
medals, finishing the year ranked
as the 7th institution overall for
BUCS individuals. Amongst the
individual medals were Chris Page
Sports Scholar James Hatcher
who took Gold in the Men’s
Individual Advanced Windsurfing,
and Sports Performance Bursar
Sylvia Misztal who made it double
Silver at the BUCS Track Cycling
Championships.
On 6 July 2019 we celebrated the
10 year anniversary of the opening
of the £2 million Sir Christopher
Ondaatje Devon Cricket Centre.
This fantastic indoor training facility
accommodates the Devon Cricket
Board (DCB) and is used by the
University of Exeter’s student
cricket clubs, the Exeter College
Academy, the DCB indoor cricket
league and many local clubs.
In Cornwall CSM Rugby fought hard in the annual Bottle Match, but were unable to absorb the attacking pressure from the RSM forwards and a half-time score of 12-0 left the Bottle holders with work to do. A try early in the second half lifted the CSM pack but was not sufficient to get them back into the game and a final score of 15-5 saw RSM win the Bottle for 2019.
In other games over the Bottle Match weekend CSM Football fought a tightly contested match and were unlucky to lose to a single 86th minute RSM goal. However, both Men’s and Women’s Hockey took the victory to bring the Bottle back to Cornwall, and the Netball team won convincingly 88-2.
In October 2019 at the start of the 2019/20 season, the BUCS Surfing Championship returned to Cornwall and the Exeter Men’s team took home gold for the first time. Manuel Oliveira also won the overall individual gold and Diogo Raposo came 3rd. Cornwall based student Lorenzo Dubois took 2nd for FXU, in a clean sweep for Exeter Students.
New Football Club Alumni Network
Over many years the Exeter University Football Club has provided thousands of football playing students with memorable playing, and social, experiences. Many teams and individual students have achieved at national and local level, and many players have gone on to have impressive post-Exeter football careers in playing, coaching, management and administration.
The football club alumni network has been set up with three main aims:
› To celebrate Exeter University football past and present
› To organise, promote and implement an annual reunion
› To discuss possible support for the current football programme
The first reunion is taking place in March and more events will follow in due course. For further information and/or to link to the
football alumni community, please contact us on sportsalumni@exeter.ac.uk. All enquires are totally commitment free and we are always happy to hear from our alumni.