About BUSA

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The British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) is the governing body for all university sports in the UK.

Since its formation in 1918 BUSA has become recognised as the governing body for university sport in the UK. BUSA currently co-ordinates around 1.2 million students competing in sports team in 151 universities and Institutes of Higher Education. The Association provides an inter-university championship programme in 50 sports. It also enters representative teams into the World Universirt Games and World University Championships.

In February 1918 a Conference of Presidents of University Unions was convened at Manchester to discuss the need for some form of Association to promote the development of sport within Universities. An Association emerged, the Inter Varsity Board of England and Wales. Nine institutions attended the first event which was an ‘Inter Varsity athletic meeting’ organised by Aberystwyth on 28 July 1919.
 
In 1922 Association Football, Hockey, Rugby Union and Swimming were added to the events programme, and in 1923 the Women’s Inter Varsity Board (WIVAB) was established to cater for the needs of female students.

In 1930 following much discussion, the name of the organisation changed to ‘The Universities Athletic Union.’ In the first few years the administration was carried out by universities in rotation, but in 1927 the University of London offered to provide accommodation for the Board’s headquarters and this was gratefully accepted. In 1931 the Union was able to have Headquarters Offices of its own (courtesy of the British Olympic Association) and appointed its first Secretary (Capt. Evan A Hunter).

As the number of championships and range of sports increased the Union and WIVAB realised the need for co-operation to develop the activities of both organisations and a number of joint events were organised. Joint representative teams played matches against the R.A.F. and W.R.A.F. in Badminton and Table-Tennis allowing Mixed Doubles matches to become part of the programme. By 1979 the co-operation had reached a high level. The culmination of discussions, which had taken place during the previous few years, resulted in the organisation of both men’s and women’s sport in England and Wales being administered by one body only under the name of U.A.U.

The Inter-Varsity Athletic Board was formed in 1953 to administer Britain’s representation at student international level, this became the British Universities Sports Federation (BUSF) in 1962. Membership of BUSF was open to all Universities in the United Kingdom and University Colleges of Wales. In addition the Scottish Universities Sports Federation (SUSF), the UAU, the University of Wales Athletic Union (UWAU) and the Northern Ireland Universities Sports Committee (NIUSC) enjoyed corporate membership. At this time Colleges and Polytechnics were catered for by the British Colleges Sports Association (BCSA) and the British Polytechnic Sports Association (BPSA) respectively.

With the removal of the binary divide within Higher Education in 1992 the need for a single student sporting body became paramount. Thus, in November 1994, it was agreed that the administration and structures of UAU and BUSF should merge to form the British Universities Sports Association.