This article is about the rugby union fixture. For the ice hockey fixture, see Ice Hockey Varsity Match. For the cricket fixture, see The University Match (cricket).The Varsity Match is an annual rugby union fixture played between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England. By tradition, the match is held on the second Tuesday of December. In 2005, however, this changed, and the match was on Tuesday 6 December. In 2007, it was held on a Thursday (7th December) for the first time. The event began in 1872, although it has not been held every year. Since 1921, the game has been played at Twickenham Stadium, London.Following the 125th match in 2007 (which resulted in a win for Cambridge), Oxford have 52 wins, and Cambridge maintain the lead with 59; 14 games have ended in draws. Varsity matches between Oxford and Cambridge are also arranged in various other sports. For example, the first recorded water polo match in history was played between Oxford and Cambridge in 1891.HistoryThe history of The Varsity Match extends back to early 1872. It was a year after the first ever rugby international (England v Scotland). Both Cambridge and Oxford sent officials to meet and arrange a match between each other. At The Parks, Oxford, they played a 20 a-side version of the game (as opposed to today's 15 a-side games; the teams would be set to 15 a-side by 1875). Oxford won the inaugural meeting. In that first match Oxford wore dark blue jerseys (the same as today, though at some stages they wore white), however, Cambridge played in pink, changing to their blue and white in 1876.[1]The second Varsity Match was played at Parker's Piece in Cambridge, but it was from then on moved to London - played at venues such as The Oval (Kennington), Richardson's Field and Rectory Field (Blackheath), Queen's Club (Kensington - 1887 to 1920). The 1878 and 1879 matches were postponed due to fog. In 1919, the players were apparently invisible due to fog. In 1921 the match was moved to the Rugby Football Union's famous home ground, Twickenham. The Varsity Match was not played during wartime. There was not a referee until the 1885 match, and for a number of years, the touch judges were actually the previous year's captains. However, now they are professional touch judges, and there is also a television match official.[1][edit] ResultsThe Rugby school and foundation of early clubsRugby in England is generally attributed to when William Webb Ellis "who with a fine disregard for the rules as played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it" in 1823 at the Rugby School. One of the earliest football clubs formerd, some claim it to actually be the first, is the Guy's Hospital Football Club which was founded in 1843 in Guy's Hospital, Southwark, London. The club played an early version of rugby football and was formed by old boys of the Rugby School. Subsequent clubs established in this period include; Dublin University Football Club in 1854 and the Blackheath Rugby Club in 1858.[edit] Football Association meeting and the subsequent forming of the RFUThe Football Association was formed at the Freemason's Tavern, Great Queen Street, on Lincoln Inn Fields, London October 26, 1863 with the intention to include the most acceptable points of play under the one heading of football. However, ddisagreements over what was being excluded led the Blackheath Club to withdraw from the association which was followed by a number of other clubs. In 1870, Richmond F.C. published an invitation in the newspapers which read "Those who play the rugby-type game should meet to form a code of practice as various clubs play to rules which differ from others, which makes the game difficult to play". In January of the following year, 21 clubs meet at the Pall Mall Restaurant and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) was founded.[edit] First international and the schism in rugby1871 engraving of the game.

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