Captivating performances, intensity, passion, thrills and spills, and edge-of-your-seat finishes. Nothing beats a home Varsity, especially when THREE is the magic number. This is the story of Varsity 2026.
Saturday 28 February
The first point of Varsity 2026 started with BNU Dance travelling to Gloucester for their comp. They entered with a Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary, Lyrical (wildcard) and a Solo. Last year, dance lost their point by a narrow 0.02% - but that’s history to them, as they ran away with a comprehensive margin of 8.99 (Bucks 80.99, Roey 72). Putting Bucks 1-0 up. Notable mentions go to Tap, placing 2nd, Contemporary placing 3rd and to Keira Goody, for placing 3rd in the Solo category.
Sunday 8 March
There were 3 points to play for this day, Men’s football 3’s and 4’s, alongside Mixed Hockey (a new fixture this year rather than the previous Mens Hockey and Womens Hockey respectfully). Men’s football 4’s had an incredible game, winning comfortable 6-1. Which included 2 penalties (Jeremiah Akinduro and Tyler Smith), one free kick (Abdulahi Hammad), 2 long shots (Callum Tupper) and a calmly finished 1 on 1 (Jeremiah Akinduro). This was their first win in this fixture for 11 years.
The 3’s succumbed to a 4-1 defeat, the scoreline somewhat flattering after conceding two late goals and going in at halftime with the score 0-0.
Mixed Hockey were the last fixture of the day on Sunday and a wonderful match it was to see off the day. Including 2 brilliant hat-tricks from Freya Cotton and James Upson, and a goal from Jerome Osoba. This capped off a fantastic display for Jerome, as he covered every inch of the hockey pitch in a 7-3 Bucks win. For context, this was the first time our Hockey teams had played a Mixed Hockey fixture.
By the end of the Sunday, Bucks were taking a 3-1 lead into the Wednesday all day Varsity.
Wednesday 11 March
We had 9 fixtures across the Wednesday to play for, and Mixed Badminton kicked off the fixtures in the Events hall. This is the first time that we have had Women's Badminton participate since 2019. Elizabeth Niven was the star player as the club secured a 6-3 win. The first time any of our badminton teams have won since 2019. They made it 4-1 to Bucks.
Netball 1’s was next on the cards, they were never a doubt, comfortably winning 47-18. Charlotte Hyland being the standout player for them. Netball 2’s joined the party with the largest scoreline difference we’ve seen by them, emphatically winning 35-3, special mentions to Sophie Knightly and Grace Tomlin. The 2’s match was a draw last year and shows how far they have come since then. These results made it 6-1 to Bucks and one more win would secure the Roebuck Trophy.
Men’s football 2’s kicked off at 13:15 on the Rye. With Men’s football 1’s starting 45 minutes after them. Both fought valiantly however, in the space of 5 minutes had both conceded, chances went a begging for both Bucks teams but unfortunately for them, Roehampton clung on to secure both matches. Leaving the score as 6-3, with 4 fixtures to play.
Back to the events hall it was – Men's Volleyball began their match. Running concurrently with Women's Basketball up at Wycombe Leisure Centre. Before we knew it, what seemed like a day of plain sailing, was slowly drifting the other way. Men’s volleyball went 2-0 down in sets (first to 3). Women’s basketball, who lost against Roehampton by 60 points earlier on in the season, unfortunately suffered another defeat, this time only by a score difference of 15 points, final score being 30-45 to Roehampton, so full credit to our Women's basketball team for how much they have improved throughout the season. Certainly, a future fixture to look forward to. Men’s Basketball tipped off after their match, and by this point Men’s Volleyball had come back to 2-2 in sets. Could they do it….? I’ll come back to it.
While Men's Basketball were still playing, Women's Volleyball was a quick affair with Roehampton winning that 0-3, Roehampton’s Women were a strong outfit. Men's Basketball, who have it in them to win, just couldn’t get their usual rhythm going and lost 50-71. It was closer for large portions of this match until the final quarter. Honourable mention goes to Zach Page who played very well.
Back to the conclusion of the Men’s Volleyball. 2-2, having been 0-2 down, Bucks were on a roll. The last set swinging back and forth, a superb display by the team and particularly Cameron Tinker and Selimon Omary who were spectacular. The atmosphere was electric, with both sets of supporters making their voices heard. The team left everything on the court, winning the final set 15-12 and winning 3-2 overall. A wonderful comeback for them and a special moment seeing everyone running over to friends and teammates celebrating. Volleyball has picked up a habit of being the pivotal game for Bucks in the last few years – long may it continue.
A special shoutout should be given to Johannes Roche, who played in 3 Varsity fixtures this year (Mixed Hockey, Mixed Badminton and Men's Volleyball), winning all 3 fixtures.
The overall score by the end was 7-6. A far closer day than first expected, going into the last 4 fixtures needing 1 win. Full credit goes to Roehampton for pushing us all the way and to all the players for their efforts.
Our player of the day from Bucks was a tough choice this year with some outstanding players across the board, Freya Cotton was chosen for her incredible performance in Mixed Hockey.
Bucks have done it again, the Roebuck trophy is where it belongs, at Home. It marks an incredible achievement winning 3 in a row (matching Roehampton’s three in a row during the first 3 years), threepeat is the talk of the town and it brings the overall scoreline to 6-6. Three truly is a magic number today.