Direct Competition Between The Two Universities
Many annual competitions are held between Oxford and Cambridge, including the annual Boat Race. First contested in 1829, the race pits Cambridge University Boat Club against their Oxford counterparts over a four-mile (6 km) stretch of the River Thames. The very first Boat Race was won by Oxford, but Cambridge lead the overall series with 81 wins to Oxford's 76, with one dead heat in 1877. Recent races have been closely fought, with Oxford winning by the shortest ever margin of 1-foot (0.30 m) in 2003 and Cambridge winning in 2004 despite Oxford's claims of a foul.
The other major Oxbridge competitions are the Rugby Union and Rugby League Varsity Matches: The Varsity Match is a rugby union game played annually in December at Twickenham stadium. Cambridge currently has 60 wins, Oxford has 55 (including the most recent win in December 2011), and 14 games have ended in draws. The Rugby Football Union chose to advertise the 2006 match with a campaign promoting inter-university rivalry: their advertising agency Lowe London produced posters showing the number of Prime Ministers produced by the universities (Oxford 26 - Cambridge 14), with the tagline "It's time to get even".
The Rugby League Varsity Match is a rugby league game played annually in March at The Stoop. Whilst not having the history of its Union counterpart, the fixture has been contested for over 30 years, and is broadcast live on Sky Sports. Cambridge currently lead the series 16-14, with one draw in 1994.
The Boat Race and the two Varsity Matches are notable in the UK in that they are the only university sports events that have any public profile outside the universities themselves; all three are screened live on national television and are widely covered in the national media.
All other significant sports have their own varsity match at some point during the year; some of these, such as the cricket fixture and the Ice Hockey Varsity Match have attracted significant attention in the past. The results of all the varsity matches in The Varsity Games are aggregated and each year one university wins the Varsity Games title. Sportsmen who have competed at a Varsity Match in the prestigious Full Blue sports are eligible for an Oxford Blue or Cambridge Blue respectively.
Read more about this topic: Oxford And Cambridge Rivalry
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