More sports, bigger crowds, and a new rival? Warwick gears up to defend their 35-year Varsity record
In just a few days’ time, Warwick’s sporting elite will be looking to extend their 35-year consecutive Varsity winning streak, as the annual sporting tournament against Coventry University returns to campus.
But as competition between the two universities seems to hit an all-time low and crowds for sport at Warwick dwindle, will Varsity 2026 be a turning point and a ‘showdown’ to remember, or will the weekend go by without any eyes on the scoreboard cheering on Team Warwick?
With the tournament returning to a multi-day format for the first time since 2022, teams from across Warwick’s sporting roster will be hoping to pick up points for the University’s tally and do something not done for at least the past two decades: deliver a whitewash against their opponents from across the city.
Warwick came close to that result last year, only conceding one point to their rivals – in the women’s football fixture. Coventry’s 3-3 draw with Warwick in that match marked an end to Warwick’s domination in women’s football, the first time in Varsity history that the team failed to win the match.
Warwick’s Basketball Bears, who will kickstart this year’s tournament with a double-header on Friday night, told The Boar that they ‘feel as if Varsity isn’t as competitive as it has been in recent years’
However, with only the single point dropped to Coventry last year, and Coventry’s points total also in single figures for the previous two years, questions will inevitably be raised over whether the tournament actually resembles a Varsity battle – or whether the matches are just easy, friendly wins for the teams in red.
Varsity rivalries are often at the heart of university sport. Oxford and Cambridge’s long-standing rivalry, which dates back to 1827, hits national sporting headlines every year with their infamous Boat Race and University Cricket Match, while Lancaster and York battle it out in the Roses Tournament, thought to be the biggest inter-university sports tournament in Europe.
Lancaster has somewhat had a post-Covid hold over their rivals, triumphantly winning their last four meetings, but with a 30-28-win rate against York, the tournament is far from a one-horse race. The same, however, cannot be said of the Warwick-Coventry rivalry, with Coventry yet to register a win on the scoreboard (though, they did come close in 2010, losing out on the win by just two points).
The lack of rivalry has not gone unnoticed by Warwick sports clubs, either. Warwick’s Basketball Bears, who will kickstart this year’s tournament with a double-header on Friday night, told The Boar that they “feel as if Varsity isn’t as competitive as it has been in recent years”.
Louis Gosling, the SU’s Vice-President for Sport, acknowledged that there was perhaps some lack of competitiveness in the tournament, but he told The Boar that “there are uncompetitive Varsities all over the country that are absolutely fantastic”.
Warwick’s equestrian, women’s lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, and men’s water polo teams will face new rivals, the University of Birmingham, in friendly, non-scoring fixtures which will take place alongside the usual Coventry matches
Gosling was keener to emphasise how this year’s tournament promises “more” for students and sports clubs than “for a very, very long time”.
“I think one of our big reflections was that Varsity had drifted and we wanted to make it massive again,” he told The Boar. In addition to the return of the Friday night basketball fixtures, clubs can also look forward to the first-ever Varsity After Party in the Copper Rooms, fit with circling and a club night.
While the Saturday calendar is packed with the usual Warwick versus Coventry highlights, including football on Cryfield 4G, hockey on the Astro, and tennis in Westwood, there are also a few other additions to the schedule – which may go unnoticed if you quickly glance on the website.
Warwick’s equestrian, women’s lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, and men’s water polo teams will face new rivals, the University of Birmingham, in friendly, non-scoring fixtures which will take place alongside the usual Coventry matches. Gosling told The Boar that these fixtures will “allow more sports to get involved, which is absolutely fantastic. ‘As many as possible’ is always my guiding principle.”
With Coventry’s less-than-perfect track record against Warwick, eyebrows may be raised at the inclusion of Birmingham in this year’s Varsity. Standing some 74 places above Coventry in the BUCS table last year, Birmingham are formidable sporting opponents for Warwick (itself just outside the BUCS top 10). Is 2026 the start of the end for Warwick’s long-standing clash with Coventry? Will Birmingham be the future?
Ideally, any club that wants to take part should be able to take part, and we should be able to facilitate that as far as possible
Louis Gosling, Warwick SU VP Sports
“Of course, we’re interested in making Varsity as competitive of an event as possible,” Gosling told The Boar, adding that work had been done to listen to what Warwick’s sports clubs desire from future tournaments. “How that looks in future years though is not going to be down to me. Fundamentally, our main focus is making the event as brilliant as can be.
“Ideally, any club that wants to take part should be able to take part, and we should be able to facilitate that as far as possible.”
Likely just a gentle bit of sporting camaraderie, Gosling notes how the future of Varsity should also be shaped by what our “opponents feel”. Already referring to opponents in the plural may or may not indicate what a future Varsity may look like. However, Gosling certainly wouldn’t expand on this in his interview with The Boar.
What he would expand on, though, is celebrating the work done by Team Warwick to expand crowds across university sport, including at Varsity. A report by The Boar last year found that many students didn’t know where or when they could support their peers in sports fixtures – the ‘One Warwick’ sports campaign attracted just 400 supporters to two terms of matches.
Other universities, on the other hand, boast of large crowds for their tournaments. The Varsity clash between Cardiff and Swansea, touted as “the biggest student sporting event in Wales”, attracts crowds of over 10,000 students for the rugby fixture alone.
“I’d love to get more crowds down,” Warwick’s VP Sports told The Boar, highlighting that Warwick are “certainly moving back towards bigger crowds” with more attendees at this year’s Touchdown American Football event, and big numbers expected for next week’s Friday Night Lights double-header, showcasing Warwick’s rugby talents.
Those events are held off-campus though, at Coventry’s Butts Park Arena. Varsity fixtures, however, are remaining firmly on-campus this year. That wasn’t the case a decade ago, when the Varsity finale – the men’s rugby fixture – took place at the 32,000-capacity Coventry Building Society Arena.
Typically, you’ll get a bigger crowd at Varsity than you would at a normal home game, so in that regard, we are really excited to participate this year and show why we are the best basketball team in Coventry
Warwick Basketball Bears
While Team Warwick won’t be venturing off-campus to defend their title in 2026, Gosling was nevertheless eager to add that “we’re hoping to bring back the Varsity crowds to what they were pre-Covid. It just takes time to rebuild crowds and build behaviour, and build the events up”.
Warwick’s basketball teams are certainly hoping for large crowds when they take to the court on Friday night, hoping to pick up Warwick’s first four points on the tournament.
“We still enjoy Varsity as we, as a cohort of sports teams, get to show our talent off on a large stage,” the teams told The Boar. “Typically, you’ll get a bigger crowd at Varsity than you would at a normal home game, so in that regard, we are really excited to participate this year and show why we are the best basketball team in Coventry.”
If crowd numbers increase for this year’s Varsity, then maybe Warwick will be on their way to restoring legacy to the annual sporting showdown. Perhaps a win for Warwick is already in the bag, but as Gosling emphasised, Varsity is “the centre piece of the annual calendar” and the event certainly offers hours of sporting fun for those looking for a break from coursework and exam prep.
Changes may be in the works for future years, perhaps even seeing the event spread across multiple weekends, but for now, the rivalry against Coventry remains strong and only time will tell whether Warwick can hold their nerve and deliver a 36th win when the action tips off with the men’s basketball fixture at 5pm on Friday in the Sports Hub Arena.
You can find the full schedule of events for Varsity on the Warwick SU website here. The Boar Sport will also be keeping you up-to-date with updates from across the sporting action on Friday and Saturday, so keep an eye out on the website and social media.
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