When Len Cuff transferred in his employment to Sydney in 1984 the former Tasmanian Amateur rep just went straight down to Sydney Uni where he found out he didn’t have to learn a new club song. The Sydney Uni victory song, “1-2-3 the uni boys are we”, “4-5-6 we got ‘em in a fix”, “7-8-9 we’ll do ‘em every time” was the same as sung at Tasmanian Uni.
If Len had moved to Brisbane or Perth he would also not have had to learn a new team song. Just why a number of university clubs have this song is not known. It is not a common footy song, in fact, I know of no clubs other than uni teams that sing this song. Given the references to drinking rather than winning games of football, I suspect it was borne out of intervarsity (I.V.) carnivals.
Cuff, a premiership captain and club hero at Tas Uni didn’t consider joining a major league club in Sydney ; he went to a uni club because he wanted to continue enjoying the same social experience as he had in Hobart.
As it turns out his first night training on No 1 Oval at Sydney was also my first night at the club. I joined Sydney Uni from the Bushpigs, the Charles Sturt University Wagga campus footy team. On my first lap I ran around with Len; I had recognised him instantly from the 1976 Intervarsity in Sydney when I’d been playing for the University of New England.
“Cuffie” had been selected as All-Australian captain at that carnival but more significantly had won the highly sought after Les Radford medal awarded by hosts UNSW for the first witnessed “root” at the I.V. My mate, Ab, from Wagga was runner-up three times before he finally won the award!
Uni footy teams are notorious for their strong emphasis on social activities based on consumption of vast amounts of alcohol. Nonetheless, uni footy clubs have made a significant contribution to the game.
I often thought about what makes a uni footy club different to other suburban and country clubs, even amateur clubs which have a very similar ethos. I think it’s because there is no hierarchy at a uni footy club; everybody’s the same – that’s usually because the club is usually run by the players. Parental involvement is minimal, and the old players involved have been through that system.
The other factor is that for the most part uni footy clubs are comprised mostly of students and graduates so there is an enormous commonality that leads to understanding and respect. Also, they tend to be amateur with only the coach and an assistant being paid – usually much less than those at community clubs – so there is usually no petty jealousy
The oldest university football club in Australia is Melbourne University which was one of the first ever clubs – it dates back to 1859. And, of course, it famously played in the VFL from 1908 until 1914.
However, it is a club with two committees – one to run University Blacks, and one to operate University Blues. The Blues are currently in the A grade competition of the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) and the Blacks in B section;, however, the Blacks have been the most successful winning 13 A section premierships while the Blues have won three A section titles.
The second oldest is actually the Sydney University Australian National Football Club (SUANFC) which was established in 1887, however, it has not been in continuous operation since that date. In fact, it struggled for success until the 1970s when a Second Division was formed in which it was much more competitive.
Sydney Uni currently plays in the Premier League along with its arch rival, UNSW, which merged with East Sydney in 1999. The merged club has already won two premierships and in a major statement adopted the university colours in 2007 but retained East’s’ nickname, the Bulldogs.
Adelaide University Football Club has been a powerhouse in the South Australian Amateur Football League since its formation in 1906. The Blacks have won 23 A1 premierships and in a golden period in the 1960s figured in every grand final of which they won six – a stunning record.
UWAFC can also trace their foundation back to the early part of the twentieth century – 1911. The club has won over 70 premierships including 15 A grade premierships and 25 A Colts titles.
Formed in 1902, the University of Tasmania Football Club after initially playing in various Hobart metropolitan competitions has been a stalwart of the old scholars’ competition since it was formed in 1947.
At the other sandstone university, the Queensland Uni Aussie Rules club was formed in 1956. The club’s nickname, the Red Lions, was named after the inn at Glencoe near Glen Innes in northern NSW where the Queenslanders stopped to and from their annual pre-season trip to play UNE in Armidale.
The early 1960s spawned the creation of the ANU (1961), Monash, UNSW, and University of New England football clubs (all formed in 1962). ANU was able to join the ACT AFL competition, while UNE had to form its own competition. UNSW, initially joined with Sydney Uni to play under their own name in the reserves competition, and then in their own right from 1969 until 1999. Monash joined the VAFA .
ANU won the ACT reserve grade competition in 1962 and was promoted to the seniors the following season, which it played in until 1979. It mostly struggled to compete with the established Canberra clubs although the club did have a run of making the finals in the early-to-mid ‘seventies. The Griffins have subsequently enjoyed great success in the second tier competition and have won nine flags.
The Monash University Football Club was formed in 1962 – a year after the establishment of the university campus at Clayton – and entered the VAFA and became known as the “Monash Blues”. In 1964 the club fielded another team that was called the “Whites” that became a member of the newly created F section. However, after the 1965 season this division went into a hiatus and so did the Whites.
When Monash earnt promotion to A section in 1969 the club decided to strengthen its ranks and the Whites were reformed for the 1971 season. While they played under the umbrella of the Monash University Football Club, the Blues and Whites assumed separate entities based on their rivals at Melbourne University.
There was an acrimonious split at the end of the 1979 season for reasons that are not clear and the club decided to dump the Whites. Those responsible for running the Whites fought successfully to retain a team in the amateur competition and so the Monash Whites Football Club was officially formed. The Whites enjoyed their football in the lower grades but eventually decided to merge with the Blues after the 2000 season.
The University of New England in Armidale actually did not field a club in its own name; it actually ran the competition because when it was formed the nearest football club was 300 kilometres away in Newcastle. The teams in the UNE competition were from the residential colleges that house the overwhelming number of students that attend the university.
Later on town teams from Armidale, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Uralla and Coffs Harbour joined the uni comp. Now the New England Nomads play in the Tamworth AFL competition as a stand-alone club.
The expansion of the higher education sector in the late 60s and early 70s witnessed the formation of uni footy clubs all over the country at universities and colleges of advanced education including Flinders, Latrobe, Wollongong, Newcastle, Canberra, Riverina , Macquarie, Warrnambool , Darling Downs, and the Western Australian Institute of Technology (now known as Curtin). Unfortunately, Canberra and Newcastle are not still playing.
In recent years university football clubs have been formed at Griffith , Charles Darwin University (formerly the University of the Northern Territory), and the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).
Bushpigs, Wombats, Griffins, Bats, Red Lions, Nomads, Cougars – the newer uni clubs have adopted some colorful and innovative nicknames, while the more established clubs have retained their original names such as Blues and Blacks. However, nearly every university footy club just calls itself, “uni”.
My personal favourite is the Tas Uni Rampant Rainbows – who wear a panel jumper a la St Kilda in the colours of red, yellow and black.
A more recent trend is for an association between town and gown such as the Mowbray-Uni club in Launceston, Griffith-Moorooka in Brisbane, CQU-Rockhampton Panthers, and of course, UNSW- Eastern Suburbs.
Also there is some tie-ups between old schoolboy clubs and universities like Curtin Wesley in Perth and University High and Victoria University in Melbourne.
After a few seasons at Sydney Uni Len Cuff transferred to Macquarie Uni after he purchased a house out in that area; he continued to play in their Super Rules team – he secured another All Australian guernsey when he was selected in the All Australian Masters team in 1995.
Now back in Tassie working in the tourism industry, “Cuffie” played a pivotal role in the deal that got Hawthorn to play AFL matches in Launceston.
Oh, he eventually learnt to “join in the chorus” at Mac Uni.
