Adelaide University Sport is the sports association of the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

. Established in 1896, it had 37 sports clubs, including some that predate its establishment. Other bodies affiliated to the University of Adelaide providing sport include the various sports clubs forming part of the

residential colleges A residential college is a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship ...

and the Roseworthy Agricultural Campus Student Union Council.

History

The Adelaide University Sports Association was founded in 1896 by the Adelaide University Boat, Tennis and Lacrosse Clubs.The Blacks
Adelaide University Sports Association. Its historical motto in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

is ''Mobilitate Vigemus'' translated "we thrive by mobility". Its sporting colours black and white are likely from the white-backed magpie, an Australian bird found on its crest and the state badge. Its mascot is Gus, a black lion, which replaced the

piping shrike The badge on the Flag of South Australia depicts the rising sun, and a Piping Shrike standing on a branch of a gum tree. The Piping Shrike is more commonly known as a White-backed Magpie. The Piping Shrike is sometimes mistakenly associated with ...

on its historical crest. The sports association was administered by the

Adelaide University Union YouX, officially the Adelaide University Union (AUU), is a Students' union, student union at the University of Adelaide in South Australia. It provides academic advocacy, welfare and counselling services to students free of charge, funds the s ...

for over 100 years before becoming directly affiliated with the university in 2010. The sports association re-named to Adelaide University Sport that same year.

Founding sporting clubs

Adelaide University Boat Club

The

Adelaide University Boat Club The Adelaide University Boat Club is a rowing club affiliated with the University of Adelaide. The club was founded in 1881, and in 1896 helped to form the Adelaide University Sports Association. The main clubrooms, donated by Robert Barr Smith ...

was founded in 1881 and is one of South Australia's premier

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

clubs. The club claims to be the second-oldest in Australia, though this claim is disputed with the

Sydney University Boat Club Sydney University Boat Club is the rowing club in Sydney, Australia with the oldest charter having been formed in 1860 by the founders of the University of Sydney. It has had a boatshed presence in various locations on Sydney Harbour since 1886, ...

who uses the founding date of the

Sydney Rowing Club Sydney Rowing Club is the oldest rowing club in New South Wales, Australia formed in 1870. It has occupied its current site on Port Jackson's Parramatta River at Abbotsford, New South Wales, Abbotsford Point since 1874. The club has a focus on it ...

. It is a member club of Rowing SA (South Australian Rowing Association) and operates from the

Torrens River The River Torrens (Karrawirra Parri / Karrawirraparri) is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains. It was one of the main reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the Ad ...

in the

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre () is the inner city locality of Adelaide, Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Adelaide l ...

, and from

West Lakes West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

in the suburb of

. The city boathouse was donated by

Robert Barr Smith Robert Barr Smith (4 February 1824 – 20 November 1915) was an Australian businessman and philanthropist in Adelaide, South Australia. He was a partner in Elder Smith and Company from 1863 (now Elders Limited). Early life and education Smith w ...

in 1909. The West Lakes Boathouse is shared with the other South Australian rowing clubs and is administered by Rowing SA. The main focus of the club is to provide rowing for the students of the University of Adelaide. Each year the club competes in the Rowing Intervarsity and local and national regattas. The premier event is the Oxford and Cambridge Cup (a silver cup similar in style to the

America's Cup The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known ...

) for Men's Eights. The cup was donated by Old Blues of the Universities of

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

in the 1890s. Olympians that were former members include Australia's first gold medalist in rowing

Collier Cudmore Sir Collier Robert Cudmore (13 June 1885 – 16 May 1971) was an Australian lawyer, politician and Olympic rower who won the gold medal in the 1908 Summer Olympics for Great Britain. Early life and rowing career Cudmore was born at Avoca, W ...

Kate Slatter Kate Elizabeth Slatter OAM (born 10 November 1971; married name Kate Allen) is an Australian former rower, a sixteen time national champion, world champion and Olympic champion from Adelaide, South Australia. She is a three-time Olympian who i ...

(Women's Pair Gold and Silver medallist), Jaime Fernandez (Men's Eight Silver), Tim Willoughby (Men's Eight Bronze) and

Amber Halliday Amber Jae Halliday (born 13 November 1979) is a former rower and cyclist from Adelaide, South Australia. She is an Australian national champion, a dual Olympian and a three-time world-champion in lightweight rowing. She rowed for South Australia ...

(Lightweight).

Adelaide University Tennis Club

The Adelaide University Tennis Club was founded in 1885 and is a lawn tennis club. It was instrumental in the founding of the Adelaide University Sports Association. Dr Albert Curtis came to Adelaide in 1903 having been at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. He had won the 1896 Queensland Doubles Champion and the 1897 NSW Singles Championship. In 1905 he was runner-up in the singles final of the inaugural

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

and graduated in medicine.

Adelaide University Lacrosse Club

The

Adelaide University Lacrosse Club The Adelaide University Lacrosse Club (AULC) is an Australian-based lacrosse club founded in 1889 by Nobel Prize winning Professor William Henry Bragg.

was founded in 1889 by

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

winning Professor

William Henry Bragg Sir William Henry Bragg (2 July 1862 – 12 March 1942) was an English physicist and X-ray crystallographer who uniquelyThis is still a unique accomplishment, because no other parent-child combination has yet shared a Nobel Prize (in any fiel ...

.Adelaide University Lacrosse Club
theblacks.com.au It is one of the oldest lacrosse clubs in Australia and is a founding member of the AUSA. The AULC takes part in an annual competition against the

Melbourne University Lacrosse Club The Melbourne University Lacrosse Club (MULC) was founded in 1883 and is the oldest extant lacrosse club in Australia and oldest continually existing lacrosse club in the world. Premierships Melbourne University won their first men's A Grade p ...

that was first contested in 1905 and competes locally in the Lacrosse South Australia competition. Club membership is focused on

students and graduates. Other non students are also members. The club trains on the University of Adelaide's

Park 10 Park 10, also known as Bullrush Park and WarnpanggaBullrush ...

sports fields in the parklands between the University campus and

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...

. Seven

Rhodes Scholars The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

have been members: *1909 Henry Fry, anthropologist and medical practitioner. *1917 Sir Hugh William Bell Cairns, neurosurgeon. *1925 Myles Landseer Formby, World War II surgeon. *1939 Duncan Campbell Menzies, army officer. Died after being tortured by the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

in Burma whilst on patrol with the

Chindits The Chindits, officially known as Long Range Penetration Groups, were special operations units of the British and Indian armies which saw action in 1943–1944 during the Burma Campaign of World War II. Brigadier Orde Wingate formed the ...

during World War II.Rhodes Scholars
The Blacks – University of Adelaide Sports Association *1955 Ian Wilson, politician and lawyer. *1976 Mark Rogers Mussared, medical practitioner.List of South Australian Rhodes Scholars
www.adelaide.edu.au *1983 David Alexander C Robertson

University blues

University sporting blue A blue is an award of sporting colours earned by athletes at some universities and schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of blues began at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England. They are now awarded at a number of other ...

is awarded for excellence in a particular sport. The awarding of a Blue is usually for competing in a state or national team. The AULC has 134 full Blues awarded to members since 1908. Many more half blues and club letters have also been awarded.

A Grade Premierships

The club has won 11 men's and 1 women's A grade premierships since 1893.

Other sporting clubs

Following the 1895 establishment of the

, the student association, the three clubs co-founded the Adelaide University Sports Association in 1896. Additional sports clubs such as the

Adelaide University Football Club The Adelaide University Football Club Inc. (AUFC) is a South Australian based Amateur sports, amateur Australian rules football club. It is an affiliate of the Adelaide University Sports Association, Adelaide University Sports Assoc. and plays ...

were established throughout the 20th century

Adelaide University Gliding Club

Adelaide University Gliding Club was formed in 1976, and operates a fleet of gliders that includes a pair of two-seat training aircraft, a motor glider and several single-seat gliders. Launches are provided by a winch. The club shares an airfield at Stonefield in the Riverland with the Barossa Valley Gliding Club and Fly Down Under, a commercial gliding operation. It is heavily involved in flying training, which is carried out in the two-seat sailplanes under the guidance of club instructors and has trained many pilots from ab initio (complete novice) level through to cross-country, national and international (as members of the Australian Gliding Team) competition. Several AUGC pilots have gone on to a career in aviation, as

RAAF The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the governor-general of Aus ...

pilots, commercial helicopter pilots and flying for

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

. Three club members have received University Blues.

Adelaide University Football Club

The Adelaide University Football Club was officially formed on 26 March 1906 and became affiliated with the Sports Association two weeks later on 9 April 1906. Prior to this time, there was no University

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team competing in a regular competition; however games were arranged on an irregular basis. The earliest reference to football at University was found in a PAC School Chronicle of 1885. The report stated that Adelaide University could not organise a full side for a Saturday game; however there were enough available for a mid-week game. This was arranged for Wednesday 19 June 1885 and several League players and old scholars from PAC comprised the side. University lost this encounter 4.11 to 1.1. The Blacks were successful in winning the A Grade Premiership in the years 1911–12, 1920–22, 1926, 1929, 1932, 1951–52, 1954–55, 1960–62, 1965, 1968–69, 1974–75, 1986, 1996, and 1999. In 2006 the Blacks were runners-up to Goodwood Saints 10.12 72 – 18.11 119.

Adelaide University Touch Club

Touch Football is a game derived from rugby league, where tackling and kicking are outlawed. The Adelaide University Touch Club was formed in 1983 and joined the Sports Association in 1985. It is the largest touch football club in South Australia. The club has players ranging from complete beginners to players who have represented Australia and England at international tournaments. The club enters teams in the local park touch competition in both single sex grades and mixed grades in both summer and winter competitions. During summer the club runs a mixed competition at the Waite Campus of the University.

Adelaide University Athletics Club

Established in 1906, the Athletics Club has a participatory focus and competes in events such as the City-Bay Fun Run. Notable past members include Olympian and eight-time Australian champion

David Fitzsimons David Fitzsimons (23 April 1950 – 7 September 2008) was a former Australian Olympic athlete who competed in middle distance events and civil engineer. A member of the Adelaide University Athletics Club, he represented Australia at two Oly ...

(Blue recipient 1970), as well as scientist

Henry Brose Henry Herman Leopold Adolph Brose (15 September 1890 – 24 February 1965) was an Australian physicist and translator. During the First World War, he was interned as a civilian prisoner in Germany. He was the first Australian to be awarded a Ph ...

(secretary 1910–11, Blue recipient 1910), former Attorney-General of South Australia

Trevor Griffin Kenneth Trevor Griffin (14 September 1940 – 7 March 2015) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal member of the South Australian Legislative Council from 1978 to 2002, when he retired from politics. He led the Liberal Party in the Cou ...

(Half Blue recipient 1962, Club Letter recipient 1959), former Justice of the

Supreme Court of South Australia The Supreme Court of South Australia is the superior court of the Australian state of South Australia. The Supreme Court is the highest South Australian court in the Australian court hierarchy. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in ...

the Honourable Timothy Anderson (Blue recipient 1966), and current Judge of the

District Court of South Australia The District Court of South Australia is South Australia's principal trial court. It was established as a court of record by the ''District Court Act 1991''. Prior to that the Court had existed since 1969 under the ''Local and District Criminal ...

, Peter Brebner (treasurer 1977–80). Since the Club's establishment, forty-seven club members have been awarded a University Blue. In the early 1980s, the Murrell brothers, State

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

champion, 1984

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

and medical student George A.C. Murrell as President and 1982 Australian Junior

Hammer Throw The hammer throw (HT for short) is one of the four throwing events in regular outdoor track-and-field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and Javelin throw, javelin. The hammer used in this sport is not like any of the tools a ...

Champion and State Junior Record Holder and agricultural science student, Thomas A.C. Murrell, as Honorary Secretary switched from the highly successful St Peters College Athletics Club to rebuild the Club. Membership doubled from 27 registered athletes in 1982/83 to 53 in 1983/84, the Club hosted the National Intervarsity Championships in 1983, made the finals in both Men's A and D grades and won the D grade Interclub premiership, the club's first in six years. Three-time Intervarsity Hammer Throw Champion and University Blue Thomas Murrell of Adelaide University Athletics Club

Three-time Intervarsity Hammer Throw Champion and University Blue Thomas Murrell of Adelaide University Athletics Club

Thomas Murrell was National Men's Hammer Throw Champion and Club Captain at the Intervarsity Games of 1983, 1984 and 1985 (representing the

University of New England University of New England may refer to: * University of New England (Australia), in New South Wales, with about 26,000 students * University of New England (United States), in Biddeford, Maine, with about 6,000 students See also * New England Coll ...

), was President of the Club in 1984/85 and in 1984 was awarded the Patron's Trophy for outstanding services to the Club. In 1984 he was awarded a Full Blue in Athletics and at the time had the longest hammer throw by an athlete ever to attend Adelaide University, was ranked fifth in the South Australian all-time senior listings and represented South Australia in the national competition for senior men's hammer throw.

Adelaide University Sailing Club

The oldest university

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

club in Australia, it was established in 1959 and hosted the first intervarsity competitions in 1960 and onward. Always a power of Australian university sailing, it maintains a fleet of boats at the

Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, ...

for novices and has many state, national, and international representatives.

Adelaide University Rugby Union Football Club

The Adelaide University Rugby Union Football Club affectionately known as the ‘Uni Blacks’, is a rugby union club based in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. Established on 14 July 1932, the AURUFC is the oldest rugby union club in South Australia and the only surviving foundation club in the

South Australia Rugby Union Rugby Union South Australia (RUSA) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the state of South Australia. It is a member of Rugby Australia and runs an amateur club competition in Adelaide consisting of men's teams in Premier grade, P ...

competition. The club's home ground is located in the eastern suburbs of

at Waite Oval and is presently home to three senior men's teams and junior teams from under 7s to under 16s. It is one of many clubs that represent

The University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

and is open to public membership.

Roseworthy campus

Roseworthy Agricultural Campus Student Union Council is an affiliate of the Adelaide University Union. It represents the interests of students at Roseworthy Campus and runs activities including orientation, sports and other social events. Up until the 1980s, sport at Roseworthy was organised by the

Roseworthy Agricultural College Roseworthy Agricultural College was an agricultural college in Australia. It was north of Adelaide and west of Roseworthy, South Australia, Roseworthy town. It was the first agricultural college in Australia, established in 1883. It is now pa ...

Sports Union, founded in 1927. Sports included

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

rifle shooting Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

,Recent history of the Barossa Rams
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swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, and

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

Intercollegiate Sport – High Table Cup

There have been two cups awarded for the Intercollegiate Sport championship between Adelaide University Colleges, both with the generic title of ''High Table Cup''. The ''College Cup'' was donated by the

High Table The origin of "High Table" goes back to the physical layout of the dining halls of English colleges at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The high table is a table for the use of fellows (members of the Senior Common Room) and their guests in ...

of St. Mark's College in the 1950s, and remained in use until 1995 when the ''Douglas Irving Cup'' was donated. Current participants are the College Clubs of Aquinas College, Flinders University Hall, Lincoln College,

St. Ann's College St Ann's College is a co-residential residential college, college in North Adelaide, South Australia. In its early decades, the college had only female boarders, but later took students of any gender. Members of the college attend three universi ...

and St Mark's College. While the majority of participants are from the University of Adelaide, most residential colleges also accept students from other South Australian Universities and technical colleges, who are also able to participate in the competition. There are 11 sports in the championship. They are (in chronological order) tennis, swimming (mixed), basketball, debating (mixed), Australian Rules Football, netball, soccer, table tennis, field hockey, volleyball and athletics (mixed).

External links

Adelaide University Sport and Fitness AssociationAdelaide University Boat ClubAdelaide University Cricket ClubAdelaide University Gliding ClubAdelaide University Football ClubAdelaide University Touch ClubAdelaide University Lacrosse ClubAdelaide University Sailing ClubAdelaide University Soccer Club - WhiteAdelaide University Hockey ClubAdelaide University Gym

Notes

{{Soccer in South Australia 1896 establishments in Australia State League South Australia clubs Sport in Adelaide University of Adelaide

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