UK Edition
University teams are graduating to football stage with honours - against all the odds
by Chris Evans
When Duncan Watmore stepped on stage in Newcastle back in 2015, dressed head to toe in black and white, he became part of an exclusive club.
The Sunderland striker might have been committing north-east sacrilege by donning the colours of the club's sworn enemy, but he didn’t care. He was joining a group so select that former Leeds United defender David Wetherall was the only other member: it was Watmore’s graduation day and he was becoming only the second Premier League footballer to receive a first-class honours degree.
While Watmore’s special day, as he collected his bachelor of arts in economics and business management from Newcastle University, might have been a rare occurrence for a top professional footballer in Britain, it could soon become a more common sight. As a new academic year looms large, Britain is seeing a surge in university football teams competing higher and higher up the football pyramid.
Over the past few years, a host of student teams have been infiltrating the national game as several universities bridge the gap between education and senior football. It’s a marriage that would seem alien to many wannabe pros, although the trend of combining a university degree and an on-pitch education appears to be growing.
Other elite sports, including rugby and athletics, already enjoy a healthy relationship with some of our country’s best universities, while in the United States, the college system is seen as the route for young sports starts to hone their talents.
So why couldn’t it happen in football too? For years, the misconception has been that the standard of university football is not high enough to warrant considering, but that is starting to change.
Earlier this year, Welsh Premier League side Cardiff Met FC came within a Europa League play-off defeat to Bangor from becoming the first university team to qualify for European competition. That came only a season after Stirling University finished third in the Highland Football League – only two positions away from a place in a play-off to reach the Scottish Football League.
Do not expect to see similar success stories in England, despite a flurry of clubs, including Loughborough University and Team Northumbria, turning heads in their respective leagues. While the unis can see the benefit of joining the semi-pro ranks, they are faced with a glass ceiling.
In the wake of Team Bath reaching the Conference South in 2008, the FA placed a cap on all university teams to stop them progressing beyond the eighth tier due to their ownership structures - a draconian rule, given the questionable motives of owners at some of the Football League’s most famous clubs in recent years.
At Loughborough, for example, the club is the focal point of an almost full-time football programme that offers training facilities that trump those at most professional clubs. And with alumni such as ex-Charlton midfielder Bradley Pritchard showing what can be achieved, the potential of university clubs is there for all to see – both for talented academics and as a safety net for academy rejects released from pro clubs.
So while it might be a little far fetched to expect the likes of Harry Kane to join Watmore in a cap and gown, the face of grassroots football could be changing.
- Chris Evans is the author of Learning Curve: Life inside one of Britain’s most unusual football clubs, available to buy on Amazon.