Sunday (11 October) marks the formal start of the 2020/21 England Lacrosse mixed lacrosse season with the first set of fixtures seeing Loughborough at home to Nottingham, Oxford away at huge rivals Cambridge, Bradford versus York and many many more!
It’s been a strange year and, with British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) deciding to suspend all competitive sport until January 2021, we invited university teams to join our hyper-local mixed lacrosse leagues for the 2020/21 season.
The leagues had a soft opening day on Sunday (4 October) which saw Oxford City defeat Reading University 17-4 in the first official game of the season.
32 teams in total have registered to take part and have been split into seven leagues containing between three and eight teams depending on locality.
Each league has been organised so teams will not have to travel more than two hours for any away fixture and every team will play a minimum of four games and a maximum of six.
In order to take part in the leagues, each team has appointed a COVID Officer to ensure all England Lacrosse and Government guidelines are being followed at all times.
Due to the current restrictions on the number of people who can be involved in organised sport, each team is permitted a maximum squad size of 14 which includes any coaches, managers, and team medical staff.
England Lacrosse Competitions Officer, Helen Amos, says the leagues are a fantastic way for teams to ease themselves back into competitive lacrosse after six months away.
“It’s been such a long time since we were able to play full competitive lacrosse and, with the restrictions having eased sufficiently, this is a great opportunity for teams to get their match fitness back.
“With 2020 being as turbulent as it has been, the start of the mixed lacrosse leagues marks the start of some welcome relative normality and I can’t wait to see what will happen during the season”!
The first half of the season runs from Sunday until the 22 November and teams who haven’t already signed up for the full season will be given the opportunity to register for the second half and complete the season should they wish to do so.
There will be 14 fixtures played on the first weekend of the season:
Midlands 1 - University of Birmingham v University of Birmingham Medical Society
Midlands 2 - Keele University v Sutton Bonington - The University of Nottingham
Midlands 2 - Loughborough University v University of Nottingham
North East - University of Bradford v University of York
North East - Leeds 1 v Leeds 2
South East & London - University of Cambridge v University of Oxford 1
South East & London - University of Essex v Imperial College London
South East & London - London School of Economics v King’s College London
South East & London - St Mary’s University v Canterbury Christ Church University
South East 1 - Brighton Panthers v University of Surrey
South East 1 - University of Southampton 1 v University of Southampton 2
South East 2 - Oxford City v Southampton Sharks
South East 2 - University of Oxford 2 v University of Reading 2
South West - University of Bath 1 v University of Bath 2
The seven leagues are as follows:
North East
University of York
University of Bradford
University of Leeds 1
University of Leeds 2
Midlands 1
University of Birmingham
University of Warwick
University of Birmingham Medical Society
Midlands 2
University of Nottingham
Loughborough University
Sutton Bonington - The University of Nottingham
Keele University
South West
University of Bath 1
University of Bath 2
Cardiff University
University of the West of England 1
University of the West of England 2
South East & London
University of Oxford 1
University of Essex
University of Cambridge
Canterbury Christ Church University
London School of Economics
St Mary’s University
Imperial College London
King’s College London
South East 1
University of Southampton 1
University of Southampton 2
Brighton Panthers
University of Surrey
South East 2
Southampton Sharks
Oxford City
University of Oxford 2
University of Reading