COLLEGE Sport officers at the University of York have unveiled the advent of a new competition with an inaugural college varsity tournament against Durham to be held on Sunday, March 2, writes Alex McDonald.

The event will consist of eight different sports: men’s and women’s football, hockey, rugby, netball, basketball, badminton and volleyball, with two college sides representing York in each of these disciplines against Durham.

These sides will be selected by virtue of a ‘qualifiers weekend’, which will be staged on Saturday, February 8 and Sunday, February 9.

The top four teams in these sports from the winter leagues will take part in next month’s qualifying event in a play-off format, with the best two then progressing through to compete against Durham.

Currently, York and Durham are the two universities in the country, outside of Oxford and Cambridge, who can boast a strong College Sport system.

University of York’s college sport officer Dave Washington said: “I can’t wait for this event to take place.

“It’ll be an exceptional opportunity to be able to test ourselves against the sporting heavyweights of Durham.”

He added: “I hope all of the teams are as excited about this as I am, and it should act as an incentive to help drive participation and the standards of college sport over the coming months.

“In addition to the sporting contests, an opening ceremony is planned, along with a closing event to round off what promises to be an absorbing day of sport against one of the leading sporting institutions in the country.”