The Macadam Cup is a

varsity match A varsity match in Britain and Ireland is a fixture, especially of a sporting event or team, between university teams, usually the highest-level team, or varsity team, in that sport. The University Match in cricket between Oxford University an ...

played between the sports teams of

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

proper (KCL) and Guy's, King's and St. Thomas' School of Medicine (GKT). The championship is named in honour of Sir Ivison Macadam, an alumnus of King's. Macadam also gave his name to a building at the King's

Strand Campus The Strand Campus is the founding campus of King's College London and is located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, adjacent to Somerset House and continuing its frontage along the River Thames. The original campus comprises the Grade ...

, the location of the

students' union A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizat ...

( King's College London Students' Union).

History

The cup was first instituted in 2004 after an election pledge by the incoming President of the Students' Union, Michael Champion. The motivation behind the competition was not entirely focused on sports; Champion enjoyed large backing from the Health schools, and in a time where the political will of the college was to rebrand Guy's, King's and St. Thomas' (GKT) to KCLMS, Champion saw the event as an opportunity to enshrine GKT identity through the vehicle of a sporting event. The ulterior motive of the Macadam Cup was designed to make it increasingly difficult for Champion's successors to merge the GKT sports teams with the KCL ones.

Sports

Since its conception, the Macadam Cup has grown in the number of sports contested. At present these include: Swimming gala, Water polo, Badminton, Squash, Hockey (men and women), Mixed fencing, Mixed tennis, Ultimate frisbee, Rugby (men and women), Netball, Lacrosse, Football (men and women) and Cricket. Sports and presentations are held at

Honor Oak Park Honour (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself ...

Sports Ground with the day ending a Results night in KCLSU's Guys Bar and The Vault night clubs.

Results

From its inauguration in 2004 to 2010, King's College London had yet to win the Macadam Cup, leading to chants of "You'll never win Macadam". In 2011, 2014 and 2016, and 2018 KCL won the Macadam Cup. In the event of a tie, the Macadam Cup is ordinarily determined by a 'Tug of War'. In 2017, the winner of the cup was decided on football penalties, carried out by members of 5 different sports, which GKT won 4–1. In 2025 the event was tied, decided by a tug of war, with 2 men and 3 women from each GKT and KCL sports taking part, which GKT won to secure the macadam cup again.

External links

King's College LondonKing's College London Students' Union

References

{{Reflist King's College London Student sport rivalries in the United Kingdom Student sport in London