Varsity is about more than rivalries and this year we’re proud to announce the inclusion of four* new female developmental teams and a new mixed trampolining team.

While these developmental fixtures won’t contribute any points to the Varsity total – developmental fixtures only count towards the points total in their second year – they do help to widen female participation in sport, a cause the Students’ Union is proud to support.

Vice President Student Activities, Jordan Aird, said: “From day one of the planning for Varsity, we decided that the main aim of the competition would be to get as many students as possible involved and participating in the event.

“Yes we love beating Bradford, but at the end of the day the most important aspect of the event has always been the taking part, getting more and more students involved, and making sure under-represented groups are provided the opportunity to participate."

Desire

Jordan continued: “For that reason, when planning and discussing Varsity with Bradford, we expressed our desire to include as many women’s games as possible within the Varsity programme.

“We wanted to allow them to run as developmental fixtures this year with the intention of getting teams in a position to compete for points next year, but most importantly for us, we wanted to increase the amount of women taking part in sport at our University!”

The new teams cover a range of sporting disciplines: tennis, basketball, trampolining and volleyball and this means more women than ever can experience the thrill of competing in Varsity.

The first developmental fixture is mixed trampolining and takes place tonight at 19:00 at the University of Bradford with the remaining developmental fixtures taking place on Wednesday.

Wednesday fixtures:

Netball Women’s 2^nd – University Sports Hall

Tennis Women’s 1^st – 13:00 – Huddersfield Tennis Club

Basketball Women’s 1^st – 15:00 – University Sports Hall

Volleyball Women’s 1^st – 17:00 – University Sports Hall

Research by Sport England has shown there is a significant gender gap between men and women actively participating in sport on a regular basis and their new This Girl Can campaign is aiming to address this.

The This Girl Can campaign has been a hit online with over 13 million people viewing the film created to promote the campaign and you can read more about the women involved in This Girl Can and join the debate on their website.

Varsity t-shirts are still available and can be purchased online or from the Students’ Union Help Desk (Floor 5, Student Central). They only cost £5 and get you access to all the venues used on the day, free transport to venues and access to the official after party in Tokyo.

Free tickets are also available for the opening ceremony which gets the competition underway on Tuesday – just add them to your basket when getting your t-shirt.

*This story was updated at 11:55 on Tuesday 24 March - Story amended to reflect that Bradford have indicated they will now field a Netball Women's 2nd team.

*This story was updated at 16:00 on Monday 23 March - Story amended to reflect that Bradford pulled their team out of the Netball Women's 2nd fixture.