DERBY DAYS/Oxford v Cambridge:In Britain, there is only one intercollegiate rivalry that raises more than a ripple of curiosity and interest outside the participating institutions, writes Damian Cullen.
THE NCAA in the US is the largest collegiate athletic organisation in the world. It's easy to understand why. College sports in America are unlike anywhere else. They enjoy incredible popularity among students and non-students, particularly when it comes to American football and basketball.
In Britain, there is only one intercollegiate rivalry that raises more than a ripple of curiosity and interest outside the participating institutions.
Oxford and Cambridge meet annually under the rules of many sports. Ice hockey and rugby league, especially, have gained many interested spectators in recent years.
While the colleges first met on ice at St Moritz in 1885, the Varsity League Match is much more recent, and the 29th edition will be held at Twickenham Stoop next March.
Although the rugby league game is one of three sporting clashes between the colleges to be shown live on television, only the other two have fully muscled their way into the British calendar.
In keeping with the highest-profile sporting events in Britain - such as the British Open in golf and the Championships in tennis - the annual race on water between Oxford and Cambridge is known simply as the Boat Race. In rugby union, it's the Varsity Match.
The Boat Race has such a profile that an incident in 1987 - which led to several top American oarsmen refusing to race for Oxford after months of acrimony between them and the president and coach of the Oxford University Boat Club - resulted in several books on the "Oxford Mutiny", as well as a movie in 1996 and a BBC radio documentary last year to mark its 20th anniversary.
On the water, Oxford won the first edition of the race, held in June, 1829, and are the reigning champions - their heavyweight eights justified their favourites tag by taking the 153rd Boat Race title. But Cambridge still lead the overall standings, 79 to 74.
Apart from the traditions and long history of the race, the narrow margins of victory have also helped hold the public's interest (a quarter-of-a-million people are estimated to have lined the route last March).
And, depending on your source, between 10 million and 100 million television viewers watch the Thames battle.
It's obvious why Oxford and Cambridge are rivals - in sport as well as everything else. Situated less than 100 miles apart, the prestigious universities were founded more than 750 years ago, Cambridge being created by dissident scholars from Oxford. And until the 1800s, they were England's only universities.
While both the Boat Race and the Varsity Match epitomise the enduring rivalry between the colleges, the rugby clash has the added advantage of also symbolising the spirit and surviving allure of amateurism in a sport where professionalism is now king.
Oxford, of course, claim more than just a long association with the sport. Rugby's official founder, William Webb Ellis, was a student at Brasenose College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford.
Ellis would not have been impressed with the performance of his former home last year, however, as Cambridge recovered from a 16-8 deficit in the second half to claim their third consecutive Varsity Match.
It denied former Australian World Cup winner and Oxford captain Joe Roff a fitting farewell from the college.
Roff would not be the first former superstar to play for one of the colleges, though generally players hope to begin their illustrious careers at one of the colleges - rather than end their playing days there.
Cambridge University RUFC counts among its former members many players who went on to international success, such as England's Rob Andrew, Scotland's Gavin Hastings and, of course, many Irish players, including Mike Gibson, who studied law at Cambridge in the 1960s.
Oxford University RFC has a similarly impressive list of alumni, including New Zealand's David Kirk (captain of the All Blacks when they won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987) and Gareth Rees of Wales.
And Oxford would also have a strong Irish connection: David Humphreys had an illustrious career at the college and, in the 1995 Varsity Match, the Ulsterman scored all of Oxford's points (a try, drop goal, conversion and three penalties) in their narrow, 21-19 defeat.
After leaving college, Humphreys qualified as a solicitor and came back to Belfast to work at former Cambridge player Gibson's practice.
Interestingly, the sponsor of the Varsity Match up to this season was Lehman Brothers, one of the first casualties of the banking crisis. But the rugby clash was not similarly derailed, and, after some anxious moments, an Asian investment bank stepped in to pick up this season's tab.
Tomorrow's match will also feature household names.
The forward battle between Cambridge lock Dan Vickerman and Oxford hooker Anton Oliver will be crucial.
This may be a new setting, but it's not a new rivalry, and the pair have already met many times at Test and Super 14 level.
Vickerman, who at 29 has recently called a halt to his international career with Australia after 54 caps, is studying economics at Cambridge. He will be joined in Light Blue at Twickenham by US internationals Doug Rowe and Mark Ranby.
Vickerman's inclusion is a major coup for Cambridge, who have been getting coaching sessions recently from Shaun Edwards, the Wasps and Wales coach.
But Oxford have their own forward star.
Former New Zealand captain Oliver was up to recently playing alongside veterans such as Victor Matfield, George Gregan, Andrew Mehrtens and Tana Umaga at French side Toulon, before opting to study for an MSc in Biodiversity, Environment and Management at Oxford.
If Oxford are to prevent Cambridge claiming a fourth victory in succession tomorrow in front of an expected attendance of 40,000, they will need players such as Oliver and Canada flanker Stan McKeen to bring all their international experience to the fore.
