UK Student Archery Association

BUTTS XX [17/Mar/15]

BUTTS league match 4 and the Indoor Champs were won by Oxford, but Warwick were runners up both times to secure the overall BUTTS league title for the sixth time. Birmingham, who also hosted the 20th anniversary Indoor Champs, completed a novice clean sweep.

BUTTS match 4 followed on from BUTC and Oxford got some measure of revenge for their semi-final exit, winning the leg with a tally of 2275, with BUTC winners Warwick second on 2254. The top 6 teams all broke 2200. Birmingham were third on 2242, followed by Loughborough (2233), Cambridge (2227) and Trent (2219). There were three particularly big scores on the day. Alex Smith (Oxford) hit 589, with Rob Gray (Nottingham Trent) on 588 and a 587 from Tom Hall (Warwick). Arthur Coveney (Loughborough) hit exactly 580 and there were 570+s from Alex Morrell (Birmingham) and Ciprian Zahan (Oxford).

On the 28th October 1995, Birmingham played host to the first ever BUTTS match. It was the first regional league fixture in England. The league itself is now older than some of the archers competing in it. Now, at the end of its 20th season (indoors anyway), Birmingham played host to a special anniversary "BUTTS XX", the regular Indoor Championships, followed by a H2H event. To last for 20 years, powered only by volunteers, is a great achievement and the special XXth anniversary championships delivered a spectacular tournament.

The leading four sides were split by only 23 points, from 2280 to 2257. No less than three recurve archers broke 590, something which is yet to happen at a BUCS Indoors. Oxford were three points behind Warwick going in to the match and secured themselves the Indoor Championships with a total of 2280. Third place would guarantee Warwick the BUTTS title though and they went one better, finishing second on 2274, only six behind Oxford and five ahead of third placed Birmingham's 2269. Nottingham were fourth on 2257, with city rivals Trent pipping Cambridge 2225 to 2222. Derby and Loughborough both scored 2190.

Had Warwick scored 2234 (and as a result finished 4th), that would have left Oxford and Warwick level on both points and aggregate across the five fixtures. As it was, Warwick finished the campaign on 38 points, with Oxford on 36. Nottingham held on to third overall, despite a disappointing match 4.

Usually in regional league match reports, scores of 560+ or 570+ will get an individual mention, however in this fixture there were 16 scores over 560, with 11 of those over 570. At the risk of simply typing out the results sheet, Rob Gray (Nottingham Trent) top scored with 594, setting a BUTTS record and equalling the All Unis record. Tom Hall (Warwick) scored 592 and was second, two ahead of Ashe Morgan (Birmingham) who was third despite a 590. Alex Smith (Oxford) was fourth, with "only" 585 - outside the medal positions. There were scores from 576 down to 570 for: Arthur Coveney (Loughborough) [corr.] Shaun Rhodes (Derby), Richard Haydock (Nottingham), Alex Morrell (Birmingham), Charlie Birch, Ciprian Zahan (both Oxford) and Michael Hall (Nottingham).

Birmingham won the novice team events in league match 4 and at the Indoor Championships to make it five wins out of five. Birmingham's novice vintage 2014/15 are the first novices to clean sweep a BUTTS novice league since 2007. Last year they had lost out on aggregate, having finished level on points with Derby, but with a 7 league point lead heading in to the Champs, the Brummies finished in style.

Cambridge and Loughborough were second and third in match 4, whilst Loughborough and Warwick were second and third at the Indoors. These were the teams to break (team of 4) 2000 in both matches. The top scorers were Lydia Sinnett-Smith (Cambridge) and Munir Suleman (Birmingham) with 543 and 534 in match 4, whilst Catherine Jackson (Birmingham) and Luke Frearson (Nottingham) with 523 and 522 took the championship honours. Birmingham ended on 40 novice league points, Derby second on 29, with Loughborough third on 28.

See BUTTS standings, after all the indoor events.

BUTTS' strength and strength in depth in recent years has been covered here before. The original 6 teams from 1995/96 shot together for 12 years before they were joined by Derby (2007/08) and later Nottingham Trent (2010/11) both of whom have improved hugely in the years since joining a league structure. BUTTS also pioneered the split venue matches - now virtually a standard - in the process of this expansion. There is also the potential for further expansion too, with new clubs at Northampton, De Montfort and now also at Leicester.