UK Student Archery Association

Local leagues for local clubs [03/Dec/25]

All the regional leagues are up and running this year. They form the backbone of the student archery calendar and, for many, they are the very first taste of competitive archery.

First of all, a quick look at who is in the respective regional chairs for 2025/26. Most regions have now configured committees to look after their business for the season - a reflection of the workload associated with the position. In terms of the head league organisers, James Jackson and Alex Williams have stayed on from last year at SEAL and SWWU. In SSS, Samuel Chapman stepped up from a SSS committee role last year to chair in 2025/26. Evie Smith and Ewan Kennett have come in to lead NEUAL and TOUCAN.

Upcoming articles will look at the details of the matches, but there are some interesting things to note, away from the cut and thrust of the results.

SEAL organisers have confirmed that London (or latterly Birkbeck/London) appears to have shut down. They had been fighting against issues with their venue and Sports Union for a long time and hopefully they will re-emerge in some form soon. London won the SEAL senior title 4 times in total, all between 2013 and 2017. On the national stage, London's best finishes were 2nd at BUCS Outdoor in 2004 and the E-League in 2015. More recently they finished 4th at BUCS Indoor twice (women's team in 2016 and men's team 2019) and they made the BUTC QFs five times.

Harper Adams made their first ever regional league appearance at the TOUCAN div 2 fixture. The club at Harper Adams is relatively new. HAU is located in Shropshire, just over 5 miles from Lilleshall.

Elsewhere, Stirling and Durham dropped out of SSS and NEUAL during 2024/25, but both have returned after a 1 season hiatus. Back after a much longer gap are Sunderland. Barring a solitary guest appearance, Sunderland were last part of a competitive NEUAL fixture all the way back in February 2020, i.e. pre-Covid, however they will appear in the NEUAL match 1 results.