The first records of Southampton University Archery Club (SUAC) date back to 1953 (making us the oldest English University archery club?) when such interesting rounds as a Columbia and Short International existed, it was possible to get a negative handicap and you couldn’t buy bananas (probably). We held our own internal competition called the Mead Head Challenge Trophy which seemed to have lasted until 1968 and competing in competitions throughout the ’50s, we won the vast majority. Some notable matches during this decade being against Oxford Uni whom we won in ’56 and ’57 and against Bristol against whom we won both home and away from ’56 to ’59.

One unusual competitor in this era was the Naval Stores Woolston AC. Who they were or what they did I don’t know, they just seem interesting.

Links with Oxford and Cambridge started in 1958 with the Three-Cornered Match held in Oxford which in 1958 was a Western. The results were Oxford 2272, SUAC 1987 and Cambridge 1978.

At the end of the ’50s, SUAC hit a low spot as this Three Cornered Match shows (Albion this time), Cam. 2474, Oxfd. 2468 and SUAC 1476. In fact, in the last couple of years of the ’50s, SUAC lost almost every single match, although they still managed to beat Bristol.