The War of the Roses Tournament is a decades old sporting tradition between York and Lancaster University. The first one was held in 1965, and saw the two schools competing against each other in many different sports.
The reason for this tradition is because of a war that occured in fifteenth century England. Many factions fighting for power in England used different colored roses to represent their faction. Lancaster’s symbol was a red rose, which is why our team is known as the Red Roses. York’s symbol was the white rose, which is why their team is called the White Roses.
Every year students from both schools compete in 50 different sports! Including standard sports such as soccer, swimming, and table tennis but also some less common sports such as archery, fencing, and even ballroom dancing. Every event also has their own announcer, the announcers explain rules and give play by plays. They make the experience more fun. Besides the sports, there are also many food and souvenir stands set up by the sporting fields. In many ways Roses is reminiscent of the Olympics, though on a much smaller scale.
In order to win, students must earn 172 points for their school. Interestingly enough, the host university is allowed to choose how many points a victory in each sport recieves. This brings a little bit of strategy into the competition. In the past 50 years, Lancaster University has won 26 times, and York has won 24 times.
This year, I am happy to announce that the winner of the Roses Tournament was Lancaster University! Though, no matter what team you support, one thing is for certain. Roses was a whole lot of fun!