Team Durham

Sport organisation of Durham University

Team Durham (formerly Durham University Athletic Union, DUAU) is a student run organisation responsible for sport at Durham University. Durham University's sports programme, run by Team Durham, has produced more professional sports people than any other UK university (141 as of 2022) and has twice seen Durham named Times and Sunday Times Sports University of the Year (2015 and 2023). It has ranked in the top three institutions in British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) every season since 2011–12. Six Team Durham alumni or current athletes have won seven Olympic and Paralympic medals since 1996. Team Durham played first class cricket as Durham University Centre of Cricketing Excellence and Durham MCC University from 2001 to 2020. The rugby club plays in BUCS Super Rugby, BUCS's flagship competition and the highest level student rugby in the UK, and were league winners in 2019–20 and 2021–22. Team Durham compete as the Durham Palatinates in the top level Women's British Basketball League. Team Durham awards the Palatinate, an equivalent of the University Sporting Blue. Famous recipients of a Full Palatinate include cricketer Nasser Hussain, triple jumper Jonathan Edwards and rugby player Phil de Glanville. Team Durham instituted a policy in 2016 allowing students to train and (if permitted by the national governing body) compete in the team that best fitted their gender identity. This was proposed to the National Union of Students as a model for a national policy.

The Durham Colleges Athletic Union was formed by the captains of the men's sports teams in the Durham division of Durham University in 1927, prior to which sports were run directly by the university. A federal Durham University Athletic Union was formed in 1929 with representatives from the Durham Colleges Athletic Union, from the Armstrong College and College of Medicine athletic unions in the Newcastle division of the university, and from the men's and women's university teams. From 1931 it was affiliated as a full member to the Universities Athletic Union (now British Universities and Colleges Sport; BUCS). In 1946, the Durham Colleges Athletic Union merged with the Durham Colleges Women's Athletic Union, which had been formed in 1938. It became the Durham University Athletic Union in 1963, when the Newcastle division of the university became the independent Newcastle University. In 2002, Gabby Logan launched Durham University's "Team Durham" initiative to provide coaching and facilities for talented athletes. The athletics union was re branded as Team Durham in 2006. As a consequence of the Charities Act 2006, which removed exempt charitable status from students' unions, Team Durham was, along with a number of other student associations and some junior common rooms, legally incorporated into the university as a Durham Student Organisation in 2011.

There is a first class cricket ground at the Racecourse, along with other grass pitches and Green Lane Cricket Ground (Durham City Cricket Club), used for some inter college games and non first team BUCS matches. The Rugby fives club has two fives courts in the Racecourse pavilion.

The rugby club shares a ground with Durham City RFC at Hollow Drift, and the university has further grass pitches adjacent to this at Whinney Hill, used for inter collegiate rounders and ultimate frisbee. Hollow Drift, which is owned by the university, has been earmarked for further development of its sporting facilities in the university's 2017–2027 estates masterplan. The ground has seen crowds of over 6,000 for the rugby club's annual charity matches against other top BUCS rugby teams. The Original All Blacks played at Hollow Drift in 1905, beating Durham County, the English county champions, 16–3 in front of a crowd of 8,000.

The waterpolo team uses the pool at Durham County Council's Freeman's Quay Leisure Centre. In addition to courts at Maiden Castle, the tennis club uses the David Lloyd centre in Sunderland and the Durham Archery Lawn Tennis Club. The university boat club has a boat house on the River Tyne in Gateshead, shared with Tyne United Rowing Club, as well as at Maiden Castle, and many college clubs have boathouses along the River Wear in Durham. The sailing club uses Derwent Water reservoir, where they have a fleet of firefly dinghies, as their training ground.

Team Durham runs a large intramural sports programme based around the colleges of Durham University, with three quarters of students participating. 550 college teams compete across eighteen sports: badminton, basketball, cheerleading, cricket (indoor and outdoor), football, hockey, futsal, lacrosse, netball, pool, rounders, rowing, rugby union (full contact and touch), squash, table tennis, tennis, ultimate frisbee and volleyball. Inter college men’s football, in particular, is hugely popular, with around ninety 11 a side teams playing regular matches. Collingwood College alone field 16 teams and claim to be the UK’s largest amateur football club. Netball is similarly popular, with around 50 teams competing. Alongside the regular season, some colleges hold an inter collegiate varsity tournament in Easter term, with two colleges pitting their A teams against one another in a variety of sports over one day.

Team Durham's best college teams participate in two annual college varsity competitions against their counterparts from colleges of the University of York and against teams from Loughborough Sport's intra mural sports competition.

Team Durham rowers compete against Newcastle University in multiple categories in the annual Boat Race of the North competition.

Team Durham has student performance programmes covering 17 sports. It has recognised national centres of excellence in a number of sports, including the Durham MCC University cricket programme (funded by the England and Wales Cricket Board), British Rowing Performance Centre status, and Lawn Tennis Association University Partner status. It is also a Football Association Football Accredited University, with the highest 3* rating. There are 25 Vice Chancellor's scholarships available annually for undergraduates across sports, arts and music (normally 8–10 awards in sports), 20 Palatinate scholarships for students who just missed out on a Vice Chancellor's Scholarship in sports, and 3 Weldon le Huray scholarships in sports for students from low income backgrounds. In addition, there are over 100 sports scholarships for postgraduate students. Durham is also one of the "delivery sites" for Sport England's Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme.

Team Durham has partnerships with Durham W. F. C. (women's football), Durham United F. C. (men's football) and DMP Sharks (women's rugby).

The Athletic Union hosts 3 charity events per year, the Rugby Charity Challenge, Durham Fun Run and Twenty:20 Charity cricket. These events raise money for Sport Action in Zambia, Team Durham's official charity.