A Not-So-Brief History of the
Bubble Chamber Football Tournament

There is also a table of venues and winners

It is amazing to think that there has been a tournament every year since 1975 and that the competition has outlived the bubble chamber itself. Anyone who has joined a High Energy Physics group in the last few years is probably in need of a tutorial on what a bubble chamber is. O.K., I'm not going to give one. Such newcomers are probably not even aware why the sociology of bubble chamber groups resulted in a much more equitable female/male ratio than in other areas of scientific endeavour - one of the great attractions of the subject for many! This favourable ratio meant that, from the outset, the tournament always had to have its, rather anachronistically titled, "Ladies" competition. This has also ensured that the event has retained something of a family atmosphere. Sons and daughters have grown up with, and participated in, this tournament over the years.

The competition originated, like so much of civilisation, in the Mediterranean. Quite literally in fact. During one particularly boring talk at the 1975 High Energy Physics Conference in Palermo, Sicily (the talk was on "Current Algebra" if memory serves), Gron Jones and I found ourselves swimming in the warm waters off the hotel. We were observing that since we both left CERN (where we had played together in the original bubble-chamber soccer team namely that of T.C.Division) we had both organised 5-a-side teams in our respective groups. As practical physicists we decided the obvious thing to do would be to make an experimental comparison of the teams.

The first tournament was held in Hyde Park on the 4th October 1975. There were men's and women's teams from Imperial College and Birmingham and a men's team from Westfield (the tournament has even outlived some of the colleges of the University of London). Gron Jones insists that the women versus men matches involved the latter playing with their ankles tied together by a metre of string. Can anyone else confirm this? My memory is blank. This may be as a result of trauma. My diary entry hints that organising this first competition was somewhat stressful It rather tersely records that "the ladies winning the competition made things difficult". The day was cold and the afternoon ended with an attempt to repair the damage to the male psyche with an impromptu, all male, 11-a-side game. Both sexes then repaired to the "Cockney Pride", Piccadilly Circus for refreshment.

The whole thing had, however, been successful enough to merit repetition in Birmingham the following year. There were a number of improvements aimed at avoiding further conflict between the sexes. Firstly, the women were patronizingly awarded their own competition and secondly men versus women's matches were deemed to be "friendlies". The new rules on the men heading goals and so on have persisted quite successfully to the present day. A further improvement was to schedule it in May. This innovation also has persisted with every subsequent tournament being held in May or June. However, the change didn't stop it pelting with rain during the afternoon. This had the sad result that there was no time to play the final of the "Ladies" tournament. Instead the competition was decided, after some rather good Chinese food in Birmingham town centre, by a dart's match in the "Gun Barrels". This was won in dramatic fashion by the Imperial women's team, with Linda Jones throwing the winning dart. My memory is that the Rutherford Laboratory participated for the first time this year. Can anyone confirm this and suggest when University College and Oxford first entered teams?

Though other teams had entered by 1977, the third tournament was held in on the 28th May in Kensington Gardens to avoid a clash with some royal happenings in Hyde Park. The Imperial 'A' team won the men's tournament and the Birmingham team won the women's competition. The post-match food was Russian at Luba's Bistro near the Brompton Road. The reason for returning to London every other year until 1979 is tied up with the long-term origins of the competition which pre-date the swim in the Mediterranean. The tournament really originates from the time in 1972 when Gron and I played together in the T.C. team at CERN. In the first few years of the U.K. tournament it came close to becoming an international one. Werner Kohl, who organised the T.C. team, made strenuous efforts to get them over to London, but they never actually made it. Werner, a very popular and pleasant Austrian administrator in T.C., died in very tragic circumstances in 1984. It seemed appropriate, given his part in the origins of the tournament, to name the "young persons" trophy after him.

In 1978 the tournament was held at the Rutherford Laboratory for the first time. Imperial College 'A' won the men's tournament and Birmingham won the women's. Again we had good Chinese food, this time in Oxford.

In 1979 we returned to Hyde Park. There was a particularly close final in the men's competition between Imperial College and Birmingham which was won by the latter on penalties. Birmingham won the women's competition for the third year in succession which meant they kept the first "Ladies" trophy. This was acutely embarrassing for me. The trophy had been a personal gift, presented to me by members of the I.C. "Ladies" team in recognition of services rendered (on the soccer field). I won't go into further detail as I gather there is quite enough smut on the Internet already. Suffice it to say that if anyone has what was affectionately known as the "Knickers" trophy, I wouldn't mind having them back! (whatever for? -Ed)

In 1980 the competition was held in Oxford for the first time. The bad news was that the men's final turned out to be the ultimate turn-off for everyone not from the Second City - Birmingham 'A' versus Birmingham 'B'. Appropriately it poured with rain throughout the final. The good news was that a new team won the women's competition namely Oxford, with Gerald Myatt's daughter the star player. As the years passed the participation of the off-spring of physicists became a very welcome feature. Amazing how my diary usually records the food! This time it was Italian.

It was back to Birmingham in 1981. The Rutherford team became the first winner of the men's tournament from a laboratory other than Imperial or Birmingham. Imperial won the "Ladies" competition. I think the food was Chinese again - can anyone confirm?

In 1982 we were at University College's well appointed Shenley ground for the first time. In a very exciting final Birmingham beat Rutherford 2-1 after the latter had been one goal up. It was back to business as usual in the women's event as it was won by Birmingham For the first time we had our post match festivities in the ground's pavillion rather than adjourning to a restaurant. This practice subsequently became the norm, partly because it was easier for those with children, and increasing numbers of these were attending and, as already noted, participating.

The men's final in 1983, when we returned to Rutherford, was notable because it involved two 'B' teams for the first time, Rutherford 'B' beating Oxford 'B'. Oxford won the women's competition and we retired to the "Horse and Jockey" for food.

It must have been some year around then that the "Troll" first appeared. Will anyone admit to being responsible for this monstrosity? It was a representation of particularly repulsive gnome- like figure, awarded to the team earning the "wooden spoon". In the first few years of its existence the holders took pride in embellishing its attributes. One year its eyes started glowing red and another time it re-emerged emitting a ghastly cackle. I'm sure the general standard of play was quite high in this period as teams took seriously the need to avoid winning this trophy - clearly a lesson here for the Premiership! Anyone know where the creature is now? I have my suspicions that it is in hiding at QMW.(The Troll made its re-appearence in the 1996 tournament -Ed)

The 1984 tournament at Hyde Park was memorable for the goals blowing down in the wind and the embarrassment of an IC "Physics Wanderers" team, with very little knowledge of HEP, winning the men's competition. Oxford won the women's competition for the second successive year. The reception was held in the Physics Common Room for the first time. This, the tenth competition, was marked by an account in the CERN Courier for October, illustrated with a very fine collage of the tournament by Meilin Sanchez.

In 1985 the tournament was held at the Iffley Road stadium in Oxford where Roger Bannister had run the first 4-minute mile. It was a particularly hot day, in marked contrast to the first Oxford tournament. Birmingham women's team beat the Rutherford women's team and Imperial College won the men's tournament. The reception was in the clubhouse at the track.

A memorable feature of the 1986 tournament was that it was the first Birmingham one at which the reception was held in the very beautiful surroundings of Winterbourne. Oxford won the men's competition. It was a sign of the passage of time that my daughters Nicole and Cleo, who had been 4 and 2 respectively at the time of the first competition, were members of the victorious Rutherford women's team which beat their elders from Birmingham. Julian adds - Just for the record, this was the first year I played, as a fresh faced Imperial postgrad with purple hair .

Another sign of the times was that in 1987, when we returned to University College, the competition was graced by the first appearance of a team composed of players who had participated in previous tournaments but who had subsequently left High Energy Physics - the "Exiles" team. It also rained, but not continuously. Birmingham won both the men's and women's tournaments. Julian adds - The thing I remember about this year was that Imperial entered two men's teams, but only sufficient numbers turned up for one team. We therefore decided to be both the 'A' and 'B' teams which resulted in us hardly being off the pitches during the league stage and at one point holding up the start of one match for the 'A' team because we hadn't finished our match as the 'B' team. Needless to say we came bottom of both leagues and turned down the opportunity to play ourselves for the troll thereby winning it by default.

According to the cycle we should have returned to the Rutherford in 1988. However, with Ken Paler quitting the lab so he could become a founder member of the "Exiles" team, enthusiasm there for hosting the tournament had waned. Fortunately Birmingham were happy to take over rather late in the day. They were rewarded by again winning both competitions. For the first time there were a number of "youth" matches. Julian adds - This year Imperial did get together two teams, with the strategy that the 'A' team would attempt to win the competition and the 'B' team would try and avoid retaining the troll. This half worked, the 'B' did avoid the troll, it was won by the 'A' team instead! Playing for the 'B' team I managed to score 7 goals in that years competition, which I think is more than I've scored in all the others put together.

In 1989 we returned to Hyde Park on a very hot and sunny day. My main memories were of the Park Police objecting to tents which had been erected to shade some youngsters and the fact that Gron and Chris never made it because their car broke down on the motorway. So does that mean I can claim to be the only person who has attended every tournament? (Apparently not. Colin Barham has played in all the tournaments. Frank Macdonald appeared as trainer in the first two, but has played in all the rest -Ed). Birmingham beat the Exiles in extra time in the men's final and the Birmingham women also won. Julian adds - And just for the record, this was the first year I played for UCL as a not-so-fresh faced postdoc with yellow? hair.

Despite the hosts having won both competitions for the previous three years, we all turned up for the 1990 competition in Birmingham - surely a good example of it being the "taking-part" that matters! In one men's semi-final Birmingham 'B' lost to a team which called itself Imperial College 'B'. The latter team featured some very fit youngsters who had only become HEP postgraduates by virtue of decisions at the previous day's Examiners' Meeting - which I for one was soon to regret! In the other semi-final the Exiles came from behind to beat Oxford. After such an epic the Exiles did well to only go down 2-1 in the final to the ICB team half their age. As the Imperial women were also successful this was the first Imperial College double.

There were also some good matches at Oxford in 1991. Oxford won a close fought final on penalties to the best Imperial College team which was now correctly described as the 'A' team. Imperial and Oxford contested the women's final. It was clearly another close fought affair - can anyone recall who won? There were also a number of good "young persons" matches. The reception was held in the Nuclear Physics Department for the first time.

The 1992 tournament at University College was notable as being the first to be organised by a member of the younger generation, namely Julian (and for the beautiful weather, a first for Shenley -Ed). This was another case of a 'B' side, in this case Birmingham 'B', winning the men's competition, by beating Birmingham 'A' who had defeated the Exiles on penalties in the semi-final. There was an international flavour to the women's competition. The Birmingham team was graced by Katya Kubantsev, daughter of a genuine bubble chamber physicist from IHEP, Moscow. The women's final between Imperial College and Birmingham was an epic. It was won on penalties by Birmingham thanks to some heroic goal-keeping by Gron's 9-year-old son Geraint.

There was a new venue in 1993 when the Exiles hosted the competition at the University of Surrey, Guildford. Imperial College won every competition - including the wooden spoon (QMW not turning up to return the Troll they won the previous year -Ed) .

In 1994, when the competition returned to Hyde Park, the increasing interaction between astrophysics and particle physics was reflected in the first appearance of a "Dark Matter" team from Imperial College. They certainly were not WIMPS, as they reached the men's final where they were beaten by the Exiles on penalties. This was the first success for the "geriatrics" in the men's tournament. Imperial won the ladies competition for the second successive year.

1995 in Birmingham saw another innovation as the tournament was played on Astroturf for the first time. Many feel it is an ideal surface for 5-a-side but I personally disagree. Firstly the courts disfigure the very pleasant outlook over the campus and secondly any holes in the turf can be very nasty. I cracked an ankle- bone in one! It was good that a Rutherford team participated again - the first for many years. The day started with heavy rain, but this cleared up in time for the men's semi-finals and final in which Birmingham 'A' beat the Exiles. The sun itself emerged in time for yet another memorable reception in Winterbourne.

The 1996 tournament, held by UCL at Shenley, was the first to be organised over the Internet. With the weather having been rain, rain and more rain for the previous week, Julian was planning to change the tournament into a water polo contest. The gods, however, looked kindly upon him and for the second occasion Shenley hosted the tournament with glorious sunshine beaming down on the participants. Needless to say that on Sunday and Bank holiday Monday the rain had returned. Another innovation brought in was the use of a whiteboard detailing all the scores as the matches were played so that everyone could see how their team was progressing, or in the case of Oxford, how many goals they'd let in. Both finals, being goalless, went to penalties. The ladies final being won by Oxford with the final penalty kick being the first one to be scored. The men's tournament went to the IC Dark Matter team beating the Exiles in a reversal of the 1994 final, also decided on penalties. Oxford finally scored in the Troll play-off, losing 3-1 to the combined UCL/RAL team, and so took the Troll back to Oxford for repairs. Their goal is believed to be the first scored by a women in the men's competition and so is historic in itself. Oh by the way, Julian had red hair to celebrate his tenth anniversary of playing in this tournament and to ensure that everyone could spot the organiser easily! And Keith got his knickers back .

History researched and reported by Keith Barnham