Sydney University and UNSW battle for Kennard Cup this Saturday

UNSW and Sydney University have been playing the Kennard Cup for over 50 years.
It is an annual cup which revives decade old rivalries and is fiercely competed.
Schedule
 5.30pm Under 20’s –      UNSWFC v   Sydney University 
7.30pm First grade –       UNSWFC v   Sydney University 
HISTORY

The William Kennard Cup was established in 1957 as a preseason tournament for the now defunct NSW Soccer Federation’s regular competition. These first games were played under lights on a Friday night (the first such competition run by any code in Australia) and were an outstanding success. The Sydney Morning Herald reporting at the time…
“Nearly 4500 people last night saw the Federation of Soccer clubs successfully present its first soccer matches. The matches Austral v Auburn and APIA v Hakoah were played under lights at Lidcombe Oval. The standard of the play and the presentation of the matches left little to be desired. Federation officials were delighted with the attendance….”
The 1957 Kennard Cup and the innovation of Friday Night Football was a promising start for the newly establish NSW Soccer Federation—it drew over 19,000 spectators to its first 5 rounds. The 1958 tournament proved to be even more popular.
Unfortunately in 1959 the tournament was discarded in favour of an expanded regular season competition. However it was suggested at the time that the trophy be donated to the two major Sydney universities (University of Sydney and University of New South Wales) for an annual test of strength between the two clubs. The offer was accepted and the competition, as it now exists, began when the first match was played at Randwick Oval on 10 July 1960.
Sydney University won that first encounter and William Kennard presented them with the trophy. In this way one of soccer’s most striking trophies became the property of the universities and one of Australia’s greatest rivalries was born. Sydney Uni did not win again until 1966 as UNSW began to develop into the highest-ranked university club in Australian soccer.
For many years the Kennard Cup was a source of great pride and rivalry between the University clubs in Sydney. However UNSW’s total dominance of the competition from 1977 to 1986 led to a loss of interest by all parties in continuing. In the nine short years between 1986 and 1995 the Kennard Cup stood forgotten in the Roundhouse at Kensington. The handsome trophy representing a bygone age in soccer. An age when men of vision rejuvenated the game dreaming of a day when soccer would be the premier sport in Australia.
William Kennard had the foresight to sponsor Friday night soccer under lights—at the time a revolutionary thing to do. His idea for a cup competition, perhaps based on his memories of the cut and thrust of cup ties back in England. The Kennard Cup represented the first step by soccer in Australia into commercialism; night football, big prize money, imported professionals.
In February 1996 the presidents of Sydney University and UNSW soccer clubs were brought up to date on the history of the Kennard Cup. The clubs agreed to resume the annual University Derby. During the 14 years since its revival, Kennard Cup honours have been evenly shared between the two Universities and the completion remains as intense as ever.
This article is partly based on “A Soccer Fans Forgotten Dream: The William Kennard Cup” by Anthony Hughes from the School of History UNSW.