What is Merger?

The Merger Cup is an annual sporting competition between Barts and The London and Queen Mary that started way back in 1995 when the two merged together. In the calendar of any sportsperson at BL it is the highlight (after UH). Winning an event at Merger means something, it gives a sense of achievement that cannot be replicated, and seeing the points you have won for BL, and how that reflects in the overall points is an amazing feeling. Every event, every point, every second matters in winning the Merger Cup. Barts and The London are the current holders of the cup, having emerged victorious in 2019 with a scoreline of 46 to 59.

The competitive events this year are taking place over one week; from Wednesday afternoon to Saturday night. Midweek Merger fixtures are attended and supported by members from all different clubs, it is a chance to roar on your fellow sportspeople and give them the extra boost they may need to bring home a win and those all-important Merger points. On Saturday, virtually every sports club, even those not playing, descends on Chislehurst for Merger Day, when the majority of the sports are played. We then return to The Griff for the afterparty and to hear the results at midnight.

Alongside the sport, there is always a theme and charity, to raise both awareness and money for important issues in sport and society.

After cancellations in 2020 and 2020+1, IT IS BACK. Strap yourselves in for a rollercoaster of a week as we look to retain the cup for another year and prove that…

WE ARE BL

Merger Campaign

This year the Merger campaign run by the Club Sport Board is ‘People Transcend Sport’. The campaign aims to raise awareness about the difficulty Transgender people face with accessing sport and the issues with inclusivity surrounding this. In an environment that should allow freedom to be yourself, benefit your mental and physical health and allow you to join communities where you feel supported and welcomed, sport can often be a challenging space for transgender people. Studies have shown that there are often several barriers to physical activity and sport identified for Transgender people, including inadequate changing facilities, revealing and heavily gendered sport clothing, body dissatisfaction and fears around not being accepted by others.

These issues need to be addressed within Sport to ensure it is inclusive and accessible to all as everyone should have the ability to experience the benefits sport brings to your life without fear of judgement or discrimination. 

 £1 from each Merger t shirt sale goes towards supporting the amazing work the charity Mermaids do. Mermaids has evolved into one of the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ charities, empowering thousands of people with its secure online communities, local community groups, helpline services, web resources, events and residential weekends. They also seek to educate and inform wider society on gender identity by helping professionals accommodate, reassure gender-diverse young people and also do a lot of work to push for Trans inclusion in Sport.

 To everyone who have bought a T-shirt, thank you for supporting this campaign and the extremely important work Mermaids do!