The definitive sport rankings of all 17 Durham colleges, based on data and data only

Ahead of a fresh season of college sport, The Tab analysed all the data available from the last nine years of college sport to determine which colleges are the best in the game. To determine this, we will be using the amount of college sport points earned by each college between 2015 and 2024.

We would have gone back further, but available data from Team Durham only goes back as far as 2015. College sport points are earned through both participation and victories, meaning that our assessment should consider both the passion for college sport and success within it for every college.

Unfortunately, most colleges have struggled to find their pre-Coronavirus form. On the bright side, 2023/24 saw growth for most colleges and is hopefully a welcome indicator of progress throughout the next few years of college sport.

Not all colleges have the same number of students – at 1,761, Collingwood have the most students while St. Chad’s have the least at 664. Therefore, we will also be ranking colleges on the basis of college sport points per student in order to give smaller colleges some fair representation. Even when taking this into consideration, the big hitters still fare well but some smaller colleges place higher than I expected. Anyway, here goes.

17. South: 0.45 points per student* (2,440 points)

There’s a reason this score has an asterisk next to it: South have only been competing in college sport for four years, with one of those years being Coronavirus affected. It is worth noting that South finished in a respectable position of 12th in this year’s standings and have recently earned a lot of promotions, particularly in football.

16. Ustinov: 0.62 points per student (5,226 points)

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Nothing remarkable to comment on here – Team Ustinov have kept their points ticking over while their students take on a significant amount of postgraduate work.

15. John Snow: 0.73 points per student (9,722 points)*

The second college to be asterisked – while John Snow have competed in college sport for all nine years, they were based in Stockton until 2018 meaning that less of a buy-in for college sport until that point in time makes sense. A sixth place finish in 2021/22 and a ninth place finish in 2023/24 highlight the potential of the college to thrive at sport in the future.

14. Stephenson: 0.74 points per student (8,160 points)*

The final college to be asterisked, I promise. Stephenson, like John Snow, have competed in college sport for all nine years but were based in Stockton until 2017 with a full move-over not complete until 2019. Stephenson’s progress had been pretty mediocre up until this year, when they finished in an extremely respectable position of sixth.

13. University: 0.94 points per student (12,501 points)

I’m a bit surprised at how low Castle have come – the data suggests that they have consistently placed around mid-table every year, but they must just have more students than I realised. Team Durham suggest a current number of 1,473.5 full time students, which is what we’re basing our student numbers on. Tough one, but seems to be back on the rise.

12. St. Chad’s: 1.13 points per student (6,728 points)

Once again, nothing particularly interesting here. Besides from the Coronavirus affected 20/21 season, St. Chad’s have not scored anywhere outside of 600 and 662 points in the last six seasons. Consistency is king.

11. St. Mary’s: 1.18 points per student (12,429 points)

A bit of a fall-off in the post-Coronavirus era, unfortunately. Three strong years at the start of the period have lifted St. Mary’s up the table despite their sporting struggles in recent years. They are, however, the only college to boast the honour of having three ultimate frisbee teams. That’ll show them.

10. Hatfield: 1.19 points per student (13,253 points)

Lower than I expected, I must say. Another college where the post-Coronavirus era has seen a fairly significant decline in college sport points. Nonetheless, still a college that is always in the mix for the big Floodlit sports and shouldn’t be written off.

9. Trevelyan: 1.21 points per student (10,595 points)

Much, much higher than I expected, but I kind of love it. I’m pretty sure that Trevelyan are the only team I’m yet to play against in college football, so they’re a bit of an unknown quantity to me. I’m not quite sure what was in the water in the dining hall of Trevelyan in 2017/18 as they managed to score 2,088 in just one season. Lethal.

8. St. Hild & St. Bede: 1.22 points per student (15,222 points)

A serious history of sporting pedigree in this college: Nasser Hussain, Gabby Logan, Thogdad, the list goes on. The past is not the present, however, and a few difficult seasons in recent times have been masked by the glory years of 2015-2019 when Hild Bede would often finish in the top three. A sleeping giant that could come back any time soon.

7. Josephine Butler: 1.26 points per student (16,291 points)

Respectable, very respectable indeed. Came back from a challenging 2021-2023 with a very strong season that saw them finish in fourth.

6. St. Cuthbert’s: 1.27 points per student (15,242 points)

About where I expected – always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Deserve their flowers for some serial levels of consistency up until 2022. Perhaps this year’s 13th place finish was an anomaly, we’ll see.

5. St. Aidan’s: 1.45 points per student (14,464 points)

Erm, I was not expecting this. At all. It turns out St. Aidan’s were freakishly good at rugby and hockey in the mid 10’s and managed to get a huge 2,658 points in 2017/18. There seems to have been a slight decline from 2019, but St. Aidan’s remain as one of the only colleges to never have a season below 1,000 points (Coronavirus excluded).

4. Van Mildert: 1.51 points per student (20,759 points)

Durham’s new darling and the reigning men’s football and rugby Floodlit champions. Absolutely incredible consistency from Van Mildert who have only slipped below the 2,000 points mark once in nine years and continue to be the only college that actually provide a credible challenge to Collingwood.

3. St. John’s: 1.61 points per student (10,654 points)

The biggest shock on the list – maybe I finally have a new stereotype for St. John’s to use in articles! On a more serious note, St. John’s have performed extremely well for a college of their size over the last decade and do well to even get a squad out given the size of their college. Credit where it’s due.

2. Grey: 1.63 points per student (19,456 points)

Someone give Damon Albarn a call because Alllll the Grey boys (and girls) have put in a proper shift. Grey’s commitment to make sport fees inclusive of the JCR levy sees a lot of Grey students pick up a multitude of sports and ensures that the smaller sports are not neglected. They appear to be falling behind to Mildert nowadays, but are always a strong contender regardless.

1. Collingwood: 2.25 points per student (35,709 points)

Did you really expect anything else? Collingwood have more points than the bottom five colleges combined, let that sink in. The biggest amateur football club in Europe, a 4G surface on-site and an incredible amount of passion facilitate such remarkable success. Look up “buy-in” in the dictionary and you’ll see the Collingwood badge. Hated, adored, but never ignored.

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