Title hopes and top blokes: Our guide to the 2024/25 Durham college football premiership

After a long and empty four month break, college football is finally back. Brexit tackles, terrible technical ability and even worse fitness are a promised reality for the bulk of college footballers. However, a small and select proportion of college football’s 96 teams will actually be looking to put on a decent show of footballing ability in the premiership season and the floodlit knockout cup. Most players in Durham’s highest level of intramural football either play for lower-level university sides or are on the verge of doing so – many an ex-academy baller will frequent the hallowed turf of 3G3 in the coming months.

The Tab spoke to the captains from all 13 men’s premiership teams to gain some perspective on their goals for the season – we’ve ordered them by their finishing position from first to eleventh in the league last season, with the two recently promoted teams featuring at the end.

Van Mildert

Van Mildert won their second premiership in three years alongside the floodlit trophy in 2023/24, losing just one game in the season at the hands of Hatfield. Lukas told The Tab: “The aim is of course to win it again.

“I think we won last year because we had such good team morale.

“We have lost a few really key players but the freshers at trials showed some incredible quality, Owen Beckett in particular.

“We get a lot of fixtures against Collingwood, we’d love to win them all, especially the E’s as it was only them that we didn’t beat – they were a very physical side.

“We’re all Mildert through and through.”

Player to look out for: Caine McCartney

Collingwood A

Collingwood A’s have been the nearly men for so long, finishing as runners-up in two of the last three seasons, despite having first dibs on the finest footballing talent in Durham’s sportiest college.

Oli told The Tab: “We’ve lost some big names, but we drafted some strong midfielders.

“We were so close last season, and the only positive of losing out by one point is that it will motivate us to go all the way this year and do it. We want to play attacking football and our style of play is something we’re proud of.

“I fully believe we’ve got the squad to do that. We’ve had a similar squad for two years, we’re a good bunch off the pitch and I back us to be up there.”

Player to look out for: Ben Crew

Collingwood D

Collingwood D’s are consistent, third place for three years in a row says it all. This year, a loss of a handful of stalwarts to graduation means something of a new look for the D’s. Jamie told The Tab: “We get up for the big games better than other teams.

“When I came into the D’s, the culture of going to every game and wanting to win and finish as high as possible was so important. We haven’t lost a Collingwood derby in forever, it’ll be good for the freshers to get the taste of a derby straight away at the weekend against the E’s.

“It is confusing if you’re not in Collingwood that the D’s are one of the best teams, but we’ve finished above the B’s and the C’s for three years in a row.”

Player to look out for: Sean Freeman

John Snow

The bad boys of college football. When other teams use their talent to pass it around the back, John Snow choose to lump it to the big lads up top – and with two top four finishes in a row, you cannot say that it isn’t working.

Louis told The Tab: “This year we should be pretty good, we haven’t lost many players and our freshers look great.

“Everyone else in this league plays a bog standard 4-3-3, the best teams like to just pass it around, but we are very much direct. We don’t play with wide players, we’re in a narrow 4-3-1-2 and there is no wingers or luxury players – nobody chills out, we all work hard.

“We go long, we get as many chances as possible – if we have to defend a lead for 80 minutes, that’s what we’ll do.

“Most of our goals are scored from set-pieces, making things happen and causing some carnage, making sure we pick up on the scraps.”

Player to look out for: Sam Whitford

Collingwood B

Similar to the D’s, the B’s are a new look squad this year, with just five returners and 11 new freshers joining the side. Finn told The Tab: “The culture is what makes the B’s different from any other Collingwood team in the prem.

“The A’s get to pick whoever they want, they go for pure footballers that on a general basis are a bit quiet and timid, but there are some good personalities in the A’s – the big personalities have always been in the B’s, and we’re also a top footballing side. The D’s is usually a very feisty game, but they’re living on a bit of a Danny Wood legacy. The C’s aren’t even in the equation for us.

“We’re looking at moving to a five at the back, we want to build a very strong defence that concedes very few goals. We have very pacey wingers and technical midfielders, so we’ll look to make the most of that.

“We want to finish first, weird results happen and if we win those games we can win the league.”

Player to look out for: Felix Wallop

Hatfield

2022/23’s champions, Hatfield are still a true force in college football. Oli told The Tab: “It’s a bit like international football, rather than non-league – you can’t just go out and sign new people, you have to work with the resources you’re given – we lost a lot of players after winning the league, which explains our minor drop off.

“We’re relatively happy with our performance, it is college football and you are going to lose some games.

“We like the idea of having a winning season and getting on a good run of form, we should be good enough for that.

“We’ve finally found some goalkeepers, they’re tidy and could be big for us.”

Player to look out for: Isaac Eastham

Stephenson

Always on the rise, Stephenson have seen steady improvement over the last three seasons, and are now a comfortably mid-table premiership outfit at worst. Dan told The Tab: “We won the summer cup, so that gave us confidence, and the new freshers are better than expected.

“It was our first trophy in eight years and we want another one this year, and I think we can also get into the top four this season – that’s the aim, but winning the league would be even better.

“Last year the football was quite defensive, but this year I want to improve keeping the ball on the floor and winning games the right way.

Player to look out for: George Davies

St. Cuthbert’s

The kings of consistency, Cuths have finished the last three seasons with 19, 18 and 17 points. Charlie told The Tab: “We want to go for it all this year, after a good start we fell off a bit due to a lack of availability and some bad form.

“We were a bit of a freshers team last year, so we now have a really good core to the squad.

“We’ve got quick wingers, they’ll be used as an outlet and we also have some ball-playing centre backs. We’ve also got a lot of fight, we’ve had a lot of close games where we’ve hung on and we might not be the most technical players, but we come together as a team.

Player to look out for: James Reed

South

The first team in recent memory to achieve back-to-back promotions from division two to the premiership, South excelled in their first year. Nathan told The Tab: “Some of our most important players are gone, particularly in the midfield.

“First term in the prem was rough, but we came out blazing after Christmas – if we can keep up that consistency, we can do a lot this year.

“Coming in as a fresher last year, there was so much confidence in the team last year after we got to the floodlit final. We never felt out of our depth, and the addition of five or six strong players this year will help.”

Player to look out for: Adam Nicklin

Collingwood E

The only E team to ever make it to the premiership, the E’s did very well to stay up last year. With only a few graduates, the core of their team remains consistent and they’re looking to push higher up the table. Ryan told The Tab: “Last season, it was all about survival.

“This year it will be a change of mindset, we had a good draft and our freshers will complement the side nicely – from day dot, we’re straight in.

“Last year, we didn’t win a single Collingwood derby, and that will be changing this year – our biggest rivalry is with the D’s, it was a big game last year with some huge tackles, it got a bit out of hand, but was good fun and we all shook hands after.

“We have a great balance of everyone going out on the Friday, but still showing up to play on Saturday. Our fitness and work ethic is very much up there, we feed balls to the feet of our front three rather than lumping it.”

Player to look out for: Charlie Haywood

Castle

An uncharacteristically poor season last time out left Castle one position above the drop, but the return of some crucial players from placement years will reassure any concerns.

Luca told The Tab: “We’ve lost almost our whole back line, but the freshers do look encouraging – we will be playing more attacking football with our gifted midfield.

“I think we’re looking at a title race this year, I need to brush up on my DU law and find out if we’re allowed any of those boys in the team – either way, I think we can come top four in the league and beat our curse of getting knocked out in the first round of floodlit.

“Hatfield is the traditional rivalry, but Van Mildert have been pestering us in the Instagram DM’s with some reels so we’d like to show them how it’s done on the pitch.”

Player to look out for: Fin Lello

Grey

After heartbreak on the final day of the 2022/23 season to the E’s, Grey got back to where they belong in the big time with an invincible conquest of division one last year. Max told The Tab: “The prem will definitely be a step up, but we’ve gelled as a team.

“Being newly promoted, a lot of sides would aim to just stay up, but I really think we have the quality to achieve a lot more. There’s some really strong talent and potential within our freshers, they seem good fun.

“Every game is a big one, but we’d really love to beat Collingwood and Hatfield. It’ll be nice to get some revenge.”

Player to look out for: Sacha Lee

Collingwood C

Collingwood C’s bounced straight back from their surprise relegation, and are back at the top after a convincing second-place finish in division one. Elliot told The Tab: “We lost a number of very important players, particularly in defence.

“I’m going into it wanting more, and not just aiming to stay up.

“I look at some of the current prem teams, and I think that on our day I would feel confident.

“This team is quite new, we’re in a new league, so it really is hard to see what happens. We’ve got the perfect mixture of good football and good social – there is no other team I would want to be in.

“I really want to beat the E’s, they’ve been giving us a lot of chat – it’d be nice to get some revenge on Grey too, it was a very even game.”

Player to look out for: Giles Bentley

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