The Universities Pool Council (UPC) promotes the sport of pool and snooker at Higher Education institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and exists for the benefit of players at this level. We are recognised by British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) as the governing bodies for university pool and snooker in the UK. We are also affiliated to both the English Pool Association (EPA) and the English Partnership for Snooker & Billiards (EPSB).
Our aim is to provide each and every student in the United Kingdom and Ireland with the opportunity to represent their institution at cue sports across a range of disciplines. We stage team and individual tournaments around the country in eight-ball pool, nine-ball pool, and snooker. The season culminates with the prestigious Student Home Internationals in which representative pool teams from the constituent countries compete against each other to be crowned Student Home Internationals Champions.
However, our involvement in student pool does not stop here. We are always keen to welcome new institutions to our competitions, so any individuals who are interested in setting up a team at their institution should contact us if they require guidance or tips. We also recognise that not all players will be of the standard to play in our events. Therefore, we strongly support cue sports at inter-mural level to cater for players of all abilities, and we are happy to lend our organisational expertise to help clubs develop such competitions. If you would like advice on the running of inter-mural competitions feel free to contact us.
In the 2005-06 season, pool at university level took a huge step forward when the British Universities Sports Association (BUSA), now BUCS, recognised the Eight-ball Pool Championships. This continued with nine-ball pool in the 2016-17 season, and then with snooker when the UPC took over the event from the 2018-19 season onwards. The UPC also run the Irish Intervarsities Pool Championships since 2014-15 onwards. Such recognition provides student competitors with not only access to extra funding possibilities but also gives greater recognition for their achievements. Pool and snooker at university level continues to progress and following this decision cue sports are now firmly part of the BUCS family of sports.
The UPC Executive Board consists of (contact details can be found below):
Executive Chair: Ben Hubbard
Deputy Executive Chair: Daniel Turner
Treasurer: William Grummitt
Director of Communications: Thomas Malins
BUCS Eight-ball Tournament Director: Dan Turner
Irish Intervarsities Tournament Director: Declan Connelly
BUCS Nine-ball Tournament Director: Gerald de Oliveira
BUCS Snooker Tournament Director: Jon Shapland
Student Home Internationals Tournament Director: Jon Shapland
Life Member Representatives: Tom Laycock & Iorwerth Griffiths
Life Members: Dave Graham & Tony Perna
All of the board are university educated and, during their studies, had active participation in local university leagues and tournaments, not only in playing but in some cases the very establishment of the pool clubs, tournaments and leagues themselves. Indeed, this shared personal enthusiasm for the sport of pool was integral to the creation of the UPC. The lack of a sufficiently diverse pool tournament calendar for students above the local level, despite there being events for many less popular sports, prompted Iorwerth Griffiths to create the UPC. The UPC now has a strong committee of individuals who all have a shared personal enthusiasm for the sport of pool.
UPC Board Members and Officials:
Dr. Ben Hubbard 
Executive Chair
Ben began playing cue sports in his third year of undergraduate studies and went on to compete in a total of six UPC inter-varsity Eight-ball events and three Nine-ball events. Ben served as Treasurer for the University of Kent’s Snooker & Pool Club on two separate occasions whilst completing an MSc and then a PhD in Statistics. During the 2012-13 academic year, Ben captained Kent’s Men’s Eight-ball Team Shield-winning side and also represented England Students at the Student Home International Championships, before a swansong bronze medal in the Men’s Eight-ball Team Trophy in 2013-2014. Ben currently plays in the Canterbury pool leagues and has represented Kent at inter-county level, and is a Government statistician by occupation. Ben is now Executive Chair after being on the UPC Board since 2014.
Greatest Pool Achievement: Qualifying for England Students and the Kent inter-county team, on each occasion having immediately lost both lives in a three-life Swiss system!
Dan Turner
Deputy Executive Chair & BUCS-UPC Eight-ball Championships Tournament Director
Daniel joined the cue-sports clubs without any prior competitive experience when he arrived at the University of Warwick in 2005-2006 to begin studying for a BSc in Mathematics. Between 2006 to 2014, when he studied Mathematical Biology & Biophysical Chemistry, Daniel competed in every inter-varsity event to have been organised by UPC. Daniel captained Warwick teams to silver medals in the Eight-ball Team Trophy in 2007-2008, gold medals in the Nine-ball Team Trophy in 2008-2009 and silver medals in the Eight-ball Team Championship in 2010-2011, also serving as President of the Pool Club amongst a variety of other roles. Daniel signed off from university pool by representing England Students at the Student Home International Championships in his final season.
Greatest Pool Achievement: Qualifying for the England Students team.
Dr. William Grummitt
Treasurer
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Jon Shapland
BUCS-UPC Snooker Championships and Student Home Internationals Tournament Director
Having not previously played competitively, Jon discovered his passion for cue sports whilst an undergraduate at The University of Nottingham, from which he graduated in 2002 with a BSC (Hons) in Mathematics. Jon helped reform the institution’s then-defunct Snooker Club at the end of his first year and served as the Club’s first Treasurer, but his second year saw him fall in love with the game of eight-ball pool and Jon’s involvement in the game now stretches way beyond UPC. Jon served as a Regional Director of the English Pool Association from 2008 to 2013 inclusive and has been Secretary of Derbyshire CPA, for which he competes at Men’s ‘A’ inter-county level, from its inception in 2004 to the present date. Jon is also a qualified [‘B’-grade] eight-ball referee and has officiated in singles and team matches at the World Championships. Jon previously managed the England Students team for seven years, retiring after the 2011-2012 Student Home International Championships with an almost unblemished record.
Greatest Pool Achievement: Qualifying to go on the IPA Tour with a match to spare
Gerald de Oliveira
BUCS-UPC Nine-Ball Pool Championships Tournament Director
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Thomas Malins
Director of Communications
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Dr. Tom Laycock
Life Member Representative
Tom first played competitively during his second undergraduate year reading Theoretical Physics at the University of St Andrews. The following season saw Tom captain the University to silver medals in the inaugural Eight-ball Team Shield, before qualifying for the Scotland Students team in 2007-2008. After a “year out” Tom returned to academia at The University of Nottingham in 2009-10 and, a season later, captained the institution to win the Eight-ball Team Championship. The following two years both saw Tom qualify for the England Students team, winning the Student Home International Championships in 2011-12. Tom was also part of the Men’s Eight-ball Team Championship-winning side in 2012-13, before graduating with a PhD in Theoretical Physics. Tom presently plays for two local-league teams as well as the Corn Exchange inter-league team.
Greatest Pool Achievement: Qualifying for the men’s singles competition at the eight-ball World Championships in 2012.
Dr. Iorwerth Griffiths
Life Member Representative
Iorwerth gained a BA (Hons) in Politics at Leicester before completing his MA in Political Theory and Social Criticism at Queen’s University, Belfast. Whilst starting his PhD at Keele, Iorwerth dusted off his pool arm to play in the various local tournaments there, organised by future UPC Director Oliver Dark, with whom he shared many a pool marathon. Having moved back to Ireland, Iorwerth completed his PhD back at Queen’s University, Belfast, representing the institution at pool and snooker.
Greatest Pool Achievement: Establishing the UPC!
Dave Graham, UPC Life Member
Dave gained a BSc (Hons) in Management at Queens University, Belfast. He is a keen player at both snooker and pool, winning various titles in 2004, including the UPC Eight-ball Pool Team Championships, the BUSA Snooker Junior Team Championships, and the BUSA Snooker Junior Individual Championships. Currently plays County for Berkshire (when time allows), and has a snooker high break of 104.
Greatest Pool Achievement: Winning three major cuesport championships in the same year (2004) at university level.
Tony Perna, UPC Life Member
Tony achieved a BA (Hons) in English Language and Linguistics from Essex University and, whilst there, stood as Pool Club President during the period 2002-2004, collecting the Essex University Team of the Year sports award in 2004. This was partly due to leading the Essex University Pool Club to the runners-up prize at the UPC Eight-ball Pool Championships in 2004.
Greatest Pool Achievement: Member of the Essex team who were runners-up at the UPC Eight-ball Pool Team Championships in 2004.
Also involved with the UPC:
Our Team Managers for the Student Home Internationals:
England Students: Oliver Lowe
Ireland Students: Declan Connelly
Scotland Students: Adam Fleming
Wales Students: George Gregory
We also have regional co-ordinators who assist in the promotion of UPC events at institutions.
Contact Us
For tournament correspondence (entry details, deadlines, rules and regulations, etc): Please e-mail the Tournament Directors as detailed above.
For advice on how to organise or improve your own local tournament or league, please contact Ben Hubbard.
For discussions on potential business partnerships with the UPC, please contact Ben Hubbard.
For any financial queries as regards UPC events, please contact William Grummitt.
For any feedback or suggestions about the UPC website, please contact Tom Malins.
For issues regarding UPC’s disciplinary committee, please contact Daniel Turner.
For any other general correspondence, please contact Ben Hubbard.
History of the Universities Pool Council
The Universities Pool Council was founded by Dr. Iorwerth Griffiths who, having played in the Irish Eight-ball Intervarsities event, was surprised and disappointed that there was not a UK equivalent despite the existence of a long-running snooker event. Having made enquiries it was said that it had been tried before but that there was little interest. Undaunted and convinced that if there could be a UK university snooker tournament, a pool tournament should be possible, Iorwerth gauged interest within the student community.
Whilst gauging interest for the first event Iorwerth met Jon Shapland online who secured a venue for the first ever event in March 2004 at the now closed McCluskey’s in Derby. Iorwerth’s aim was a viable event of around 10 teams that could be the basis to build upon. How it turned out, over 40 teams actually entered, proving that there was indeed an appetite for pool at university level in the UK!
Participants at the inaugural event were asked if there would be further interest in a Nine-ball version and a nine-ball event was added to the calendar in the 2004-05 academic year with the inaugural event at Riley’s Wolverhampton. It then took place in Riley’s Solihull for the next few seasons as the event grew. Furthermore, on the back of only two women’s teams at the first Eight-ball event, a women’s 8-ball event was started with a healthy 10 teams entering the first ever event. To complete the calendar for that first season a Home Internationals event was also inaugurated in that taking place at the Queen Mary Union in Glasgow University.
As it was clear there was an appetite for pool events within the student community in the UK, Iorwerth recruited a board to help run the organisation. Oliver Dark, who was former Student Union President at Keele where Iorwerth had studied in the past, came on board and would later become Executive Chair. Also in that first board was Tony Perna who showed great administrative ability as the captain for the University of Essex in the first event. David Graham would join the board the following season.
A significant landmark was achieved in 2005-06 with recognition of pool by the then British Universities Sports Association (BUSA), now British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS). This meant the events were brought into line with BUSA competitions, where a Shield tier on a second weekend was added as the interest and participation in eight-ball pool continued to grow.
In 2007-08, the event moved to the site where the English Pool Association (EPA) events took place, the Vauxhall Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth. This marked a major step forward for the organisation and the event, growing the event to unprecedented levels and meaning all players were able to play on one weekend.
While the BUCS eight-ball event had always been a mixed-sex event, this changed when the Women’s event became a fully recognised BUCS competition from 2013 onwards. This provided more prestige our female players, and the UPC were able to play this event at Great Yarmouth as well alongside the men’s event. This was all under the expert guidance of Dan Turner who was the BUCS eight-ball tournament director from the 2011 event onwards.
Furthermore in that season, a unified Student Home International organised and run by the UPC was finally achieved with the Irish governing body remaining responsible for the Ireland and Northern Ireland teams. The event was fittingly held in Glasgow, the home of the first ever UPC Home Internationals, this time at a hotel venue. This set the tone for future with a women’s event added in 2017 to what has become the pinnacle of university pool in the UK and Ireland.
The Irish governing body eventually disbanded in the summer of 2014 and the UPC were asked to take over the Irish Intervarsities to secure its continued existence. Having ceased to be a tournament director and beginning to take a back seat in the organisation, Iorwerth stepped in to ensure its continuity and secure its future. The first UPC organised event was put together at short notice in the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel in Dublin but the number of participants held up well. It then moved to the Abbey Court Hotel in Nenagh where it grew again and a womens individual event was added.
Our nine-ball event was finally recognised as being a BUCS event from the 2016-17 season onwards, and, as further recognition of the UPCs standing, when the BUCS organising committee for snooker was disbanded, the UPC were asked to take over the event from 2018-19 onwards. This new event was run by Ben Hubbard, who played at previous BUCS snooker events where the history of that event dated back to 1983-84. The inaugural UPC organised event begun in Derby over two venues and peaked in 2019 with over 220 students participating in a single snooker championship, a participation rarely seen in snooker events globally. To increase the event’s reputation, the UPC were affiliated with the English Partnership for Snooker and Billiards (EPSB) who support the snooker event where they post tournament reviews on their website.
While UPC events continued to grow, this came to sudden halt when the world was severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. This put a halt to the cue sports programme and all events in the 2020-21 season were cancelled. The first event back was the BUCS nine-ball event in November 2021, which was restricted by social distancing and with lower numbers than before the pandemic while institution clubs were getting back off the ground from over a year away.
Eventually, all events got back underway but none of the events initially remained at their pre-pandemic venues: The BUCS Nine-ball event at Telford and the Irish Intervarsities eight-ball pool event were both unable to be hotel events anymore, the BUCS snooker event had one of their venues close, and more significantly, the Vauxhall Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth scaled back all of their pool events. Jon Shapland and Ben Hubbard, Executive Chairs in the seasons after the pandemic ensured these events got back on in new homes.
Tying in with new venues, the 2021-22 season saw the first three venue event for the BUCS eight-ball event, held over Plaza, Longton, and Players pool clubs in Stoke and Newcastle-under-Lyme. After a year hiatus from Players, the UPC returned there in 2023-24 with the help of the Ultimate Pool Group. The UPC were delighted to affiliate to Ultimate Pool, which had revolutionised the sport of eight-ball pool since 2021 which included the change to the ‘International Rules’ playing rules.
