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Cardiff Met are the first uni team to qualify for the Europa League

Welsh Premier League team Cardiff Met have qualified for the Europa League after a penalty shoot out victory over Bala Town. It was their third attempt to qualify and will bring them a windfall of £193,000. It will also give the university some welcome publicity, raising its profile.

All the players are postgraduate or undergraduate students at the university. Of course, one recalls that Oxford and Cambridge colleges sometimes recruit experienced rowers as students who then appear in the boat race. Are universities going to be the modern equivalent of the once common works team, now almost disappeared (although Airbus UK are in the Welsh League).

When Bath University had Team Bath it caused some controversy. There were complaints about taxpayers' money being used to subsidise a football team. I wrote to the Non-League Paper pointing out that public money was now usually a relatively small part of any university's income.

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