UCDBC History

The Butler Cup

Throughout the year the UCD Boat Club participates in numerous events, the most notorious being the Butler Cup, which is competed for by UCD Novices. The knock-out contest primes not only the competitive spirit of the club’s new recruits but also their racing savvy as they use any means possible to outwit their opponents. The victors of this heroic competition add their names to a famous list of previous winners, while everybody else gets stuck into the free drink.

When he presented his sterling silver cup in the 1930’s, Architectural Professor Butler could not have envisaged that this competition would escalate to such prestigious heights. The Butler Cup has a famous tradition and is one of the high points of the club’s season. The club’s best two-man battleships are used for the occasion due to their indestructible armour, and while the racing is always closely fought it is inevitably the creativity of the verbal abuse which sticks in the minds of all present.

The main-event may take place on the water but it is the rowdy events on the bank which take focus. Fuelled with free drink and food the Butler Cup is a day where old stories are retold and new ones are created. All other rowing clubs look on in awe as UCD’s novices siege the river and lay down the gauntlet for races to come. The rules clearly allow for assault and battery during the race, in fact anything goes in order to be the first boat to cross the line. It does help not to have a drunken Cox as you’ll have a better chance of victory if the Cox can keep a reasonably straight course. However, in the event of a novice from Bray contesting in the final, the rules clearly state that the Butler Cup will be replaced by the much coveted McDonald’s sponsored Paper Cup (just in case).

When all the alcohol is gone and the cup presented, an adventurous drunken journey across town begins. Whether you hijack a passing motorist or do a kamikaze dash across town on your bike, the next port of call is the Boat Club’s favourite haunt; Hartigans... one of the more difficult inner-city pubs to get thrown out of (that’s not to say that we have never been given the boot). With the end of the night drawing closer, the novices are again exposed to another great boat-club tradition; beside the pub in front of the Department of the Marine is a large water feature with a small concrete island in the centre. It is tradition that the whole club, including girlfriends and any members of the ladies club still standing, try to break the record for the amount of people that can hurdle the moat and claim their small bit of space on the island. The record stands at 27 and the history of this remarkable event is now available on DVD courtesy of CCTV productions.

The Island Hopping Challenge