University Athletic Association of the Philippines

&nbsp The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is a sports association of eight universities in the Philippines. Each year, teams from these universities play in 15 sports.

History
In 1924, Dr. Regino Ylanan (then University of the Philippines Physical Education Director) saw the need to regulate and set general athletic policies; met with representatives of University of Santo Tomas, Manila Central University, National University, De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University and Institute of Accounts (now Far Eastern University) to discuss possibilities of forming an athletic organization, which eventually became the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

In 1930, the University of the Philippines sponsored an experimental meet with the first "Big 3" league (UST, NU, UP) on basketball, swimming, baseball, relays, track and field, volleyball, tennis and soccer. In 1931, the NCAA Board of Directors divided the meet into three divisions to put competition on a fairer basis and to stimulate athletics among a greater number. In March 1932, UP, UST and NU formally seceded from the NCAA. Led by UP's Candido C. Bartolome, NU's Leon Tirol and UST's Fr. Silbestre Sancho, the move was made to put competitions on equal footing, to increase amateur athletic competitions and to separate the universities from the college members of the league. On April 6, the "Big 3 League" is born. On August 14, the "Big 3" Association is inaugurated with a meet that starts with basketball. Other events were swimming, baseball, relays, track and field, volleyball, tennis and soccer.

In 1935, UP did not participate in the "Big 3 League" because of mass intramurals at the state university. NU and UST hold the meet with FEU (formerly Institute of Accounts) taking UP's place.

In 1938, the University of the Philippines Alumni Association and the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF), then the highest sports body in the country, encouraged the original "Big 3 League" and FEU to form a permanent sports association - the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. Events included were basketball, women's volleyball, baseball, football, swimming and track and field. UP bagged three titles (volleyball, baseball, track and field). UST was tops in football and swimming and FEU triumphed in basketball.

In 1941, the outbreak of World War II hindered the staging of the 1941-42 UAAP with UST failing to complete its term. In 1952, University of the East, University of Manila, Adamson University, and Manila Central University were granted two-year probationary membership to the UAAP. In 1954, UE was permanently accepted into the league. The other three universities (UM, Adamson, and MCU) were dropped from the UAAP due to their inability to comply with the UAAP requirements. In 1970, Adamson University reapplied for admission to the league with a two-year probationary period. In 1974, Adamson successfully hosted the 1974-75 athletic season paving the way for its permanent membership into the league.

In 1978, The UAAP admitted Ateneo de Manila University into the league. In 1986, De La Salle University joined the league.

Logo
The UAAP logo features the university colors of the eight member-schools of the league in a circular formation. It also bears the year when the league was established, 1938, in the center.

The logo changes every season where the university colors of the season host is placed on the very top. Nonetheless, the arrangement of the colors never changes.

The colors of University of the Philippines (green and maroon), University of Santo Tomas (gold and white), Far Eastern University (gold and green), and National University (gold and blue) come first, clockwise. These are followed by the colors of Adamson University (blue and white), De La Salle University (green and white), Ateneo de Manila University (blue and white), and University of the East (red and white).

Member schools
Following is a list of those universities with their team designations.

Ateneo-La Salle rivalry
Arguably the most storied interschool sports rivalry in the Philippines. No one is exactly sure how and when it started, leading to numerous urban legends about its origins. (See related entry in the article on the NCAA.)

Ateneo-UP rivalry
Then tagged as "The Battle of Intramuros", this rivalry started when both of these schools were still in the city of Manila before the NCAA even began. The Ateneo and UP players would play friendly basketball games in Intramuros (this later became "The Battle of Padre Faura" as Ateneo relocated in front of UP's campus in Padre Faura St, Ermita, Manila), and it was at this point that the Ateneo de Manila formed the first cheering squad in the Philippines. Now dubbed as the "Battle of Katipunan" with their present location along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City.

FEU-UE rivalry
Aptly called "The Battle of the East", or "The Battle of Recto", due to the universities' names and location (both have buildings located along C. M. Recto Avenue in Manila), both FEU and UE have dominated the basketball tournament, as shown by the number of trophies between them, FEU with 19 and UE with 18.

Ateneo HS-USTHS rivalry
The rivalry is usually seen in the juniors' division where in basketball, Ateneo de Manila and UST High School would always meet in the Finals. In Junior's Basketball, the Blue Eaglets and the Tiger Cubs met 8 consecutive times in the finals from 1994 to 2001, which resulted in the title being traded between the two schools every other year. The two schools also perform well in other sports, as their teams do not usually place lower than fourth in any given tournament.

UP-UST cheerdance rivalry
The cheerdance rivalry between University of the Philippines and University of Santo Tomas has been one of the most talked about rivalries in UAAP history. Since the inception of the cheerdance, UP and UST have had the best winning records, and one is usually just a runner up to the other. Both schools' pep squads are famous for their stunts and high-energy performances.

To some extent, the rivalry also crosses over into academics and ideology; despite both their populations being cross-sections of Philippine society, UP is known for its liberal academic environment and its history of progressive activism, while UST is known for the conservative stances its administration and students usually take.

The rivalry between these institutions is sometimes called The Battle of the Church and the State, due to UST being a pontifical university and UP as a state university.

La Salle-UST rivalry
Both were known for their numerous basketball championship matches in the 1990s, with UST winning four straight titles at the expense of the Green Archers. In 1999, La Salle defeated the Growling Tigers to win the basketball crown. Their basketball rivalry diminished in latter years due to UST's decline but became a celebrated rivalry in Women's Volleyball, as the Lady Archers and the Tigresses met three times in the championship of the Shakey's V-League tournament with UST having 5 championships and La Salle having 3 under their belt. The rivalry was carried over to the UAAP.

On August 11, 2007, UST won their first men's basketball game against La Salle since Game 1 of the 1999 Finals to break UST's 17-game losing streak against the Archers.

At Season 72, UST and DLSU dominates to be the current champion of the women's volleyball.

La Salle-FEU rivalry
The rivalry sparked in the 1991 Finals when La Salle's final game win was protested by the FEU after a Green Archer was admitted into the playing court after being disqualified. The UAAP Board upheld the protest and ordered the replay. La Salle questioned the Board's decision upholding FEU's protest. FIBA and the BAP agreed with La Salle that it was the table official's fault and not La Salle's why Espinosa was allowed to play. FEU still had ample time to win the game as that incident happened with more than 2 minutes left in the game and La Salle leading by just 2 points. La Salle won 80-77. But the UAAP Board led by then UAAP President Dr. Cynthia Abad-Santos ordered for a replay of the first game. La Salle decided not to do the replay. La Salle was twice to beat; so FEU have to win 2 games to win the crown. On the replay date, the championship was handed to FEU automatically via default (even though DLSU has a twice to beat advantage, it was presumed that since La Salle had no intent on showing up for the first game, the board reckoned that La Salle also had no intention of showing up for the second game).

In 2004, La Salle defeated the defending champions Tamaraws in three games. In 2005, FEU swept La Salle in the Finals, but not without incident as the La Salle assistant team manager and alumnus, Manny Salgado hit FEU player Arwind Santos after La Salle's game 1 loss. However, after the 2005 series, La Salle voluntarily returned their 2004 trophy when two Green Archers were found to have falsified documents, thus awarding FEU, their 2004 Finals opponent, the championship. And because of the issue, the UAAP suspended La Salle for 2006 due to negligence and unsportmanship. In 2008, La Salle takeover FEU for being the winner at the UAAP Season 71 Women's Volleyball.

UST-FEU Volleyball
In Volleyball, The UST Tigresses and the FEU Lady Tamaraws are up head-to-head. With FEU winning the most crowns in the league, UST comes right behind them.

In Season 69, the Tigresses took the championship away from the Tamaraws, who had been almost undefeated. In Season 70, FEU reached the finals for the second time, winning the championship after playing against the Adamson Lady Falcons, the team they had not beaten during the eliminations.

UAAP Championships

 * Overall
 * Badminton
 * Baseball
 * Basketball


 * Beach volleyball
 * Chess
 * Football
 * Fencing


 * Judo
 * Softball
 * Swimming
 * Table tennis


 * Taekwondo
 * Tennis
 * Track and Field
 * Volleyball


 * Cheerdance (Unofficial)

Team Support Sites

 * Fabilioh.com - Ateneo UAAP Events Photo Gallery
 * ProudToBeAdamsonian - Adamson University Soaring Falcons Support Site
 * GoAteneo.com - Ateneo Blue Eagles Official Athletics Office Site
 * GreenArchers.ph - De La Salle Green Archers Support Site
 * Tamaraw Bayan - Far Eastern University Tamaraws Support Site
 * UE Red Tribe - Official UE Red Tribe Organization Forum
 * UPFightingMaroons.com - University of the Philippines Support Site
 * - University of Santo Tomas Support Site

University Athletic Association of the Philippines University Athletic Association of the Philippines