Development over the summer of 2003[1] led to a committee being put in place, a schedule being set and a number of teams signed up to take part in the first ever BUIHA University Cup.

The 2010/11 season saw the Oxford Women's Blues join their Cambridge counterparts in Division 3 South, and in 2012 we saw a team from St Andrews enter the National Championships in Tier II.

The then secretary of the Oxford Vikings, Alexis Rawlinson, came up with the idea of organising a tournament for all the university ice hockey teams in the UK.

For 2004, to recognise the contribution of Alexis to British University Ice Hockey, the top National Championship trophy was renamed the Rawlinson Plate.

The BUIHA is now host of a range of new teams from England, Scotland and Wales as well as the original seven that entered the first national championships in 2001.

Operating within the EIHA recreational section the clubs involved played a round robin format with the winner being declared at the end of the season as the team with the most points (using goal difference as a tie breaker).

Any person attending university anywhere in the world who is a UK & Northern Ireland citizen between the ages of 17 and 28 is able to play for the team.