[1] The Athletic Union is a student representative body with its own constitution sanctioned by the University Court.

[2] The Athletic Union is run by an Executive Committee[3] elected by the student body of the University of St Andrews.

The University of St Andrews Athletic Union affiliates to SSS annually.

SSS runs a lot of the sports events and fixtures on behalf of BUCS in Scotland, in particular the British University Games (BUGS).

SSS also takes responsibility for a lot of the sports BUCS does not recognise such as rifle, shinty, gaelic football and curling.